Pauls post graft diary

[Paul Osborne]

Sadly not!

[Dipesh]

Paul,

Just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your diary. Am impressed that your eye settled down so quickly and the clarity in your picture is so clear. Like John I too was on Maxisex hour for the first 4 weeks.

Hope your next appointment goes well and that improvement continues.

Dipesh

[Paul Osborne]

Since I had to see the consultant this afternoon Nurse SWMBO (think Nurse Ratched on acid*) decided that I could leave the house and have a bite to eat first.

So on a gloomy day out I went in sun glasses and jolly pleased I did as well as to be honest day light in fact any strong light hurts, before I had the op it was just plain uncomfortable now it hurts.

The hospital appointment was at 4:50 so feeling a bit keen we got there around 4:15, however there was a wait. A looooong wait. I saw the assistant to test my eye at around 6 and the consultant at around 6:40! Talking to the nurse I was told that he had been overbooked for the afternoon - slots are marked every 15 mins as per NHS norm however corneal appointments take around 30 mins. Go figure.

Anyway the eye test for my left eye came out as: 6/24 and 6/9 with pinhole glasses. I figured that was quite good as without my glasses my left (grafted) eye is much better than my right eye!

Once I saw the consultant he said that the eye test was incredible and that he was very happy with that and wished that they all went so well. I had my eye pressure measured - that was odd just plain odd. I will describe that bit when I can work out how! Anyway the eye pressure is at 17 (what unit I have no idea) and is well within normal limits. The consultant announced that things were looking good and to carry on taking both lots of drops 4 times a day for the next three weeks and come back and see him then. In the meantime take ibuprofen for the pain, don't do any lifting and try and rest as much as possible.

So well to put it bluntly I am muchly happy.

Thankyou Nurse SWMBO for making me do sod all and just rest.

* If you don't know who Nurse Ratched is you need to watch One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.

[Paul Osborne]

A quicky update to pull the pertinent bits out of the above entry:
Left eye without glasses: 6/24 with pinhole: 6/9
Eye pressure 17

Consultant so happy he is going on holiday for the next two weeks (though I suspect that was pre-booked)!

Paul

[John Smith]

Hi Paul,

That is very good news.

I presume that you're having the "glowing blue bubble on a sprung stick" device to test your pressure. Yes, it is odd! Not sure of the units myself (sure that it's something to do with an volume of mercury), but I think something in the range 6-20 is considered "normal".

[Paul Osborne]

John,

yes that the gadget - frightened the life out of me

Paul

[John Smith]

It probably would have scared me too had I realised that it actually MADE CONTACT! It took a few visits before I finally sussed it, and by then knew that it didn't hurt.

[Paul Osborne]

I knew it made contact, but to be honest am somewhat precious about the eye at the moment. Which I guess is hardly suprising.

Still good news is that SWMBO heard him say I can watch TV now (I havent for a week which wasnt really a loss tbh) which means I can watch the Australian GP on Sunday.

[Andrew MacLean]

Paul

bing bong Medication Time

Don't know about you but I enjoyed the book of cuckoos nest more than the film, although I thought that Jack Nicholson gave a tremendous performance as McMurphy.


Get used to the eye pressure test. It becomes part of the routine for visits.

Andrew

[Paul Osborne]

Andrew,

I have yet to read the book, its on the wants list. However since I have a stack of books around 4 ft high waiting to be read there isn't a panic for it!

I kind of figured that the eye pressure tests were going to be a regular occurrence.

I have also found out that if things do go iffy that I need to get to A&E at Ashford (15-20 miles away) as they have a dedicated eye ward. So thats handy to know.

Paul