Did anyone make any final demands of their old cornea, or record its vision, prior to the graft? I'm due to have a PK on Thursday (8th May) and I keep meaning to draw some pictures of what the world looks like through my left eye (ie blurry and mainly nonsensical) before it goes bionic. Has anyone done anything similar? I guess it's so that if I have any bad days postop I can look back and see a concrete record of just how necessary the surgery was.
Wish me luck!
Cheers,
Rob
Last requests?
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Bobbybingo
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Re: Last requests?
Hi Rob
Just wanted to say good luck for Thursday, hope all goes well......I did mean to ask to see my old cornea but forgot all about it!!!!
Bob
Just wanted to say good luck for Thursday, hope all goes well......I did mean to ask to see my old cornea but forgot all about it!!!!
Bob
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Andrew MacLean
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Re: Last requests?
Rob
All the best for tomorrow! My old corneas were so scarred and pitted that they really weren't allowing any useful sight. I kept them too long
. Sentiment is a wonderful servant but a poor master.
Andre
All the best for tomorrow! My old corneas were so scarred and pitted that they really weren't allowing any useful sight. I kept them too long
. Sentiment is a wonderful servant but a poor master.Andre
Andrew MacLean
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melissa
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Re: Last requests?
Hi Robcm
Good luck for tomorrow. I hope it all goes well.
my vision was so bad in that eye that i don't think it could be measured. and the scars were giving me so much hassle that i was happy ot get it out. after my graft i pinned up a homemade type of chart (off internet)- which can be used at 3m distance, and i used that to see how my vision was changing. the first 2 weeks were still dissapointing but after that it really helped to lift my spirits.
If you want me to email it to you send me a PM.
Good luck for tomorrow. I hope it all goes well.
my vision was so bad in that eye that i don't think it could be measured. and the scars were giving me so much hassle that i was happy ot get it out. after my graft i pinned up a homemade type of chart (off internet)- which can be used at 3m distance, and i used that to see how my vision was changing. the first 2 weeks were still dissapointing but after that it really helped to lift my spirits.
If you want me to email it to you send me a PM.
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rosemary johnson
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Re: Last requests?
Robm
All the very best from me too for tomorrow. I hop eit goes swimmingly and look forward to eharing how it went.
Do you know who is doing it? - consultant herself, or....? (DO say "hallo" from me to anyone who knows me, esp if you get the same anaesthetist(s) I've met.....)
As for my old cornea - it was pretty much of a muchness as the one I still ahve, actually. Unaided vision just about indistinguishable; in the grafted eye with piggybacking lenses it was marginally better for distance vision but with more ghosting double images which made concentrating on reading with it difficult, and better wearing times with the piggybacking combo. The left (ungrafted) eye was better for reading, and for focussing binoculars, but not so good for wearing time. It was up to me to chose which one to do first (ha! and "first"?!) and I could have changed my mind on that AFAIK any time up to when surgeon's sidekick drew a big red arrow on my forehead in the ward just before the op.
I too was going to ask to keep - or at least to see - the bit cut out, and in all the awful hoo-hah and in my own stupidity, I forgot until it was too late. That has still not fully hit home with me - one day, no doubt.
DO feel free to do so - it is far from unknown, apparently - and tell us what happened.
I could tell that I was seeing things very differently, even peering out of the crack at the edge of the eye patch the same night - until my eye wept so much in the night it stuck itself shut! (If yours does, don't panic; apparently this is quite normal and doesn't mean it is infected. A nice nurse will sponge it all off at your follow-up visit the next day.)
Best of luck!
Rosemary
All the very best from me too for tomorrow. I hop eit goes swimmingly and look forward to eharing how it went.
Do you know who is doing it? - consultant herself, or....? (DO say "hallo" from me to anyone who knows me, esp if you get the same anaesthetist(s) I've met.....)
