Journal - Complications

On Thursday morning, the day after we came home from Omaha, I awoke and knew right away that something was wrong. My right eye was watering a lot, and when I took off my shield, I could tell that my vision was not as good as it had been on the first two days after surgery. It was blurrier, and there were lots of funny shapes and patterns in my vision: light spots, dark spots and sparkly areas. This was a little bit alarming of course, but I didn’t let myself get too upset about it because I knew we were going to see the doctor that afternoon.
At 3pm, we were at the Kearney Eye Clinic for my appointment. Dr. Feilmeier didn’t like what he saw. The pressure in my right eye was dangerously low; the reading they got was 5. Normal eye pressure is 15, with anywhere from 10 to 20 being acceptable. Doc asked me again and again if I had bumped my eye or strained myself in any way, but I really hadn’t. I guess there’s no way to know for sure what happened, but he surmised that I may have slept on it just right (or wrong) and even with the shield on it had put pressure on the eye causing a leak around the cornea graft.
Whatever the case may be, it was something that would require close monitoring. Doc said we would need to go see him in Omaha on Friday. He said there was a good chance that the eye would stabilize overnight and nothing further would be required. But if the pressure was still very low on Friday, we may need to go back into the operating room to see what’s going on.
So on Friday, we got up early and headed for Omaha once again, arriving at Dr. Feilmeier’s office at about 10:30am. They took us in right away, and before too long the doctor came in.
Dr. Feilmeier spent quite a bit of time examining my eye, poking and prodding and studying. The pressure was still low, and my vision hadn’t improved from Thursday, but he was unable to find any leaks around the graft at all. He even had a glaucoma specialist come in and take a look. Eventually, they both agreed that the graft looked good and there was nothing much to be gained by further surgery. Whew!
And that was about it. Dr. Feilmeier went over all the rules with me again: no touching the eye, no lifting of anything more than 5 pounds, keep it shielded at all times, and drops drops drops. I already had three different eye drops that I was using at regular intervals throughout the day, plus one pill twice a day. At this time, Doc added one more drop, and some steroid pills, not Prednisone this time but something I’ve never heard of. Steroids help to keep inflammation down which is why they are such wonderful healing drugs, but I also know that they can reduce your body’s ability to fight infection. I asked Doc about that because infection is a very real concern and something I have had a lot of problems with in my eyes. He said this was a very light dose and I didn’t need to worry about that, so I won’t. Anyway, we will still need to keep a close eye on things, so he made us an appointment for Monday (yes, back to Omaha again) and we were on our way.
We made it home in pretty good time, arriving back at about 2:30pm, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Today when I woke up, I looked around and felt like my eye was a little better. Still not as good as Tuesday and Wednesday, but better than Thursday and Friday. It’s not quite as blurry, and most of the patterns and sparklies are gone, although not completely. I’ll be hoping for a good report on Monday. He’ll probably still want to check up on me before November 18, his next visit toKearney, but maybe we can at least wait a whole week. But hey, it’s all in God’s hands anyway so that’s all right with me.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ESV

Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ESV