Tuesday May 13, 2008
Tuesday May 13, 2008 Last Thursday I had retina surgery number four. This time I had it at Duke in an attempt to change my luck which so far has been pretty poor.
The surgery was the most interesting of the bunch as I remember almost all of it. At the very beginning of the surgery they have to install a "block" which apparently involves sticking this needle into the back of the eye. They knock you out for that part but then let you regain some degree of consciousness for the remainder of the surgery. On number three I only remember the last 15 minutes or so. On this one I can remember from the point where the Dr. Postel told me "Now we're going to remove the (silicone) oil. We just let it drain out on its own rather than draw it out". I could see the shadow of various instruments as they worked in my eye. I could pick out three different instruments. The coolest part was the laser. I could hear when Dr. Postel ordered that the laser be turned on at 400mw. Then whenever they fired it I could see the shadow of ejecta debris rise up from where the laser was doing its work. All of this was just shadows so it was in black in white like I was watching shadow puppets. Very neat.
The next morning I went back to Duke for the post-op check. I was concerened about what my vision would be like since on every other surgery where they could actually do the reattachment (i.e. all but the first) my vision was pretty poor, I could just detect hand motion, no fingers no letters on the chart. I was afraid I might lose all the healing I'd done since the end of March. I was a pleasant experience to see that my vision was the best 1 day post-op that it has been, I could count fingers and read the top line of the chart. Maybe this was going to do the trick.
Over the weekend though I could see that my vision was not improving, at best it was staying the same or maybe a little worse. This was a bit disconcerting since previously this early on I could see improvement as the day went on. Well maybe since it was so good to start it isn't so apparent this time?
On Monday though it was clear that the vision was worse. I probably could no longer count fingers although it was close. Aghh not another detachment already! I called Duke and made an appointment for the next morning.
Driving to the appointment this morning I could tell there was a bit of an improvement from yesterday but still not back to last Friday. The vision was like the worst pool chlorine eye you can imagine. Definitely different than what I'd expect from a detachment. What was up?
The technician that checks your vision and puts the dilation drop in your eye said an odd thing when he looked thru the scope they normally use to examine the cornea, "Have you had cataract surgery?". (I haven't really although my lens has been removed). Then he took my pressure, twice. It was 5, pretty low. Last Friday it was 10 (also a bit on the low side). I was pretty disappointed at that news since in the past a pressure drop had meant a new detachment. I went back to the waiting area very anxious.
I finally saw Dr. Dayani who had assisted on the surgery on Thursday. He did the whole retina scan thing with the stationary microscope and the head lamp. Finally he said "I have good news for you the retina is all well attached". Whew! Apparently my eye has decided on a new way to stress me out. I'm forming a layer of haze or film on the surface of the oil just at the iris and that is making it hard to see. (I think this explains the technician's cataract remark.) They expect that by increasing the prednisolone drops that the inflammation will go down and the haze will go away. If not they'd have to remove it, but normally it just goes away on its own. At this point I'm just happy that the retina is staying in place, maybe the fourth will be the fix.