Finally HAD a graft

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Lynn White
Optometrist
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Joined: Sat 12 Mar 2005 8:00 pm
Location: Leighton Buzzard

Postby Lynn White » Sat 13 Aug 2005 3:53 pm

Hi Claire...

All the best for the surgery and as you said.... PATIENCE is a big word. The recovery can be very frustrating as sometimes it seems like YESSSS!! its fine - and then it wanders off again.

So fingers crossed here for you!!

Lynn

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whiteduck
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Location: Berkshire

Postby whiteduck » Sat 13 Aug 2005 6:44 pm

Good luck from me too! You'll be fine.

Best regards
Ian

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Sarah Beales
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Postby Sarah Beales » Sun 14 Aug 2005 1:49 pm

ALL THE BEST NEXT WEEK SWEET,
YOU CAN DO IT !.

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Sweet
Committee
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Posts: 2240
Joined: Sun 10 Apr 2005 11:22 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and contact lenses
Location: London / South Wales

Postby Sweet » Sun 14 Aug 2005 10:46 pm

Arrgghh D day has finally come now and i can't think straight for want of stressing. Ok, quit the panic this is fine! lol :roll:

Needing to be at hospital by 16.30 tomorrow for surgery at about 18.00, would like to say i AM excited but stressing so much now i feel sick. Awww ..... this is ALL in my head as i know it will be fine! Haven't even packed yet to go, hhmmm, maybe i think if i don't it won't come so quick lol, maybe not!!! 8)

Ok ..... going to throw some things together now hehe, as a toothbrush and pjs would be a dam good start!! :P

Will check in when i can! Will be good news i'm sure! :lol:

Love and hugs ..... Claire X x X
Sweet X x X

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Sweet
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Posts: 2240
Joined: Sun 10 Apr 2005 11:22 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and contact lenses
Location: London / South Wales

Postby Sweet » Wed 17 Aug 2005 5:12 pm

Ok thought i would come here and say how things are going!

Went for the graft last Monday, was there at 4.30pm but didn't go in until just gone 8pm so was getting kinda stressed by then! It wasn't that long though, as i was back in my room by 10pm, just took a little while to come round, but that was nothing to do with the surgery.

The night didn't go bad at all, ten minutes after i came back decided that i would go and put my pjs on, hehe, well i wasn't going to sleep in a gown lol, and then as i was up thought i would try out the handy walk in shower! LOL!! Wow the things you HAVE to do, and it was really neat! :lol: So when the nurse came back with painkillers i was all settled sitting up in bed reading, completely painfree. And my twin sister had left me a bar of chocolate which was very nicely needed with a tuna sandwich and tea! So all was fine.

Until the next day came, as at the follow up appt obviously had to take the eye shield off which was very nicely stuck to my skin with dam elastoplast that wouldn't budge! LOL! Very handy stuff until you need to take it off! But eventually we won in the end, although that really, really hurt! I know people here who have had it done will know what i mean!!

Anyway ..... i did get away with a partial graft but only just as the scarring had gone right down to the bottom which meant that the surgeon had to try to smooth out some wrinkles. At the follow up he said sadly some of them are still there but he thinks this will eventually flattern itself out in time, so i am hopeful. I did really want a DALK so that is what he gave me, although i knew that if needed he would have to do a full graft.

So, now i am told i have a very flat cornea, with 24 stitches, and the pressure is fine, being 10 in the left (grafted eye) and 9 in the right. Yesterday when the eye patch came off i didn't see any difference at all, but then i do not see anything with this eye normally so that was no real surprise, but today everything is worse and all very cloudy. But i am expecting that so it is ok. It all takes time i know, and with these wrinkles i have been told it may well take two years before it all sorts itself out.

I am in a lot of pain today though and very photophobic but was told that i would be like this as he had to use a lot of pressure to try to smooth things out, so he said i will be in more pain then usual, hmmm, ok then! Can't really say a lot to that can you, i mean i don't know what is usual! So i will just keep taking the tablets lmao! So am taking paracetamol, and thankfully have now acquired some brufen which seems to be helping.

