Discharged from the Eye Clinic!!!

On January 10th, just over a year after my retinal detachment surgery I had my '6 month' post op check up.

It involved a field of vision test, and the usual eye poking stuff.

ALL IS WELL.

There is no sign of a cataract - these usually appear within 6 months after surgery and I'll probably get one at some point, but who knows when (I do like to defy the odds).

My eyes are both fine. The op eye (my left) has settled nicely and everything is as it should be. And so I HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED. No more eye appointments for me!

I'm now under the care of the optician/gp as everyone else is for their eye care so if I do feel there is a problem I just go to my doctor to get referred.

I feel relieved. Eyes are so precious and it is amazing to know that things should be settled for a while.

In other news - I am 17 weeks pregnant with our 3rd child. My midwife, when I mentioned the operation, told me that I'd have to be referred to the consultant to see what he thought about labour strain on my eyes. I've yet to see him but my eye doctor says that there is no reason why I can't have a natural birth and that she doesn't think that there is a risk to my eyes. Which is fabulous!

Hopefully I'll not need to update this blog ever again, or at least for a fair while! I hope if you've found this through google that it has been some use to you!

Nearly 11 Months Post-Surgery!

I can't believe that it has been 10 months since I last posted and nearly 11 months since I had the retinal detachment surgery. It is crazy how quickly time passes.

I was told I would get a 6 month check-up on my eyes but I haven't had one yet! I called the hospital a few weeks ago in case they'd written to me and I hadn't received it or something but they tell me that I am on the list but that they are behind with appointments so I've just got to wait it out.

There is nothing in everyday life to show that I've had the surgery and I've found that I very rarely get migraines these days whereas at the end of last year I was getting them every 20 days or so. I don't know for certain that it was related but it was the migraines that alerted me to the vision that was going and caused me to go to the doctor. Since surgery I've only had a couple of migraines which leads me to think it's not just a coincidence!

I have no vision problems (other than my usual short sighted-ness, which doesn't seem to have changes) and no sign of a cataract.

I do get a line of yellowy white light that moves across the bottom left of my left (surgery) eye, the line moves rapidly towards the centre of my eye and then disappears, it does this two or three times and I notice it throughout the day. It is really hard to explain what it looks like. I plan to ask about it when I get my check-up but it doesn't affect my vision or give me any other problems so I'll leave it for now.

I notice that this blog generally gets views from people googling about retinal detachment surgery which is EXACTLY why I started it. If you found me via google then hello! Feel free to leave a comment, I'll answer any questions I can.

When I eventually get my next check up I'll blog about it, until then....

S

WOOO - I'm free! 24 days since surgery!

I had a check-up today with the main surgeon who did the operation on me.

I had the dilating drops in as usual and he checked both eyes and the pressures in and them and....

I'M FINE! The eye has 'healed perfectly' (his words) and I don't have to be seen for 6 MONTHS. 6 whole months of freedom from eye prodding. Fantastic or what! I can also stop the drops I've been using :D

I asked my questions and:

I can wear contacts again - WOOO, I actually had some in my handbag and put them straight in. My vanity was not cured by 4 weeks in glasses!

I can go swimming, go on the water slides and rapids

I can go in the sauna (that we will have in our holiday lodge)

I can give birth naturally (should I want to have another child)


All positive, all good and no signs of a cataract.



Now I'm sorted with my eye and now my spare room is clear I will scan in all of the information that I was given and upload it into a blog post in case it is useful to anyone! Expect these posts over the next few days!

Thanks for reading

Maybe not a cataract! - Plus GRRR

Ok so maybe it isn't a cataract. After a lot of looking and testing my vision myself I realised that my left eye can't see very wellCLOSE-UP. Which means that when i've got my glasses on and am using both eyes seeing close up causes me to strain and if I don't strain then it's blurry. If I take my glasses off it is better but not perfect. If I hold something further away then I can read it with glasses but not without.

So I'm guessing I might now be a bit long-sighted in my left eye as well as short-sighted. Not great but not awful either. Though I've heard that cataract surgery can improve vision a lot in the eye it's done on so maybe if/when I do get a cataract my vision will get better again! For the time being I'm not getting new glasses. I'll just read things at a distance or peer with one eye...

The GRRRR is aimed at conjunctivitis. My littlest girl has it. Which means we'll probably all get it. I've no idea what this means for me and my eye! If I do get it I'll call the hospital and ask for advice. Typical though. And our washing machine which broke 2 weeks ago is STILL broken as we're still waiting for parts. So I can't even hot wash everything in the house to help make sure I don't get it.

Sigh!!

Think I'm getting a cataract,

The vision in my left eye is slightly blurry. Not awfully so but it feels different and when I look with my left eye my vision isn't good (with my glasses on). It could be just a vision change as a result of the operation but I thought that that was pretty much instant.

I've been doing some reading on cataracts. The RNIB site is useful. It describes it exactly as I described it to my husband - as though my glasses need cleaning even though they are clean.

