Recent DALK transplant and blog

[sboo84]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, although I've been reading it for a while. I was diagnosed with KC when I was 15, and yesterday I had a DALK operation on my right eye. I've started a blog about it here if anyone would like to read it: http://dalkcorneatransplant.wordpress.com

My aim with the blog is to give a personal account of what it's like to actually experience a transplant. there's plenty of factual information out there on the web regarding corneal grafts, but it's sometimes harder to find a personal account- what is the pain like? How long does it take the sight to settle? What is it like to have a general anaesthetic? etc. Hopefully anyone considering a graft or due to have one soon can read the blog and get a better idea of what to expect. I'm hoping to update it as regularly as possible in order to give a full picture.

I'd also like to say that I think this forum is great. Keratoconus can be quite a frustrating and lonely condition at times due to there being a lack of awareness about it, and it's great that people can share their experiences in this way.

Steve

[Andrew MacLean]

sboo84

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the link to your blog.

Every good wish for a speedy recovery.

Andrew

[longhoc]

Hi Steve

You've also got a real gift for writing. Please do keep us up to date with your story if you can. Even more impressive to be posting to your blog so soon after your big day. I couldn't even work the Sky TV remote when I got home... like some sort of drunken teletubby. When's your first scheduled post-op check-up ?

Cheers

Chris

[sboo84]

Thanks for the welcome Andrew, and thanks for the feedback on the blog Chris! I do a bit of freelance writing at the moment and I'm hoping to go into it full time once the graft has settled. My first post graft assessment is due on Tuesday, but I actually went back to the eye infirmary this morning because when I woke up the eye felt much more inflamed and 'gritty' than it did yesterday. I'd been told to veer on the safe side if there was any change so I went to get it checked out and they said it seemed fine- no sign of rejection, eye pressure normal etc. It seems to have calmed down now and feels a lot less swollen, so it was probably just me being a bit on edge!

How long is it since you had your graft?

Steve

[Andrew MacLean]

I had my first graft in December 2003 and my second in the spring of 2005. It took a bit of time for them to settle and for me to recover a useful level of sight, but I now have better than 6/6 vision (corrected) in one eye and not far behind that in the other.

Andrew

[jessiex21]

Hi Steve

Thanks for doing this blog, I had my first transplant just one week before you ( on the 15th Aug) and like you found it difficult to find information of just what to expect both just after the op and over the longer period of recovery. It is great to have someone to 'compare notes' with .

I also was hoping for a partial thickness graft but had to be changed to a full thickness as my cornea was too thin- having said that I wasn't too worried either way. I think you have to trust the surgeons to do what is best at the time.

Hope you continue to recover well and continue your updates

Al

[Anne Klepacz]

Thanks for the updates on this great blog, Steve. And great to hear that all is going well.
All the best
Anne

[sboo84]

Thanks Anne! I'm going to try and keep writing it as long as i can to try and provide a full picture of what it's like. The posts will probably become a bit more boring as the weeks go on and there's less to report, but I suppose that's also a good thing because it means that everything is going to plan.

Al I hope things are going ok with your graft too? Like you say it's good that we had PK and DALK at the same time and can compare notes. How have you found it all so far?

Steve

[Anne Klepacz]

Hi Steve
It's Jessie who had a PK at the time you were having your DALK, not me.
I had PK grafts in both eyes back in 1986 and 1988 when DALKs weren't an option. They're both going strong all those years later so I hope that's an encouragement.
All the best for an uneventful (though I'm sure not boring) blog!
Anne

[Anne Klepacz]

Good to hear that all continues to go well. Do post a message when you do an update on your blog, Steve, otherwise it disappears down the pecking order of threads and not many people will read it.
All the best
Anne