Nearly 1 year on!

Well in 4 days it will be a year, yes a whole year since had my right corneal transplant.  It has been a long journey with problems in the first few months of it, that can read about on this blog.  But fingers crossed most of 2013 has been fine.  I had a check up Monday just gone and everything is fine.  The vision is not great but they hoping that might improve when the stitches are removed.  That is the next step, they booked me in for next month to have all the stitches removed.  I know from my own research some consultants do it different, for example may leave them in for a shorter or longer period of time or remove a few at a time.  With my consultant this is his way and to be fair to him he has a superb reputation.  Below the type of stitches I have is on the upper diagram.

In 2006 he removed all the stitches from my graft on the left eye so at least I know what to expect.  And as have discussed in this blog, it is a painful process.  Not so much the time when the stitches are coming out as can not feel that but the initial time afterwards.  It feels like a horrid burning feeling and very sensitive to light. Once the eye get's used to the stitches not being there any more and becomes smooth surface all fine then. What are my hopes for after they are removed?

I would say I am not relying on any great vision coming out of it and anything better than what I did have will be a bonus.  I just count myself lucky that someone who had severe KC before the grafts, I am grateful that I have sufficient vision with my glasses.  Anyway we shall see what happens.  The main thing now is that both eyes are nearly sorted before our little girl or boy arrives in the world.  I know one day I may have to go through the process again but I imagine in 20-30 years time technology will have moved on so much that who knows what they will be capable of doing then?

If there is anyone about to or going through process of a corneal transplant and have any questions feel free to ask me on @cornealgraft on twitter

:)

Long awaited update on my corneal transplant.

Well its been a long time, nearly 7 months have passed since the transplant.  Is crazy to think that amount of time has gone by.  When there are problems with it time goes so slowly but when the graft is getting on nicely time fly's by as life just goes on.  So where am I now in terms of the graft?  I'm still a good 6 plus months away from having the stitches out.  I am having a check up every 2 months at my local hospital by the surgeon who did the graft (and my other graft back in 2005) and everything is going well.  The eye pressure is normal (fingers crossed), the graft is nice and clear he says.  Vision wise nothing to shout about, is slightly better than my left which has a large astigmatism when I remove my glasses.  But I think is better than it was and obviously in time once had stitches out hope can get a prescription in the glasses that will make it much better than it was.

When it comes to any side affects 7 months down the line there are only a few for me but this can differ from person to person.  Currently a bit gritty at times but seems to clear after a while or once put some drops in.  Eye lashes are very long, a side affect of the eye pressure drops apparently, can be annoying at times.  But apart from that not much else, I don't really suffer from glare too much from the sun.  Driving at night can be a bit unpleasant but able to get by.  In terms of normality I have played football and tennis with no problems but worth noting just to be very careful, I would not suggest playing competitively in football as flying elbows and such like could easily cause a massive problem.  And also consider protective sportsware glasses, a worthy buy.

Anyway nothing annoys me more than unfinished blog's and I nearly did it myself!  Ill do a few more updates, but most likely not have a great deal of news until the stitches come out.  Hope everyone else who has had a corneal transplant is getting along well.  And just added an updated pic of what it looks like, not usually as red in corner but that's working nights for you :/ Also the bit at middle slightly right is just watery from taking the pictures, took a few goes :)

3 Month Thoughts

Well if I am honest it feels like its been a lot longer than 3 months but maybe that's because of Christmas and all the problems I had in November/December.  I am glad to report since the mist cleared or the haziness I guess you could call it, it seems to have got better every day. Its by no means amazing vision but I knew to never expect that as that is rare.  But seeing a couple lines down on the eye chart is better than what I had previously and this is only 3 months down the line.  After a year I hope it will just be correctable by glasses.

So what happened on the 3 month check up?  I was mostly hoping that the eye pressures would be OK and the eye was clear, which pleased to report that was the case.  What I was not expecting which wasn't bad was that there was a lose stitch which the consultant removed there and then.  Didn't feel too bad as had a drop in to numb the eye.  And was all over in seconds and that's me done for a month.  A month is the longest period yet I (fingers crossed) wont have to go for a check up.  I don't mind going too much but just good to know all going to plan.  Here's the best photo I could do, blinded myself a couple times with the flash just for you :)

I had some questions of my own, 1. Can I go back to the gym?  The consultant was fine with this, obviously no heavy weights for a while now though is a given.  2. Can I play football?  (Soccer for you guys in the US :)  He wasn't too keen on this due to potential of an elbow or arm flying in my face by accident, which is always possible in football.  This is always going to be a risk as the graft is never as strong as original cornea but it will get stronger the closer it reaches a year after the op.  So will leave football for a while longer yet to be on the safe side.  Did make me think though, I never really thought much of it before had the right eye done as played football plenty of times having had a graft on the left in 2005.  I think not long in the future I will invest in a pair of sports protection glasses which would be ideal.

This brings me onto my next my mission which is to get my everyday glasses updated so that I have a balance lens in the right of the glasses as currently it has a prescription in it which was for  pre right eye graft vision.  I keep meaning to get it sorted but as the vision in the newly grafted eye has not settled down yet it doesn't make a great deal of difference and the consultant confirmed wont do any harm currently.  When I do it though I wont be going to a high street chain to be severely ripped off and treated like a numpty that's for sure hehe.

Before I sign off here I would just like to say have met some really nice people along the way who have also had transplants and those who are trying to cope with the everyday strain of KC.  To me it really does look like it is becoming more recognised than it was say ten years ago and I think the internet, forums and such like play a huge part in that.  The people that run the websites and forums really deserve high praise for giving up their time to help others like me.