Am on the usual eye drops, abx and steroids four times a day, which really do sting and is the last thing my eye is asking for, but i know it is very much needed. The main problem i have besides pain is watering, and after sleeping or closing my eyes for a while, i have so much trouble and pain trying to carefully clean it so that i can open my eye. But i am being very gentle and very very hygenic, having had a really bad infection in the other eye i have learnt something! So things are going ok.

Have my next appt on Friday so will see what he says. I know it says to contact them if you can feel anything in your eye as a stitch may have come loose, but i don't think i am going to notice that, as i normally feel everything. Even in my other eye i always notice a lens, so i guess i am just going to have to take it slowly and see how it goes.

My right eye is still suffering with iritis so i am still on steroid eye drops for that, funnily enough the same ones i am using for the left, so now i am photophobic in both eyes and needing the same steroids for completely different reasons! Well, i never did do things by half! And now i have pain in both eyes but a completely different sort. As the graft is giving me burning pain which is like a dull throbbing, and the right with iritis is a sharp intense stabbing one, lol, so i don't really know which one is nicer! Hmmm NONE would be a better option!!

But ..... these eye masks are neat aren't they??! LOL! All nice and dark and cushioned to wear to bed, hehe, i look like a pro skiing!! Well you have to laugh!

Ok, well am going to go back to bed now, as i haven't had much sleep, though i'm not really complaining here. Family and friends have been calling around with flowers and food, awwww sweet :lol: Have now got 7 bunches of flowers and have run out of vases to put them in!!! Aww, feel dam loved now and even though i am in pain find this all rather funny. As here i was earlier hiding in the dark with 3 doctors and 6 nurses from A & E all sitting on my bed, hehe, well if you are going to be ill, it's always best to have the right care isn't it??!! LOL, and i didn't even need to pay for that!!!! :lol: :P

Ok, will drop in and let you know how things go Friday! Take care everyone and hoping you can all see ok, well better than i do at least, hehe which isn't hard really as it is practically nothing at the minute!!

Love Claire X x X
Sweet X x X

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Gillian
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Location: Herts

Postby Gillian » Wed 17 Aug 2005 6:32 pm

Thank you for your message. I do hope everything continues to improve and do keep us posted. Best wishes

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jayuk
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Location: London / Manchester / Cheshire

Postby jayuk » Wed 17 Aug 2005 6:42 pm

Sounds like you have had a trouble free experience which is great!......

Glad things went well!!!
KC is about facing the challenges it creates rather than accepting the problems it generates -
(C) Copyright 2005 KP

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Drew Radcliffe
Regular contributor
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Posts: 142
Joined: Tue 30 Mar 2004 9:02 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Location: Cardiff

Postby Drew Radcliffe » Wed 17 Aug 2005 9:30 pm

Hi Claire

Glad your ok and in one piece. I'd send you some chocs but I'd eat them before I got them to the postbox.

Take care of yourself

Drew & Yates

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Sweet
Committee
Committee
Posts: 2240
Joined: Sun 10 Apr 2005 11:22 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and contact lenses
Location: London / South Wales

Postby Sweet » Wed 17 Aug 2005 9:41 pm

Thanks everyone for your support am just in so much pain and hiding in the dark, oh this is so not fun :(

Thanks Drewy for your offer of chocs, would be lovely hehe but i think you are right in that they wouldnt make it before you ate them!!! So glad though that you wasnt blaming Yates for that!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!! And yea you are right, a graft doesnt ask to go for a pee early hours but it does dam well hurt!! Talk soon!

Sweet X x X
Sweet X x X

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Sweet
Committee
Committee
Posts: 2240
Joined: Sun 10 Apr 2005 11:22 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Graft(s) and contact lenses
Location: London / South Wales

Postby Sweet » Wed 17 Aug 2005 11:01 pm

Ok just a ?

I think i am getting a lot of pain because my eye is so dry, as after all these years of not wearing a lens it is finding it hard being poked and having eye drops i think!

Does anyone know if i can use any drops to stop it being so dry. Have run out of systane as the opticians are waiting their supplier, but i do have artificial tears and lacri lube (if i spelt that right!)

Thanks
Sweet X x X
Sweet X x X

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