Sunday, February 10, 2008
Three week follow-up...good news!
Well, I had my three week follow-up two days ago. After I arrived and the nurse did a quick overall vision check, my eyes were dilated and I waited about 30 minutes. Once I saw the doctor, he used his hand-held lens to examine my retina ("look up..left...down and left...down...." etc.) He then said, "Well, your examination looks great and your retina has completely re-attached. Also, your eye is healing better than I expected." Those were some wonderful words, and those two sentences validated all my choices of doctor, type of surgery, etc. throughout the entire process.
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3 comments:
Hi, Michael,
I just got retinal re-attachment surgery about 3 days ago and was looking for someone else's experiences with it to help reassure me. I am swollen and in pain and using pain medications like you mentioned.
Funny, but the doctor who ran the group of doctors of retinal surgery (about 65 years old) told me if he, himself, needed retinal surgery, he'd ask his 30-year-old partner. It sounded like your experience.
I wanted to write to thank you for blogging about it because I am living with the swelling, pain, dripping and drooping now and just wanted to find out it was the right thing to expect after such traumatic surgery both physically and mentally.
Thanks, again, for helping me out.
Ross in Fort Lauderdale
Hi Ross,
Thanks for your comment. I am really glad the the time I spent documenting my recovery might be helpful to someone like you.
First, a caveat: I am not a doctor, and my comments on this blog should not be construed as medical advice. If you ever feel that your recovery is not going well, please consult your physician.
That said, I remember the first few days after my surgery as being pretty scary. Like you said, I had swelling, redness, pain, etc. It was mentally challenging as well: I had never tried to exist with only one eye before.
Specifically, I could barely see the white of my eye - it seemed to be covered with a gooey membrane. I /think/ that that was just some other part of my eye swollen up pretty big, and encroaching on the white of my eye.
Lots of sleep, a loving wife and not too much computer usuage helped me get past that stage in about 2 weeks (if I remember correctly).
Since my 3 week follow up, I had another really good 8 week followup. I've decided that I'll spend some time posting about that, so expect something later this week. My doctor actually said that "the chances of my retina detaching again are so statistically insignificant as to be only theoretically possible."
All my best,
Mike
Congrats on your followups. I am only 5 days since the surgery and I still have the redness and a little pain. The doctor was very pleased with the quick improvement. I can see very little from the operated eye so far. Having had cataract surgery and having been 20/20 in both eyes, I feel handicapped using only one eye for now. I miss the crisp images of both eyes at the same time. Driving is difficult even during the day, but I am single and have my responsibilities, so things will get done. I guess the biggest shock was when the retinologist said surgery should be "tomorrow" and set the whole thing up then and there. No time to digest it all. Good luck with it all! Ross
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