Tag Archives: Eyesight

4 days post graft

8 Jul

Things have been going really well since I last wrote.  Yesterday I even left the house to take Magnus for a walk in the park.  In very large sunglasses in the drizzle and spending a lot of the 20 minutes covering my eye with my hand, but still I was out!  Once I got back I was really tired and so I had a nap for a couple of hours and then I was pretty exhausted for the rest of the evening and also feeling very emotional but I guess that is just everything catching up with me and the stress about the op coming up has probably caught up with me.

I had a good nights sleep last night and Rich woke me up again for my drops at 8am….I don’t think I have ever slept quite as much as I have done the last few days, but I’ve decided to relax and go with it.

Today the vision in my eye seemed even less clouded and blurred which is amazing.  I also had less pain and the eye just feels is a little uncomfortable more than anything else.  Pretty much like it did when I had left my lenses in for too long and my eyes were tired.  It was sunnier this morning so I’ve been wearing my sunglasses inside but the curtains were open.  I’ve been out in the garden with the dogs and Rich’s Mum came for Sunday lunch which was really nice and although I was really tired I’ve managed to get through the whole afternoon without a nap….I am definitely making progress!  Oo, other exciting news (although not in normal circumstances!) was that I washed my hair – it was getting desperate and I feel so much better now!

I’ve been putting in the anti-rejection drugs every 2 hours and the antibacterial every 4 hours but Rich does keep reminding me – he’s going back to work tomorrow so I’m going to set the alarm on my phone so I don’t forget

I have my follow up with Mr Larkin on Tuesday afternoon in London and hopefully he’ll be happy with what he sees.  I’m really positive about it and I don’t think I could hope for it to be any better, it really is amazing how quickly things have been getting better.  When I think it’s only 4 nights ago that I had the op and now I am here in no pain I feel really very lucky.

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3 days post graft

7 Jul

I’m feeling much much better today.  I had a really good sleep last night and my eye is feeling so much better now.  I haven’t needed to take any pain killers so far today which is great and the vision in my left eye seems a lot less cloudy.  I’m also feeling a lot less sensitive to light and I even have the curtains in the living room open….so nice to be in a brighter room!

I think I might venture out this afternoon for the first time since the op…with a large pair of sunglasses on of course which might get a few funny looks in the rain.

Here is a picture of my left eye this morning….

Eye 3 days post graft

Feeling better 3 days post graft

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2 days post-graft

6 Jul

Today has definitely been a day of ups and downs.  I should probably point out at this stage that I am not a very patient person!  Last night I was watching tv in the living room, I didn’t have my right lense in (I also have Keratoconus in my right eye and some scarring – but not as bad as my left eye was).  I covered the right eye and was completely amazed that I could actually just about make out a word on the tv with my left eye, which I couldn’t do with my uncorrected right eye.  I was completely shocked at this and ran in to the kitchen to tell Rich, who I think thought I shouldn’t be ‘self testing’ my eyes quite so soon!  Also amazingly I had less glare from the light in my left eye that my right.  After these little experiments I headed to bed at 10pm, and other than waking up at about 4pm I slept until Rich woke me for my drops at 8am.

This morning I was feeling great, no pain in my eye and feeling really positive.  I came downstairs, did a little bit of tidying in the kitchen, went on the ipad for 20 minutes and thought how well I was doing.  My body then decided the remind me with a bump that I have just had a corneal transplant and this was not in fact a normal Friday.  My eye became quite sore and I have felt really sick all afternoon.  I got a headache which I’ve taken ibuprofen and paracetamol for.  My eyes have also been streaming a lot more than yesterday it feels like.  I went to bed at around 2pm until about 5pm where I dozed and then got up to come down to sit on the sofa.  I also think that sitting in the dark doesn’t really help one’s mood!  I guess I got a little carried away with feeling good this morning and was already planning to venture out….like I said I am impatient!  Still things could be a lot worse, and I am feeling lucky to have been able to have the operation. 

One interesting thing that I didn’t mention yesterday was that Mr Larkin said that although I had to have a full thickness (Penetrating keratoplasty) the chances of rejection were not higher than in the partial thickness graft (Still around 5%) and nor were the complications any higher in full thickness.  This was interesting as information on the internet seems to point to full thickness grafts having more complications.

Until tomorrow, Emma x

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The Big Day (Day of the Graft)

4 Jul

I’ll be leaving in a couple of hours to go and get the train in to London.  If I am completely honest I am starting to feel pretty nervous, so I am catching up on some emails and took Magnus for a long walk with some of his friends in the park.  He loved it.  I’m taking him out again soon so that he’s tired out whilst he’s home alone when we’re at the hospital.

Last night my eyes seemed to want to remind me why I am having the graft.  Both of my eyes really really sore and I had to take my lenses out early evening.  I struggled in the kitchen and Rich had to clean up as I couldn’t see anything.  Rich then tested out my vision without lenses in a very scientific manner (ha!) – how many fingers am I holding up, I scored 0/10 in that game even when he was pretty much right in front of me, so I guess this operation is the right thing to do!

One great charity that I found yesterday when looking for Audio Books is Listening Books (Patron is Stephen Fry) which provides an audio book library service to people throughout the UK who have impairments.  I called them yesterday to see if I qualify for the service and they said that I definitely do, so I am now all signed up and can access 1000s of audio books from my computer which will be so useful whilst I can’t read much.

I’ve had some food and now can’t eat again until after the operation, and I’m drinking lots of water as I can’t drink anything past 2pm.  I’m going to go and pack my bag ready to stay over night tonight.  Most important I think will be my ipod so that I can listen to some music tonight.

So this is it, and my next blog will be post-op!

Emma x

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