Anyone for a air bubble eye injection?

Well as the title suggests I had air bubble injected into my eye today and no, not just for the sake of it :)  It will hopefully to help clear the liquid which is causing the cloudiness   At this exact point in time it is still blurry but was told to expect this and will take a week or so to see if has helped at all.  In a way I'm fed up the new graft isn't working out like the 1st one did on the other eye but then I realise things like this aren't straight forward and I am lucky enough to have good sight in one eye.  There are people who are far worse off than me and I am grateful for all that's been done for me so far.

Anyhow back to the juicy stuff!  So I turned up for my 10am appointment, at this stage was a bit nervous but thought hey they know what they are doing.  Within not too long was taken through to the operating theatre. Was stopped outside by a nice lady who checked I am the real Oliver Loveless and not some guy pretending to be me to get his hit of air bubble magic in the eye!  Once passing the identity test she proceeded to put drops in my eye, a nice concoction of anaesthetic drops and iodine   She then asked after final drop "Did that sting?"  My reply no, she said well good because usually it would like mad so now you are ready to go in!

Upon walking in there were a few people dotted around doing various things, a man called Tom took the job of handler and told me where to sit and how etc and what will happen. And that would be holding his hand throughout in case I had to indicate I needed to cough or sneeze so the surgeon could stop what he was doing hence preventing stabbing me by mistake!  Once all ready to go, the music was turned up, stereotypically opera, they could of asked me what I preferred and could of stuck The Stereophonics on.  At this point my consultant.surgeon flew in like superman to do the op.  I laid back, two stickers, a clamp and a large blue sheet later I was ready to be operated on.

This was odd, what looked like the largest robotic arm ever hovered above me and then BOOM, a bright white light shone into my eye, jeeeez it was bright!  Toms hand took a bit of a squeeze at this point but advised was just the bright light.  The next think I knew a needle was being inserted and a large bubble began to appear on surface of my eye.  At this point you might be trying to imagine what this is like.  I have an idea, while its raining stand at a window, get your partner or mate to shine a massive torch through the otherside, and press your face against the window so your eye is peering through a large water droplet and hey presto you know!  Well add a bit of pain in there for good measure if you wish!  This beloew photo is not my eye as cant be bothered taking a photo and connecting up to laptop tonight, but it essentially minus the redness looks similar bubble wise

So 15 minutes of lying there looking up and was all done.  Can now sort of see the bubble, looks odd.  I am back in 48 hours for check up, and just another waiting game.  Overall one of the weirdest things been through but I believe from reading about it that it is a widely used procedure for naturally making a donor cornea grip to the new eye, apparently the bubble press's it together so it sticks and no stitches are needed.  Obviously I already have stitches and hopefully isn't going anywhere but this should, well the theory is, that it will clear the unwanted liquid by dispersing it through pressure.  I shall report back soon :)

1 month check up

Well strictly speaking its a few days over a month since the corneal transplant but whos counting!  Not such a great day today check up wise.  I appears the eye pressure has gone up in the newly grafted eye and is high though he didnt give me a number.  The reason I say this is because back in around 2005/2006 when had the left eye done I was admitted to a ward following a check up because I had ridiculously high eye pressure in its 60s I believe and was at risk of the eye going blind.  At that time I was prescribed new drops to get the pressure down and from my memory that worked.  At this point I thought about sticking a photo of someone's eye pressure being taken but that's boring and for some reason this photo came up on google too and made me laugh so I think that's a better idea!  (Disclaimer-Non star wars fans wont get it though)

The main bonus this time is it hasn't got that high and not high enough to be admitted to hospital to keep an "eye" on it.  So I have been prescribed further eye drops to bring it down like all those years ago on the left.  And me and my little eye drop bottles have been reunited.  I remember them very well, is funny how things like that stick in your mind but I guess when you have to use them 4 times a day they do!  So in all I am now on 5 types of drops.  I wont list what they are as the names are ridiculously long on a couple of them.  But in all we have two types for the pressure, one to stop infections, one for comfort and one more I don't know yet as they didn't have it in stock and I will get it tomorrow.  I imagine it might be pressure related too.  I have been taken off altogether on the anti rejection drops as this is the cause of the eye pressure going up it is believed.  And this is backed up from my experience on the left eye.

