An Easter Miracle: Wade's Sight-Saving Surgery at Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health

A few days before Easter Sunday in the spring of 2023, 5-year-old Wade Wilson had what seemed to be a routine sinus infection with congestion, sniffles and fatigue. He began complaining that his eyes hurt when he bent down. His mother, Kristi, took him to a local urgent care clinic, where she was told seasonal allergies were the culprit.

"They said, 'Yeah, everything was fine.’ It was springtime, you know,'" Kristi said. "They just said kids are really susceptible to changes in the weather.”

Two days later, Wade’s eye had swollen to the point he couldn’t see. Concerned, the Wilsons took Wade to a pediatric urgent care where he was prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection.

The next morning, Easter Sunday, brought a frightening development.

"His eye was completely swollen shut," Kristi said. "I was like, 'We're going to Oklahoma Children's Hospital right now. This is serious.'"

What started as a seemingly routine sinus infection had escalated into a rare and potentially sight-threatening condition called orbital cellulitis.

"He had been a very healthy boy up until we ended up at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital," Kristi said. "He's only had one ear infection his entire life and had only been on one round of antibiotics."

Expert Pediatric Team at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health

At Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health, the emergency room staff immediately recognized the severity of Wade's condition. An MRI revealed an abscess on his eye, and he was quickly admitted and started on IV antibiotics. He was diagnosed with an orbital abscess, a rare and serious infection of the eye.

This condition often starts from a sinus infection spreading, an injury to the eye area or following eye surgery, resulting in redness, swelling and pain around the eye. Patients might also have trouble moving their eye, and in serious cases, their vision could be affected.

Most people with this eye infection need to stay in the hospital for treatment. Doctors usually treat the infection with an IV antibiotic, and once the patient starts to improve, they can go home and continue taking medicine. In some cases, a small surgery might be needed to help treat the infection. Either way, quick treatment is necessary to prevent long-lasting problems.

Providing Acute Care for Acute Cases

Pediatric otolaryngologist Dr. Vikram Ramjee, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, specializes in complex cases like Wade's.

“When he came to the emergency room, he had significant eye swelling in addition to eye pain. His CT scan had evidence of a small abscess forming within his eye cavity,” Dr. Ramjee said. “Regarding these abscesses, they can be managed with IV antibiotics, which can lead to a prolonged hospitalization, or surgical intervention to help decompress the abscess and expedite the patient's hospitalization course and subsequent discharge from the hospital.”

Dr. Ramjee and his team acted swiftly, performing surgery the next day to drain the infection and save Wade's sight. The procedure involved cleaning out Wade's sinuses and carefully breaking down the bone between his sinus and right eye to drain the abscess.

“Untreated abscesses within the eye cavity can continue to grow and cause vision loss or spread into the cavernous sinus region which can lead to intracranial complications,” Dr. Ramjee said.

“The surgery that we performed was a comprehensive sinus surgery to open the affected sinuses and drain the pus from his sinuses causing issues. After opening his sinuses, we decompressed and removed the bone to allow for drainage of the abscess that was forming within his eye cavity.”

By the next day, Wade was able to open his eye again, even getting onto the floor to play with a car set the Oklahoma Children’s staff brought for him.

"We're very, very lucky to have Dr. Ramjee," Kristi said. "I don't think a lot of areas have this kind of expertise like we have here in Oklahoma. I just always thought of Oklahoma Children’s Hospital doing more with cancer or heart patients. But we went there with an acute issue, and we had every specialty you could ever want or need coming right to our room, figuring out what's wrong, figuring out the best game plan."

The Gift of Sight

Today, Wade is thriving and shows little memory of his ordeal. He remembers being in the hospital and his eye being swollen and hurting, but he remembers the Dalmatian stuffed animal he was given more.

Oklahoma Children's Hospital provides both specialized and acute care for children throughout the region. With expert physicians like Dr. Ramjee and a full range of pediatric specialties, the hospital treats even the most unexpected and urgent medical situations.

“I believe that for many of these patients, taking them to the operating room helps to get source control of the infection, address the abscess or offending issue and expedite patient's hospitalization course and discharge from the hospital,” Dr. Ramjee said.

For Wade and his family, the outcome was worth the surgery. Instead of battling the infection over a long period of time, the team at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital addressed the problem head-on, allowing for a speedy recovery.

"It was a sticky situation, but it was a fabulous outcome," Kristi said. "I just want to say thank you to Dr. Ramjee and his team."

Learn more about pediatric ear, nose and throat services at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital or request an appointment with a specialist by calling (405) 271-2662. Learn more about all the services at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital by calling (405) 271-KIDS or visiting OklahomaChildrens.Org.