Wednesday, November 19, 2008

My funky eye - some gory (kinda) details (and a Christmas Card template/QP)

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments that you have left after downloading my Christmas kit - I'm so glad you like it!

So many of you have asked about how my eye is doing, and I appreciate it so much! And if you read all the way to the end, the lovely Vicki has said that I can give you a 'QP' of my Christmas Card, so read read read! LOL

The surgery was to move the muscle that controls the horizontal movement of my eye. Medicine has gotten so advanced that my fabulous surgeon has developed a new procedure where he removes the muscle, repositions it, and then reattaches it with a SLIPKNOT so that he can adjust it after you wake up.

Yeah. Cool. But not cool.

It makes sense though - once I was awake, I could report on my vision, and he could ... do what he needed to do. However, it turns out that the muscle needed more adjusting after the weekend.

So I drove myself to see the surgeon yesterday (he's an hour away) I had decided not to do any more adjustments etc, and when I saw him I told him I needed to drive myself home, thinking that would take care of everything. He said it wouldn't be a problem and my eye would just be more sore than it was then. Great.

So it turns out that they moved the muscle 5.5mm during surgery and then another 1mm when they adjusted it afterwards. When he did the measurements yesterday his goal was to get rid of any head tilt, which I still had a very small tilt to the right. He did measurements and there were still some pretty high numbers, where 0 is the ideal. For example, pre-surgery one measurement was 16, and post-surgery it was 8. Then another measurement to the left was still 20 or 30 which is on the pretty thick side of the prisms they hold up to your eye to do the measurements. He said that he could move the muscle one more mm and then it would be at it's max before it starts causing problems with vision to the other side. When he left the room for a minute, the observer (some other eye doctor person) told me that opthalmologists don't attempt this surgery because it's so complicated, and they all refer the surgeries to Dr. Hunter. He really is the best :)

So, they (he and two other people) prepped to do a mini surgery right there in his stinkin' office. He put numbing drops in, and the other guy went to find some equipment, so I said "Bring drugs" and Dr Hunter laughs and says, "How about a bullet?" - too funny. Anyway, they keep coming back into the room with gloves, forceps, tongs, tweezers and all kinds of other torture devices. And part of the worst part was the commentary that he's giving the observer. Shees. I coulda done without the detail. And, of course, when he walks in with this HUGE injection and says "and we have a numbing injection". I said, "Oh! It just keeps getting better!" It must have taken a minute for what I said to sink in, because then he said, "Oh, it doesn't have a needle, it's blunt."

Geeeeeeee, THANKS, doc!!!! I feel SO much better!

He then goes on to explain to the observer, "The incision is still there, so we'll just separate it and squirt the numbing agent in." He looks at me and says, "You'll just feel wet." I'm used to understatements ;)

So the other guy holds my eye open, and Dr Hunter says, "You'll just feel some tugging and pressure. I know it's quite disconcerting."

See???? Another understatement.

Dr. Hunter uses his torture devices and tugs and pulls and does whatever he's doing, and I would have been OK if not for some more luvely commentary. He says (for the benefit of the observer, I'm sure), "The muscle has started to fuse, so I'll just separate it. You'll feel some tugging a little deeper than what you've been feeling."

You know, from my EYEBALL.

More tugging, pulling and a sharp pain. "You felt that." he says.

Uh. YEAH.

More commentary "I'll just slide that on the noose..." tug, pull, tug ..."...that's 1mm. You see I can't move it any more - it's at the end of the slipknot. I don't want to be tempted to move it any more. We want to avoid [insert medical term] to the right."

"I don't want to be tempted"???? Don't people usually say that when they want to avoid doing something that they find to be intensely FUN and PLEASURABLE but that they shouldn't really be doing???

So then he was done. He said we should wait till my follow-up in Jan and then we can decide about how to proceed. There is still the option to move the vertical muscle (on top of the eyeball) in the left eye which happens to be his favorite surgery. Or he can work on the right eye.

I left his office with my eyeball feeling like it was going to pop out of my head and a MASSIVE headache. I wasn't sure how I was going to drive home. But I went past a Walgreens, so I stopped and bought some Advil and a bag of chips, so 20 mins into the drive I stopped feeling like I had a brain tumor.

At the beginning of the visit I clarified with him that the surgery wouldn't fix it 100%, and he said that he felt like he hadn't made himself clear on that point. So I guess I had overly high expectations. And I think my eye is pretty much at the best it's going to be. I hope that it's going to be enough to resolve where it was beginning to influence daily life, because I've been forced to acknowledge that problem and now I have to do something about it.

So there you have it! More of an ordeal than I had originally anticipated."

And if you've read all the way through to here you are completely amazing and deserve a freebie! As I mentioned at the beginning Vivki (A Work in Progress) has given me permission to post my Christmas Card that I made with her kit, Merry Mistletoe. I hope you like it! Customize it with your own text...

Download your freebie here



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Caryn - OMG! You have really been through it, haven't you? I hope your eye recovers as it should and everything is better for you.

Love the card you did and more than happy to let my fellow CTM do a QP with my kit. Mwah!

Anonymous said...

Oh my, you sound like one brave lady!! I hope all turns out well for you.

Thanks very much for the lovely Christmas card.

Anonymous said...

alrighty, caryn. i am at the same time completely grossed out and in awe of the fact that you have gone through all of it and have children, and homeschool, and, and, and....my word. you poor dear. many, many prayers your way for a complete recovering and that this problem is resolved as much as possible. hey, i did a layout using your adorable christmas kit. check out my site and you'll see it there. kisses xoxo erin

Anonymous said...

OUUUUCCCCHHHH! I tried to read all of the post, honestly I did, BUT I am such a baby when it comes to all this fiddling stuff I couldn't. I really hope it helps because that's all that matters, you are so brave.

So... back to what I came to do originally .... and that was to thank you for this lovely card.

I hope your eye is on the mend.

Hugs
Susie

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain about the eye problems. I've had my share, but nothing like what you've been through! Hope time will heal and make it all better. Thanks so much for sharing the pretty card!! Wishing you a speedy recovery!!

Anonymous said...

Gah! Sorry about your eye problems. I hope they get better! Thanks for the cute card.