Cataracts are listed as a common 'side affect' of a retinal operation and I was told that I would develop one at some point, but that it could be days, weeks, months etc. Today is 2 weeks and 1 day since the operation so I guess it could well be that.

I don't know whether to call the eye department or just wait until my appointment next Thursday? I might wait and see if it gets any worse or goes or changes.

This is what the RNIB say about surgery (taken from the link above)

Surgery

Cataract surgery usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes and most people go home from hospital a few hours later. It is usually done with a local anaesthetic, which means you will be awake during the operation but you won't feel any pain. You can talk to the operating team if you need any assurance. The local anaesthetic may involve drops and an injection or just drops.

For your surgery, you will be given drops to dilate your pupil. Your face will be covered by a sheet, which helps to keep the area around your eye clean during the operation. To remove the cataract, the ophthalmologist needs to remove the natural lens in your eye and replace it with a plastic lens implant. The most common way to remove cataracts is called phacoemulsification. This technique uses high frequency sound energy to break up your natural lens with the cataract. Only really small cuts are used, so you don't need any stitches, and this helps to speed up your recovery from the surgery. Usually, the ophthalmologist uses a machine which acts as a microscope to get the best view of your eye as possible.

The lens in your eye is made up of different layers and the outside layer is called the lens capsule. During the operation, the ophthalmologist cuts through the front of the lens capsule so they can reach the lens inside. Using the same instrument, the ophthalmologist can break up your lens and the cataract inside your eye, and remove it using suction. Your lens capsule is kept in place so that the artificial lens implant can be placed inside it. The tiny implant is folded so that it can be put into the eye through the same instrument that is used to remove the cataract. Once it reaches the right position, the ophthalmologist unfolds the artificial lens so that it sits in the right place inside the lens capsule.

As you are awake during the operation, you will be able to hear what is happening in the operating room. You can also communicate with the ophthalmologist and the nurses who are on hand to reassure you. Because the eye is anaesthetised and your pupil is dilated, you may be able to see some lights and movement but not the details of the instruments used. You should not feel any pain in your eye.

A short time after your operation, your eye will be examined, to make sure the operation has been a success. Your eye will be covered with a dressing which stays in place when you go home, normally a few hours later. Your eye may begin to feel sore once the local anaesthetic starts to wear off. The pain isn't usually too bad and you can take a painkiller tablet, such as paracetamol, to help. The dressing, which is put on in the hospital, usually needs to stay on your eye overnight, but you should be able to take it off the following morning. Your eye may look red and you might develop some bruises but these will improve over the next few days.

Great. Another eye operation. Another local. Another eye patch!  It says under the activities to avoid that swimming should be avoided. I'm going to centreparcs on holiday on 6th February so if it IS a cataract then I'm going to have to ask to have the surgery after that - I believe that timescale isn't so important with cataracts so that shouldn't be a problem.

Will keep you updated...

Day 14 - THE BUBBLE HAS GONE

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The gas bubble is no more! Have been watching it shrink all day until it was teeny weeny and now it is nowhere to be seen! It'll be 2 weeks tomorrow since I had the operation!

I'm so excited because:

a) It means there is nothing in my vision bobbing about
b) My eye-sight is the SAME as pre-operation! I had read that sometimes the operation can change your prescription and I was a bit stressed about having to get new glasses but my vision hasn't changed in any noticeable way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excuse the exclamation marks, I am very happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know when I'll blog again, maybe after my check-up (27 January) unless anything remarkable happens before then. I'm looking forward to forgetting the rather horrible start I had to the year and getting on with things :D

I have a list of questions for the opthomologist next time I see him though!

1. Can I wear contact lenses again now (please, pretty please)
2. Am I ok to go on water slides/rapids (we're going on holiday to Centre Parcs at the beginning of February)
3. Will I ever be safe to bungee jump/deep sea dive/sky dive/box (I've no plans to but you never know)
4. If I had more kids would a natural labour cause any more problems for my eyes

I might add to the list as I think of more!

Day 13 - the bubble is shrinking!

I've been noticing the gas bubble shrinking daily but now it seems really small! It is so hard to describe the size of it. I'm noticing it more because it is sticking up more, I guess because it is smaller? Looking straight ahead I can see more than half of it and at the angle I look at my laptop I can see pretty much all of it, it doesn't get in the way as such but it is a little annoying as it wobbles around and I see it out of the corner of my eye and then forget that that's what it is and keep trying to look at it.

I was told it would be 3-4 weeks before the bubble went completely but I guess that varies. I'm so excited about it going! I'll have full vision for the first time since Christmas when the vision in my left eye got worse - and prompted me to get seen. I've not driven yet since the operation but I think I'm just about ready to now and I don't feel like my vision is affected. If I look straight down and through the bubble it is double BUT it's small enough now for that not to matter - plus I don't drive with my head down (obviously) so I should be fine :D Will probably wait until next week to do it.

The redness is my eye is the same as yesterday - barely there. And I didn't sleep with my patch on last night (bad me) it was fine. But shhhh don't tell anyone!

Oh and I wore a little make-up today. No one noticed but I felt better!