Minor Setback

For the past several days, my right eye has been hurting pretty badly. Although the eye itself is numb, I have had the constant sensation of something being in it or the need to rub it constantly. I have also had a hard time with headaches because the only way I get relief from the itching/burning is by closing my eye and since I have such a gap on the bottom, I have to forcibly close it! It's like constantly squinting as hard as you can for long periods of time. So, because my eye continued to get red and my upper eyelid started to feel extremely painful, I called my doctor to see what he suggested I do. Of course, to no one's surprise, he said to come in as soon as possible.

Yesterday, my mom picked me up from school and we headed to UK to see what the deal was. At this appointment, I'd be seeing an attending because Dr. Timoney was out for the rest of the week. I definitely don't mind seeing other doctors, but it's always a little hard with them having to catch up on my conditions since December 2nd.  It's fairly exhausting and complicated.  This guy caught on pretty quick though. :) After he check me out and concluded that I had a pretty severe corneal abrasion measuring 4.5 mm by 1.5 mm, he called Dr. Timoney to see what his recommendations were. Again, to no one's surprise, Dr. Timoney rushed right over to take a look himself. He and I both concluded that the health of my eye was at stake and the only way to make sure it healed and not get hurt any more was to temporarily stitch my eye shut again. Of course, the idea of walking around with my eye stitched shut doesn't seem appealing, but to get relief and make sure my surgeries don't get pushed back again are top priority to me right now. While we were talking about the future of my eye, he also explained to me the reason behind his delay in deciding what he wanted to do with me in terms of surgery. Before my coming in yesterday, he wanted my Strabismus surgery to be done first in order for her tools not to possibly mess up any eyelid work he would do.  Dr. Steven's would have to retract my lids to work on my eye muscles.  But, after seeing the condition of my eye, he quickly realized that his part had to come first. In simple terms and below is a run down of his explanation.

Current Problems with Right Eye:
1.  My eye turns in
     Dr. Steven's plans to do Strabismus surgery
2.  Present cornea abrasion
     Reasons for this abrasion are many:
           1.  Right lower eye lid is low/missing (eye is constantly exposed)
           2.  Decreased blink reflex which causes it not to moisturize properly
           3.  Neurotrophic keratopathy (Numb eye)
           4.  Lagophthalus (I can't close my eye completely unless squinting)

***The most important fix is my eye itself in order to keep it healthy and protected.  So he did a tarsorrhaphy (temporary closing of the eye).  The operation wasn't completely painless as he had to numb my lids with injections, but after it was numb, we were smooth sailing.  My eye already feels relief in that it is covered and staying moist.  My upper lid is a bit swollen and the sutures are bleeding, but I'm loving not having to squint my eye all day!

***  Once I have had my eye protected for a few weeks and it has time to heal, we will proceed with surgery.  On Spring Break, Dr. Patel will fix my scars and Dr. Timoney will raise my lower eye lid and also implant a gold weight to be sure it closes all the way.  The gold weight is a new concept to me, but I totally get why it may be necessary.  I go back to Dr. Timoney next week to see how I'm healing.   My Strabismus surgery should still be done that first week of May as I thought.  YAY!!!!!

So, although this may be a minor setback, I'm excited to know that surgeries are quickly approaching and should all be complete by summer break!  I'm also very thankful that my students responded extremely well to the news and seemed sincere in their conversations about how this temporary closure will help their teacher in the long run :)  They are great kids!!