Today marks the halfway point: it has been one week since my surgery. On Friday afternoon I will go to a doctor appointment that will hopefully bring strictly good news.
Every morning I wake up with sore teeth, a swollen upper lip, and an ache in my knees. Dizziness ensues ten minutes later during my eye drops. Lunchtime brings some increased soreness as the Advil wears off. Every time I get up to stretch out, my joints creak and crack like I've been mummified for centuries. Another dose of Advil and I have a new, invigorated energy, for a few hours at least. Every movement of my eyes causes the bubble to jiggle. Imagine looking through a jello jiggler- it looks like that. The horizon line (I'm referring to the edge of the bubble) is really starting to come in clear. It is bringing me closer and closer to the end point.
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| Day 7 Post-Op |
Oh and my eyes aren't crossed- they just look like this in the picture because of the angle I was holding the camera at! My face is in the headrest so pardon how stretched and weird I look- the photo is more to show how much better my eye looks this time around than the first time with the buckle.
Tuesday was hard- I was getting frustrated at everything. Every ache and pain was just beating me up emotionally, too. The lack of sleep was just catching up to me and I was tired of the eye drops, the pain, the facedown life. It had already been almost a week since surgery, but my mind was thinking, "it has ONLY been a week since surgery." I couldn't find my little escape to get me out of that pessimistic attitude. I couldn't nap, it was interrupted by timers for eye drops going off or just by pain. One of those two was always the culprit.
Wednesday was a little easier. I started my day with the same routine. Drops, pudding, Advil, teeth brushing, face wash, change clothes. And after 30 minutes of all of this stuff, my neck is usually ready to just try to relax, so I melt into the chair and headrest. Ryan packs my picnic, readjusts everything, puts on a movie and off to work he goes. About an hour into the movie, I'm just so tired and decide I'm going to turn down my phone and try to take advantage of this opportunity.
Three hours. Consecutively. I slept. That was the most sleep since the Monday before surgery.
There isn't too much to report here other than I am at the halfway point. But what is halfway? How far is it? Because I'm halfway to the end of the two week mark, but certainly not halfway to being back to "normal." So I honestly don't know how far halfway is.
How far can you walk into the woods?
Halfway. Then you're walking out.
Silver lining, days 6 & 7 post-op: I was able to sit outside both days on our balcony. And the sun even warmed me up on Tuesday. Never did going outside feel as good as it did these past two days. Even if I was looking primarily at the ground.
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| My view. |
My Day 7 post op
ReplyDeleteThank you once again for this blog because it has really helped to witness your courage and persistence!
I had my one week followup today. There is no detachment now in the eye and I could see the big "E" on they eye chart at the horizon line of the huge bubble but it was still blurry. Doc said everything looked good and I was relieved to hear that of course! Another checkup in a week and I am down to two eyedrops a day and no special positioning of my head ... yay! I was just told to take it easy.
Today was the first day I really got out and about for any length of time. Just a dull ache of the eye sometimes. I found that my eye got tired quickly. Sunglasses didn't really help so I switched to my trusty black eye patch on which I have come to depend. It seems to make things less stressful for me at least for now. Still hard to function with one eye though, like now! I am glad to hear you are well and things are going good!
This is exactly why I wanted to create it- to help anyone else out going through this sort of situation, so it thrills me to know it is helping you! That is what I want this to do- give someone else something to relate to and know that everything you feel and go through is normal, and possible! It was a great therapy tool for me during the process, too.
DeleteTo hear there is no detachment is great news! That is the best thing to hear at the appointments, for sure. It's crazy how big the bubble looks to us patients, despite it actually small size! Mine looked like it extended through into the vision in my right eye when it was at that 50% mark. But seeing the big E is awesome! There is nothing better than being able to see and hear those precious words from the doc that you are on course! I had a dull ache for a while, and my eye still today tires easily, especially if I was doing a lot during the day. For me, even driving tires it out, but computer work, or even looking at different things off and on and making my eyes change focal points constantly makes it tire. I'm still on one eye drop (for that swelling) but that's always better than 2-3 drops! I don't know if you situation will be the same, but I'm going to be on this NSAID drop for a few months, and that thing is like wet sand in my eye. So I use artificial tears, and that also helps with waking up in the morning to get my eye lubricated so I can blink. I was told I may always have some dryness issues in my eye due to the two surgeries, but that's better than a useless eye! Things are hard to do with just one eye, and you never realize it until you lose one- that said, your other eye will start to compensate, mine did, but it took a couple weeks. Keep me posted on your progress, but it sounds like it's going great- such a relief!!! And fantastic to no more side positioning!!