All in all its a bit of a set back but at least it was caught now before it got any higher and touch wood the new drops will work.  Ill do whatever I am asked to do by the experts, this is the only thing I can do.  I did again think today it would be nice if had the money for private treatment as did seem like got rushed in and out today even after an hour delay.  But obviously a lot of people to get through and I do understand that.  Now I aim to give my eyes a break for a bit as been using a computer all week at work and I imagine this cant help, so today and tomorrow I have off so I intend to rest!  Oh and treat the wife and me to a nice Chinese to cheer me up!

Nearly 1 month

So coming this Tuesday it will be a month since I had my transplant.  Not really much has changed with the eye.  I had a check up on Monday just gone which went fine.  There is still fluid between the new cornea and my eye so this is causing the cloudy/blurriness.  It should apparently clear after a month or so.  Also I was prescribed lubrication drops to help smooth out the surface of the eye and they are a real help, less so bumpy when the eye lid goes over the stitches.

One thing that was odd was I was supposed to see the consultant who did the operation but they put me under one of his registrars to apparently save time.  This was a bad move as they were running an hour late but hey ho I could not do much.  The ironic thing was when I eventually got seen, he had to get the consultant who was next to him behind a 1 inch privacy board to come and check my eye anyway so they might as well as left me with the top man.  He obviously agreed with this because he put in capital letters on appointment request sheet "To See him only" next time.

This coming Wednesday I will be back to work so that will be good to have some more routine back as the 4 walls of the house I know very well now.

Anyway back to the eye, after all this is what the blog is about.  Like I said the lubrication drops are helping, theres no pain or anything but does occasionally feel like something is in there.  This is something that should go away in time.  And over the next few months the vision should improve from what it is at the minute.  There is still a bit of redness on the lower right of the eye and again this should clear in time, isnt massively noticeable.

So anything else that the transplant has affected?  It might seem like not bending over as instructed not to when had a graft would be easy but you would be surprised how many things you bend over to do.  Put the washing up back in the cupboards, picking up the clothes to be washed, picking up shoes to put on, and twice a day in our house, feeding our 2 feline friends and they wont wait for anyone!

So what's the next stage?  Have another check up in 2 weeks, all 3 drops are now 4 times a day so id expect that to stay the same for a little while now.  And touch wood in 2 weeks there might be some vision improvement, who knows, Ill take it day by day like normal.  Thanks to all for reading and hopefully is helping in some way to those thinking about having it done.

Simply Day 9

Well have not long returned from my 3rd check up with the consultant who did the operation and pleased to say all going ok.  Before the appointment over the last few days have been bit worried if anything is up as I think its hard not to.  But glad to know everything is going as planned.  This made me think if I had ridiculous amounts of money and could pay for private treatment I would have a daily check up just for the satisfaction that I know its going ok.  I imagine if had infinite money I could pay the consultant to live in a shed at the end of my garden.....no waiting times.....on call 24 hrs.......appointments when I want, it would be rather nice really!

Anyway back to reality, the consultant and the whole NHS are doing a superb job for me yet more people around me there today complaining of waiting times and their anger towards the staff.  I really felt like just standing up and shouting you are getting all this for free and you can see they are rushing around and are busy.  Someone should record these people moaning and then play it back to them later and I am sure they would be very embarrassed.  I have seen far better behaved 3 year olds than some of them.

On a brighter note I am very lucky to have my wife around who has helped a lot and is doing the majority of the household chores.  And also my family and hers both helping us out where they can to take me to the hospital for check ups which I hugely appreciate.  Finally to keep people interested you have to show some photos of each stage and I have not yet got round to that so here's a bunch to make up for it, :)

Pre Op Right Eye, nasty KC lurking there.

First day after Op, nice arrow I know!

Same day, Arrow still looking good :)

Day 2, meh!

Now oddly this is day 9, do not be alarmed by the redness, in previous pics its jut not visible because eye not as open as much and had check up today and all is ok so far, it should disappear in time from what I remember when had my left eye done.

Nearly a week!

