graft and inflamation

[Sophie Bull]

Hi all,
Just needed to put a post as Im having a bit of a down day. Last week my eyes were very sore, after seeing someone in eye casualty I awas advsied to use some drops and not wear my lens for four days then build up to wearing them again. I had given myself some sort of inflamation and soreness due to over wearing my lens. It has been really fine and so I suppose I have probably been wearing it 12 hours a day, its very hard to take it out when is comfortable!

Anyway I wanted to know how people deal with wearing time, I am supposed to just be wearing it for a few hours today, but I have three hours of seminars not including anything else and know that Im probably going to end up wearing it for at least 5 hours, I find it quite difficult to get it in and out sometimes (especially difficult in a public place) and dont want to have to go home part way through my day to take it out, just to put it in a again an hour or so later to get to my seminar. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

I am also buliding up to having a graft in my right eye (not the one I wear a lens in) on the 9th of dec. So is there any good pre op advice, I was thinking about seeing a homeopath as maybe there is something I can take to help the healing process...maybe arnica? Does anyone live in the sheffield area and know a good homeopath? As I am studying here and its a long way to bath where I know of a good homeopath.

Thanks for the help, sorry it was such a long post, I think I needed to get it all out of my head!

Sophie

[GarethB]

The graft is nowhere as scarey as it seems, my only advice when it comes to signing any consent forms, make sure someone reads it for you if you can not see. Still suprises me to this day that you go for an eye operation and you are used to read small print on a consent form! If you could read it, you would not be having the operation.

As far as wearing lenses for 12 hours, I have been advised not to wear them for more than 8 hours. This is difficult as I have to work 7.5 hours per day to which half hour lunch needs to be added and about 2.5 hours in total comuting so I need about 11 hours wear time.

Have you given your lecturers a copy of the information for schools and colleges regarding Keratoconus available from this web site. I have sent it to my employers as some is applicable to the work place too. My lecturers used to print all diagrams as handouts for me and allowed me to record lectures. I must admit this is going back to 1990, but I had a tape recorder from the RNIB that allowed a normal cassette tape to be recorded as if it had four and not two sides. This made the 90 minute tapes last for three hours so keeping costs down and I wrote my notes up at my leasure. Had the bonus of not having to read notes if my lenses were playing up, just sat back and listened to the lectures again!

On one of Susan Masons posts, she recomends some eye drops that you can use with lenses that helps. This might help with extra wear time without causing future inflamation.

My employers recognise KC as a disibility, so hopefuly a university will too, I know mine did. If they do nothing to help, you probably have a case for discrimination.

Good luck with the course and the graft. I celebrate the 16th birthday of my first graft, soon it will be legal to drink!

Gareth

[Janet Manning]

Hi Sophie,
I used homeopathic remedies after my grafts. When I returned to hospital the following day, the nurse commented that she had never seen anyone look so good the day after a graft!! They really helped with the healing and my fears beforehand.
I am now a qualified homeopath myself and would be happy to supply you with appropriate remedies. Please email me if you are interested and we can get in touch:- janetmanning@onetel.com
Since the op is like a first aid type situation, it would be possible to prescribe without a lengthy face to face consultation.
However if you prefer to see someone locally, I can suggest someone from the Register of the Society of Homeopaths, of which I am also a member.
Janet

[Susan Mason]

Sophie

I was prescribed Minims artificial tears to help with comfort and dryness. There are other products for comfort wearing contact lenses on the market however at the hospital I attend they were not too keen as many of them have lots of different preservatives in and I suppose also in some ways encourage you to overwear the lens.

I know you are due to have a graft so what would have been my next suggestion is not much use to you at present. I sometimes just wear 1 lens at a time, finding I can still see well enough to work, write etc at times I may close the eye without a lens in it so I will look pretty silly and pirate like. But it works pretty well for me and gives me more time with a lens when I need it.
Other than that at times it can be a real struggle juggling things around and I am so glad I am not a student, you have my admiration for carrying on as I am sure it must be very difficult at times. I would expect the uni should be making allowances for you and sometimes feel that with KC as it is not apparently obvious to all what is wrong with us we get overlooked. Whilst I am not suggesting that any disability is pleasant for the sufferer, I expect in this day and age most colleges/universties with have toilet access for wheelchair uses, so why should someone with KC not have a clean sink, running water and a little time/privacy to attend to lens care. I know omly too well how difficult it is trying to manage in the ladies toilets at work and having everyone who comes in comment as to how sick I am making them feel (I have sclerals so get lots of questions). I have on occassions shut myself in the first aid room to avoid all of this.

Do you have anywhere you could go to take the lens out for a while and then put it back in later, maybe a first aid room or a nurses room???

If not I think you should ask for a quiet place that fits your needs, if you were pregnant they would be quick enough to lie you down if you were feeling faint/unwell.

Maybe we should all campaign for better treatment and facilities, I for one am pretty fed up with being made to feel that I AM THE DIFFICULT ONE and that I will just have to fit in as best as I can with the normal people, who is to say it isn't the other way around??

Hope this helps a little RNIB I feel would back you on this and reinforce any points to the uni that they seems to not grasp or just didn't listen to.


Best wishes Susan