Rejecting again

[Prue B]

I went to the optometrist again cause my Left eye seemed more blurry than normal without specs. I told her I was being paranoid. She said fine best to check it all out. I had early rejection in my right eye in Feb this year and June 2000. I am beginning to feel like I live at the optometrists because my daughter has just started wearing RGPs after breaking 3 frames in 3 months (she is 7) Any way turns out I am hazing again this time both Right (worst) and Left has gone out in sympathy. Vision has deteriorated but pressure is fine and corneal thickness same as last time. Back on hourly pred. That was Friday the 31st of October. Go back in on Monday, Haze nearly gone from Left gained a line of vision. Some central haze in right gained 4 lines of vision had lost and 3 and 6 respectivley. Continue with hourly pred, faxing opthalmologist. I live in the bush 7 hour round trip, so I rely on my optometrist for day to day stuff. Come back Wednesday. Wednesday opthalmologist rings can i come in next week for a check up. Expecting that, then off to optometrist, Left eye the same, lost a line in right. Pressure jumped from 15 to 21, not measuring thickness as dont want to upset my cornea any more. Haze has not improved in my right eye since Monday. Both off us were expecting it to be basically clear. Hourly pred forte until I see David (opthal). Today is Sunday. I am glare sensitive and narky. I am not seeing as well as I have in the past and I am not a happy vegemite. Could be worse. It can always be worse, but I am heading into the unknown. I have always caught it early and regressed my rejection episodes. This is a new ball game for me.
Then on top off all that we got lizards last week and the thermostat in the enclosure has gone kaput, so we have no heating for them. Hopefully the shocky will be here tomorrow because they are cold and are not allowed to eat.

[rosemary johnson]

Dear Pru,
SOrry to hear about your eyes, and your lizards.
Hope they are all sorted out and AOK again soon. Good luck with the 7 hours round trip to see the ophthalmologist.
BYW, what's a shocky? - is this a spare part, or a new version of "sparky" (the electirician who's going to fix things)?
Rosemary

[Prue B]

Yeah my electrician is a shocky. We use him for all our electrical work, but he has been known to do interesting dances.

Really interested to see the thread about what happens after rejection. That is an area I have not had to delve into.
The worst part about my 700 km trip is an area called Anthonys Cutting causes all the Eustatian tubes to block, then you hit Melbourne and about 4 doses of Pred Forte gets released into your throat. I have learnt Aniseed masks the flavour. I am sucking Humbugs like there is no tomorrow.

[Andrew MacLean]

Prue

I am so sorry to hear your news. I hope that the Pred Forte brings things back.

By the way, is there any reason why you went first to your optometrist and not your ophthalmologist?

Andrew

[Prue B]

Actually Andrew 2 reasons, the first was I really felt nothing much was going on, no redness, no pain, no real extra sensitivity to light, that came later. So I thought maybe my axis were moving, they moved earlier this year and I had my script changed but I was told they could continue to shift a bit for a while. The other reason was it was a Friday and a 3 and a half hour drive to get there, same back. It is no excuse but getting to Melbourne is an issue on instant notice. I rang my optom because I was a little concerned about my sight, not my graft, and expected a fortnight wait, which did not concern me. I just felt I needed my mind put at rest. I knew with the out come I would be off to Melbourne, but once on the drops it was not going to deteriorate to quickly. My optometrists can measure my iop and my corneal thickness. My sister has gotten into the car and driven to Melbourne to the Eye and Ear for a broken stitch to be removed, but it did not seem that urgent.
I have just got back from Melbourne and it turns out I am not having a rejection episode, but that the cornea is wearing out. I had a cortisone injection. Had two before in 2000, and they are not a pleasant experience. need to ring him next week and back to melbourne in 3 weeks for a review. I still have haze and from what I can gather it is caused by a reduction in endothelial cells in the stroma. If this is the case, I figure I will probably need a new graft in that eye in the foreseeable future, and now the question is how long we can keep this one viable. It is probably better than having to have a regraft due to a rejection though as I assume the risks of a subsequent rejection are higher, if the graft fails due to rejection.
My optometrist is pretty cluey and I know if they feel I need to see my opthalmologist immediatley they will tell me, ring him and tell him I am on my way. Living in the bush they have to be able to do more than if they had specialists on hand.

[jamesar]

Far out, that's a harsh outcome, I do hope it improves for you. God bless

[Prue B]

I always knew grafts have a lifespan, and it varies. I wanted 30 years out of each, maybe I was greedy, but a lady I knew got 30 years out of hers so I decided that was a good benchmark. This graft is over 12, the other is 13 both are therefore successful. As well as that I have had up until this year good vision, initially without glasses and for the last 3-4 years with glasses. I think I am very lucky. What has happened is a worry, but knowing what is likely is better than not knowing. I have had 2 successful grafts, when I need another it should be as well. A rejection can be reversed,( Andrew I noted you said we should use the term rejection episode, but a full rejection, or one that does not reverse causes graft "failure", it is the most comman cause but not the only cause of graft failure. )most of the time, but it leaves a "hot" eye nore likely to fight off the next cornea. My issue is more subtle, probably caused by extra procedures, a previous vascularization of the cornea in 2000, and even maybe the graft initially had fewer cells to start with. There is no reason to believe when I do require my next graft these issues may not be a factor. I am hoping that the next graft may be able to be held of for a year or 2, but I figure it may be sooner. If I make it to 2010 I will crack the champagne.

[pepepepe]

Prue,

Did you surgeon tell you how long a transplant lasts at all before you went a head with it ? To me success means you don't have no more trouble with your sight, which can never be the case with any treatment for everyone.

Pepe

[Prue B]

No, but to be fair, no one can say how long a graft will last. Corneas as old as 99 can be transplanted. I don't know the age of mine, but theoretically an older cornea may not last as long as a younger one. We also do not know what has happened to the eyes our corneas come from. I know I have treated my corneas with respect, my eyes are well looked after. I wear dark glasses in bright light. I do not swim without googles. I medicate them as necessary. In short they are looked after, but what did their previous owners do? Hearts, lungs, kidneys livers can all fail after transplant, and not always due to rejection. just because a person gets a donor organ does not mean it will last forever. People with KC have gotten KC in their grafted corneas, either because the transplanted tissue already had some degree of subclinical KC, or the KC in the recipients remaining cornea was to strong for the donor tissue, who knows? What I do know is I was legally blind. I was unable to go places without aid. I was contact lens intolerant. Intacs, Dalk, C3R, none of those options were around, and to be honest I think I was too far gone for many of them. I had a choice, my life as it was with very impaired vision, or a chance at better sight, with many risks involved. Considering crossing the road had become a major risk factor for me, I felt the right choice was to have the grafts. If they gave me 10 years good vision and then I lost my sight again what had I lost? I have had 12 and 13 years good vision, really good vision. I saw my kids as babies and grow up to 7,8 and 9. I saw my sister and brothers marry, I saw my husband as I walked up the aisle. I have even see Essendon win a premiership since then. If I totally lost my sight tomorrow, I would be upset, but i would not regret the choice I made to have my grafts done. Nothing lasts forever, not even us.

[pepepepe]

Prue,

I was not saying you shouldn't have had a transplant - that would be ridiculous - only that they have been doing transplants (more than 100 years) to know what the failure stats are, and besides there are numerous studies on it if anyone wants to take a look.

I can't understand why it took them more than 100 years to do dalk partial grafts.

Best Wishes

Pepe