My wonderful SmartPhone

[Eisa]

More on my post a couple of days ago. Thanks for the advice! I’m looking to buy one of these small indoor bicycle indoor roller devices that you can just put your bike on and pedal for a while. At least there won't be any hills!
I was thinking about what I’ve been doing for the last 4 months or so and my experience of a corneal graft and maybe I can help some others with some tips on what I’ve found works for me. I can only tolerate a contact lens in my un-operated eye for a few minutes or maybe a few hours at a time. The rest of the day everything is a big blur.
My android smartphone is no doubt my best friend at the moment and it's been quite fantastic in getting me through this so far.
1. I have a “phablet” - the Samsung Note 3. My un-operated eye has good vision at 2 inches distance without a contact lens. This came about because I had hydrops maybe 4 years ago and its left me stupidly short-sighted but the good news is that I can even see the individual pixels on the phone without a contact lens. But only at a couple of inches distance. The phone is exactly the right size that I can see it well. I can use e-mail and surf the internet and even watch iplayer / movies on Netflix. I can't do it for long without a break though – but it’s certainly useable.
2. I bought a flexible arm thing off eBay for £10 and that clips onto a nearby radiator and so I can watch the movies without having to hold the phone in my hand for a long period.
3. Third on the list is a pair of BOSE wireless headphones. They are quite expensive £150 I think but worth every penny and ultra comfortable even for long periods. Bluetooth connects to the phone easily and you've got unlimited music and YouTube / Spotify / football commentaries etc and I like Radio Paradise but that's only for “people of a certain age”. I can't see a television set without a contact lens so this means you can still live in the front room with the family and not have to lock yourself away in frustration at not being able to sit there in the evenings.
4. For typing I use android’s built in Google voice recognition. I'm using it now to type this. It's really accurate and I can't speak highly enough of it. I just email the "raw" text to myself and then correct the few errors manually. It's the one thing that's keeping me sane all the way through this period of my life I can still carry on with some useful stuff.
5. Touch Typing. I still need to type.I can "peck" at the keyboard OK but I wish I'd learned to touch type years ago. BBC Dance Mat Typing (meant for kids) is brilliant - and free.
6. Audio books. RNIB Talking Books service. It cost £50 a year to register but then you have a quite brilliant choice of books which are delivered 6 cds at a time by post and you can keep them as long as you like. Considering talking books are sometimes £25 each this is fantastic value for money. My local library has some but the choice off RNIB is much better. I'm not officially registered as “partially sighted” and I was a bit concerned that I might get refused but they were fine with it and it's been a godsend. The problem I have is staying awake long enough! I copy the mp3 files across to my phone using Dropbox and use a free app called Smart AudioBook Player and it’s superb. It’s even got a sleep timer on it for when you nod off.
7. Eye Drops. My new found hobby of taking eye drops. I’m on ophthalmic steroids every 3 hours. It’s important not to forget!
I've got an app called MediSafe which alerts me every 3 hours. If you hit the snooze button it will keep nagging you until you tick it off but only AFTER you've taken your drop. This way you don't forget. In 4 months I’ve not missed a single dose using this application. At my last check-up the doctor said that the graft is fine and “I can see you’ve been following the medication”. This is the reason - else I’d certainly forget now and again.

Hope this is of use to others!


Bob

[Anne Klepacz]

Many thanks for this wealth of information, Bob.
All the best for progress on the new graft. Meantime, is there nothing the hospital contact lens dept can do to give you more wear time for the lens for your other eye - different type of lens, different fit?

[Lia Williams]

I can only tolerate a contact lens in my un-operated eye for a few minutes or maybe a few hours at a time.

Bob,

Have you tried piggy backing your contact lens? It might be worth asking if you could try a soft lens under the RGP. My right lens wear was down to about an hour but piggy backing has improved it 15 hours.

LIa