I went to the retinal specialist (Dr. Devine) today. My appointment was at 2 pm, I was called back around 2:15 and didn't leave until 4:15! What a long day. I sat in the waiting room with a bunch of 80 year old men and women. I really felt like I was at the wrong doctor! The staff was very nice and so was the doctor. They took pictures of my eyes and I had lights shine in my eyes which made my eyes water so bad. Bottom line is I have to have surgery. Dr. Devine gave me a couple different options I need to think about. Since I have retinal detachment in both eyes I will have to have two separate surgeries. Its all on an outpatient basis done at The Christ Hospital. Which, I love Christ Hospital. When I delivered Olivia everyone there was so great, so that is one worry I don't need to worry about.
The one surgery option I have is called Buckle surgery. I will be under general anesthesia for his procedure and it takes about 35 minutes. The pros to this surgery is that it will fix my retinas for good. I wouldn't need to worry about having another surgery later on. The cons is the recovery is a little longer, my vision will change (it will get worse) and I won't be able to wear my contacts for 8 weeks. The other surgery is called Virectomy. The pros to this surgery is its done under a local anesthetic, it takes 15 minutes and my vision will not change. I won't be able to wear my contacts for 2 weeks with this surgery. The cons to this surgery is there is no guarantee it will work. I might have to go back into surgery and do the buckle surgery a couple weeks after the virectomy if it doesn't work. So, I have to think about it and call his office by the end of the week to schedule surgery.
I'm not looking forward to either one, no matter which one I choose its going to stink. So, please keep praying and help me make the best decision. I will have to wear an eye patch for a day then it will be taken off at my post op appointment. I hate wearing my glasses, so I dread having to wear them for a long time.
8 comments:
That is great news that it is treatable!
Carefully and Prayerfully consider your options! I will pray for you.
I zm happy that you got some answers!!!
i am glad it is treatable. my advice after all the eye surgeries Kevin has had recently is go for the permanent solution. Everything he had done that might work to save recovery time and longer surgeries didn't work and he had to have the other surgeries anyway. I hate my glasses to and would die without my contacts but doing it once and being sure it will work would be the way I would go. I will pray for you! Good luck!!!
Hello, this is Kevin, Cheryl's husband. I thought I would leave a comment and give you a little insight. First of all, the good news. Eye surgery in not painful. The recovery is bothersome (especially all the drops you will be putting in post op), but I really did not have a lot of "pain" associated with it.
I have had issues with my retina (I had a retinal occlusion), I had a cataract, a secondary cataract as well as having glaucoma (all in the same eye). I would try to ask some very specific questions about the surgery before I made a final decision.
Retinas are a really tricky thing and damage to them is not fixable via vision correction techniques. So, when the doctor tells you that your vision will change, what does he mean? If it means that your prescription will be different that is one thing, but the retina can have different consequences.
I am sure you know this, but basically, the retina is the projector screen for your eye. The eye gets the picture by how this screen looks. The key is for this screen to stay as smooth and flat as possible. If the screen (retina) gets wavy or bumpy, you can never focus the picture on it. The focusing issues deal with the shape of the eyeball itself basically. Sometimes it is too short and other times it is too long. This can be corrected by putting a lense in front of it. So, make sure you choose the treatment that will cause the least dramatic change to the surface of the retina first. Because once it is out of shape, it cannot be corrected.
I suffer from 2 problems now. My vision is very wavy all the time and I have a problem called Alice in Wonderland syndrome. The later is basically a condition where everything in that eye appears shorter and fatter than the "good" eye. It will always be that way.
I am thankful to have any vision, but I wish there was something that could be done. I did not have a choice to what they had to do, but if I would have, I would have liked to know as much then as I do now about the eye.
I am sure everything will be fine, but I would go for the least invasive option first even if there was a chance I would have to do the other anyway. I have awful luck when it comes to things, so I always seem to require the most invasive option anyway.
Do some internet research and learn as much as you can, it may just save some of your sight for you.
Kevin
Wow, Carebear, that was alot of good information and advice from Kevin! I agree, read up on it as much as you can before making your decision. I am praying hard for you!
Boy aren't Kevin and I helpful, we have different opinions, but he is the one who has actually been through it. So I agree with him. Good luck.
Thank you so much Kevin for your insight (no pun intended!). The doctor did say if I decide to do the Buckle surgery my prescription would change. He said its like if someone who didn't need glasses before will need glasses after.
I am leaning towards the Buckle surgery because I don't want to have to do multiple surgeries. The buckle surgery is a little longer recovery, but in the long run it may be better. I will research both procedures before I decide. Thank you so much.
I do have a question for you. Before your surgeries did you wear contacts? If so, how is it putting contacts in after surgery?
I did wear contacts before my surgery and I have to be honest, since my last surgery I have been unable to wear a contact in my one eye. Up until this last one, however it was not a problem. What you will find is 1 of 2 things will definitely happen. Either your eyes will become very dry and require you to re-wet your lenses much more frequently, or they will water a lot more and you may have to replace them more frequently due to "gunk" buildup.
The eye seems to be pretty remarkable, it is able to tell you if you have the smallest grain of sand in it, yet you are able to put a contact directly on it and it becomes desensitized to that. The same thing happens with the surgery. It may be "irritated" for a few days, but then it goes away and feels pretty normal.
Good luck, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Kevin
wow! He gets his brains from me.
i will pray you make the right decision.
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