As for my old cornea - it was pretty much of a muchness as the one I still ahve, actually. Unaided vision just about indistinguishable; in the grafted eye with piggybacking lenses it was marginally better for distance vision but with more ghosting double images which made concentrating on reading with it difficult, and better wearing times with the piggybacking combo. The left (ungrafted) eye was better for reading, and for focussing binoculars, but not so good for wearing time. It was up to me to chose which one to do first (ha! and "first"?!) and I could have changed my mind on that AFAIK any time up to when surgeon's sidekick drew a big red arrow on my forehead in the ward just before the op.
I too was going to ask to keep - or at least to see - the bit cut out, and in all the awful hoo-hah and in my own stupidity, I forgot until it was too late. That has still not fully hit home with me - one day, no doubt.
DO feel free to do so - it is far from unknown, apparently - and tell us what happened.
I could tell that I was seeing things very differently, even peering out of the crack at the edge of the eye patch the same night - until my eye wept so much in the night it stuck itself shut! (If yours does, don't panic; apparently this is quite normal and doesn't mean it is infected. A nice nurse will sponge it all off at your follow-up visit the next day.)
Best of luck!
Rosemary
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robcm
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Re: Last requests?
Well it's now 8 days since the op and there's been a steady improvement every day. The eye was much more painful than I was expecting for the first few days, and I spent a lot of time lieing in bed in sunglasses listening to the ipod. Having the eye open or shut didn't seem to make much difference. Anyway, things have rapidly improved and I'm now back to driving, hardly wearing sunglasses and just taking a few painkillers a day. Having written that, it's now properly starting to throb, and I'm self medicating with a single malt whisky!
The surgeon seemed happy at my post op check and my vision through the pinhole was 6/9. There's one small window through the graft which is really clear, and up close I can read small print through it, which is the first time I've managed to read with that eye in maybe a decade! So I'm very hopeful for the future.
The last thing I did the night before surgery was draw a couple of sketches of what a point source of red light looked like through the old cornea - I must say that even with all the pain i'm glad to be rid of it. It was doing no useful work at all, and was pretty painful in its own right.
If I've managed to master this computer, I've added a photo of my graft taken today in which you can just about see the stitch and the remnants of subconjunctival haemorrhage.
I must add that this forum has been a real godsend over the last week - shared experiences really are easier to work through.
Rob
The surgeon seemed happy at my post op check and my vision through the pinhole was 6/9. There's one small window through the graft which is really clear, and up close I can read small print through it, which is the first time I've managed to read with that eye in maybe a decade! So I'm very hopeful for the future.
The last thing I did the night before surgery was draw a couple of sketches of what a point source of red light looked like through the old cornea - I must say that even with all the pain i'm glad to be rid of it. It was doing no useful work at all, and was pretty painful in its own right.
If I've managed to master this computer, I've added a photo of my graft taken today in which you can just about see the stitch and the remnants of subconjunctival haemorrhage.
I must add that this forum has been a real godsend over the last week - shared experiences really are easier to work through.
Rob
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Andrew MacLean
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Re: Last requests?
Good looking graft! and, well done on the vision thing.
Look after your graft, and when you look through it you will always remember the generosity of the family who gave it to you.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Yours aye
Andrew
Look after your graft, and when you look through it you will always remember the generosity of the family who gave it to you.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Yours aye
Andrew
Andrew MacLean
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rosemary johnson
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Re: Last requests?
Rob, clearly you are a man after my own heart - nothing better for self-medication than a good single malt.
Unless it's two good single malts, of course......
Glad to hear your surgeon was happy with your graft, too.
SOrry to hear about the pain. Sounds like you've been a bit unlucky on that front, but that all is on the mend now. Or will be, with the malt to help!
DO keep us posted on how it goes, won't you?
Rosemary
Unless it's two good single malts, of course......
Glad to hear your surgeon was happy with your graft, too.
SOrry to hear about the pain. Sounds like you've been a bit unlucky on that front, but that all is on the mend now. Or will be, with the malt to help!
DO keep us posted on how it goes, won't you?
Rosemary
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melissa
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Re: Last requests?
Thats great news Rob. I am glad it is looking up. Your graft looks good too- glad you managed to take a photo. The renewed vision is really a miracle. I am glad you are getting a bit of it too.
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