Wow a week does go quickly even when you cant really do much or see out of one eye much.  The first 24 to 48 hours were a pain, literally.  But apart from that since then its been fairly pain free and just more of an annoyance really.  From my first experience of the graft in the other eye and from what the consultant says its just the eye getting used to the stitches.  This is all fair enough but when you have spent 28 years giving your eye a good old rub when something gets in it, it is pretty difficult to resist this.  Somehow you do though, its difficult to explain but something in your head just stops you from doing this.  Even with my robocop eye guard I still don't think I would rub it because there's that voice in my head saying you do that and you will be in bigggggggg trouble!

So in terms of vision a lot of people planning to have their transplant will be very eager to see improvements and I am no different.  But have to keep reminding myself takes not only quite a while for it to settle but also then there's no guarantee it will be much better on its own.  But it should improve the ease of fitting glasses and especially contact lenses.  Glasses I am totally ok with and actually like wearing them but contacts are my arch rivals and I will avoid them unless I really have to!  And that's something I know I will least give a go again.  Ironically last time I tried a lense on the left eye the opthamologist asked me if I knew of any new KC friendly lenses we could try and order!  Though don't get me wrong there are lots of amazing lens fitters out there like the world renowned Lynn White, but there are also ones in my experience in the NHS that maybe have the skills but not the resources to back it up which is no fault of their own.   Or maybe more importantly the time to research KC lenses more as they tend to try and get you in and out quicker than Felix the skydiver fell from space!

So what's next? No I am not going to sky dive 5 metres higher than Felix unfortunately, instead I have another check up on Thursday and touch wood all be going ok.  It would obviously be nice if the blurry/cloudiness cleared a bit but Ill deal with this regardless if its an issue that might need sorting in the future or if its just part of the recovery.  I am hoping the latter but either way am extremely grateful for chance to improve my vision from the people who donated their cornea's.  Oh and I have managed to use my laptop to write this so good to know my left eye is up to the job, now here's hoping for the right in time :)

Lazyness Day 3

I'm not sure if its lazyness or just feeling sorry for myself after the op but I haven't been eager to blog much. Having read another persons blog going through a graft too this has given me a bit of a kick up the backside! And reminded me to not just report on how the transplant is going but everything else that goes with it :)

My lovely wife set off into the city centre yesterday to do the simple task of switching the lense in my right side of the glasses for a clear non prescription lense while my sight changes over the upcoming year. Well she would of found it easier to rob a bank it seems. The usual big players of the optician world didn't quite get what she was asking and quoted silly prices for a clear piece of glass! Would of been cheaper to go through zenith windows!!

Also demands for a letter from my consultant as proof because after all the world would be mine with that clear piece of glass in the right!! I wonder if half of them know what KC or a transplant consists of?! Anyway we have decided to leave it till I can venture out too and visit a independent opticians who are not trying to take over the world! On a brighter note my check up went ok, all looking as should be and to continue with same drops.

What did really test my patience though was ironically the other patients waiting for their cataracts to be tendered to. Jeeez why do they bring someone with them if they walk straight past the entrance to check in to the wrong side anyway! This is forgetting the fact they have walked past the electronic check in because they assume its a prop from Star Trek. Whilst I am on the subject of these "patients", is it really that difficult to sit and wait for half an hour without moaning about how busy it is or every detail of what their husband is up to today!!! When your eye is irritated and doesn't have the best of vision these are the last things you want and they push you to the very edge! Make waiting rooms library's I say and also try to keep Norfolk people to the minimum because they literally can't stop talking about anything and everything! And breath.............

Post op thoughts

Well it's been over 48 hours since the corneal transplant. I'm writing this from my phone as using the computer is bit too much strain as yet. Apologies if this contains mistakes as only got my vision in my left eye. I was told it went ok and I had a partial graft rather than full thickness which I believe is less likely to reject but vision doesn't meet same standards as full thickness. Only time will tell with that. I was discharged the same day on Tuesday, it was a hard 24 hours of a burning sensation and watering from the transplant, most likely the stitches causing that. Today has been better though, the eye is red in the outer corner and not too bad on the inner.

The vision as expected early on is blurry, I just wish could remember how long that lasted in 2005. My memory is terrible! I have a check up tomorrow and hope all is going as should be. I and my wife especially are doing all we are supposed to do keeping things clean and bacteria free. No bending down or rubbing of the eye etc and generally just resting. Apologies for taking a while to update after the op but just been really tired and as some of you will know it isn't a easy process. I try to put a few updates on twitter when I can @cornealgraft and I uploaded a photo :)