Eye Surgery

Eye Surgery
Well, I brought Robert home by 10:45 am and the surgery went just as the doctor had planned. He has a dot drawn above his left eye, so they didn’t operate on the right eye by mistake, and he has an eye patch with an eye shield (metal) over the patch. Looks like a pirate, except the top cover is royal blue instead of black. There can be advantages to him wearing an eye patch, for me that is…I always feel guilty eating high carb food around him, because he can’t have it. But driving home today, with the patch on his left eye and sitting in the passenger seat, he couldn’t see me eating my marionberry scone from Great Harvest Bread! He will keep the patch on today and tonight, and then he only needs to wear it at night for the next week or so. The biggest “nurse-y” thing I have to do is putting in eye drops, but that doesn’t start until tomorrow.
Robert’s diagnosis was Macular pucker (Epiretinal membrane) and he had a surgery that is called a Vitrectomy or a membrane peel. The initial step in this procedure is the removal of the vitreous gel through very small incisions in the eye wall, hence the name "vitrectomy". Then a gas is injected into the eye and the membrane is carefully removed…”carefully” because it is intricately attached to the retina and can easily tear it when being pulled away. Here is a link for you who like to read such things: http://www.salemretina.com/info/disease/epiretinal_membrane/index.php Of course, the cause of his Macular pucker is Diabetic Retinopathy. The injected gas will remain in the eye for up to 2 months, and is eventually replaced by the eye’s own natural fluid. During the first week, he should not bend over at the waist, lift, pull or do anything that could change the pressure in his eye…and for the next 2 months he should not travel by airplane or travel over 3000 feet above sea level. Shucks, there go our plans to fly to Italy and to climb Mt. Hood this summer. So far, the worst part of all of this is the heat wave we are experiencing…3 days over 100 so far, 105 yesterday, expecting 107 today and the same or so tomorrow. It is not cooling much at night, so without air conditioning our high has been 92 INSIDE the house…low about 78. Robert may be okay if he just sits in a chair and doesn’t move.
We are so thankful for good insurance, good doctors, and a good God. This surgery is relatively new, and without it vision progressively gets worse. With it, vision should stabilize and his doctor is hopeful it will actually improve vision. It will be a bit before the verdict is in on the improvement…the gas distorts vision for awhile. The other downside of this surgery? Development of cataracts is sped up. He can expect to need cataract surgery in 3 to 5 years instead of the normal 7 to 10 at his age. But since no one knows God’s plan…we keep trusting His will and good purpose. Thanks for continuing to walk with us.

~Jeanette