One down... one to go!

Yesterday, was surgery number one of two.  I can't describe how excited and ready I was for this surgery. Afterall, it was exactly four months from the day of my actual accident.  I know both of my doctors are perfectionists so there were no nerves attached, just hope that I'd be one step closer to the final product!

Because we had to be at UK so early in the morning, we went ahead and sent the kids off Tuesday night so we wouldn't have to wake them up early to drop them off.  This always leaves me feeling empty inside, but thankfully, both kids did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun!  Kermie and I headed for the hospital around 5 o'clock yesterday morning.  We were supposed to be at registration by 6 and surgery was supposed to start by 8.  Upon our arrival at the Center for Advanced Surgery, one of the nurses said that my surgery was going to be a long one due to the fact that there were two surgeons involved and each had quite a bit of work to accomplish.  I felt kind of bad for Kermie who was just going to be sittingt here.... bored. On the other hand, I kept asking the time because I was more than ready to get started!  My nurses hooked me up to fluids, took my vitals, and ran me through the schedule.  Then, both of my doctors came in to double check their plan and say hello.  They feel like family at this point.  The very last thing I remember is one of the nurses telling me she was going to put some "feel good" medicine in my IV and then I was off.  

A few hours later, I woke in recovery with a scratchy throat and sick to my stomach.  I remember them telling me that Dr. Patel decided not to revise my scar, but did accomplish one of his two goals.  They wanted to be sure that my new lower eye lid would not be pulled down by any work that he did.  Of course, I completely trust their judgement.  Therefore, my surgery wasn't as long as they expected it to be.  I now have a 1 gram gold weight in my upper eye lid to keep it closed at night, a lifted lower eye lid, and from what I can tell, the nasty looking scar below my eye has been stretched, tucked, or something else. :)  In other words, it doesn't look as bad as it did.  Recovery was definitely the worst part of the experience, but Zofran, Phenergan, water, and a fan did the trick.  I was out of there in no time, but extremely sleepy!  

Kermie and I got home yesterday a little past lunch and I slept off and on the rest of the day.  I ate like a pig too.  There's something about surgery that makes me so hungry!  Subway, sweet tea, ice cream sandwiches, Taco Bell, and Pepsi were just a few of the things on my menu in my awake moments.  Since I've been home, I really don't have any pain other than my throat which I assume is from surgery.  My eye feels great, although it is quite swollen.  I haven't had any pain medicine and I've been in great spirits.  Compared to my last return from the hospital, this is a breeze.  I'm thankful to still feel like me!!  I currently have a shield over my eye and have to put ointment on it throughout the day.

So, what's next??  I go back to Dr. Timoney's office next Wednesday to check on my healing.  I'm not sure about the plan with Dr. Patel yet.  Although I was scheduled to get stitches out Tuesday, but now there aren't any to remove. Towards the end of this month, I will meet with Dr. Stevens to finish up the details on the Strabismus surgery.  And, at this rate, I will be a new woman by the time we leave for Disney in June!

Here is a picture of what I currently look like... sorry I'm a bit rough!!

Back up to speed

I just realized that a lot has happened since my last post.  

From the picture below, you can see that one of my stitches pulled through my bottom lid.  I kind of had a feeling this would happen since it was only partially sewn shut.  I had been keeping my eye bandaged while teaching and then taking it off at home.  After taking my bandage off one night about a week in, I realized one of my stitches had come loose.  It wouldn't have been a big deal, but the small piece of plastic they had put on my lid to prevent the stitch from irritating my lid was edging closer and closer to my eye.  Of course, this made me nervous and I knew that any other abrasion would only push surgery back even further.  So, I decided to take the remaining stitches out myself.  Probably not the best idea given that I have no degree, but it's either let the plastic hit my eye because I couldn't get to the doctor, or remove it myself.  I had sent Dr. Timoney this picture of my eye and after visiting him a few days later, he did not get mad at me, but thanked me.  Haha!  I totally thought I was going to get in trouble!  

So, as of yesterday, my eye is very healthy and surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday morning. We did the gold weight trial at my appointment yesterday and decided on a 1 gram weight.  The weight will be inserted into my top lid to make sure that my eye completely closes at night.  Dr. Timoney thinks it may cause my eye to be a little lower (1mm), but it's worth it to keep it from getting irritated!  He plans to lift my eye lid and with the two operations combined, I should be in good shape!  I'm anxious to see what Dr. Patel does on my scars too!  I may look half way normal after next week... minus some swelling and bruising of course!

I will update you with pictures at some point next week, but until then, please keep the doctors and myself in your prayers that all goes well.  I can't believe, after 4 months, the time has finally come!

Happy Spring Break and thank goodness for warmer weather! :)

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!!

Feeling Liberated!

Even though today is Thursday, I'm calling it a great end to an already great week and it has me feeling liberated! 

I'll start back with Monday of this week.  I had a good day at school and to my surprise, Kermie asked if I'd like to drive Ella and myself to Girl Scouts that evening.  Of course I said, YES!  I honestly didn't know if he'd follow through as he is the one who isn't ready for me to "be on my own" yet.  He definitely enjoys knowing where we are and that he was the one to get us there most days.  I enjoy it too (most days), but sure do miss being able to pick up and go wherever I want without begging for someone to come get me!  Oh, to be able to make a spur of the moment trip to Wal-Mart  without arranging transportation.  I sure appreciate all of my many "drivers" though :)  You're probably wondering why I haven't gotten a car yet if I'm ready to drive... well, it's a bit complicated.  For the longest time, it was because I wasn't ready.  Now, it's because there is a chance I may win a contest that my aunt nominated me for that will allow me to drive a car for free... for a year!  Kermie and I both agree that if there is any chance in actually winning, it would be a waste of a car payment each month to purchase another vehicle.  So, we are waiting to see the outcome of the contest which is supposed to end in April.  But, back to driving to Girl Scouts.  Ella and I both made the journey to town and back in one piece.  With it being my first time driving without another adult in the car, I was a bit nervous at first.  We stopped at McDonald's on the way and did a quick phone check in with Kermie.  The drive home was a little scary for Ella as it was dark outside so she talked to her daddy and nana the whole way home.  The moment I stepped out of the truck, a huge smile was made pretty permanent on my face.  Talk about a liberating experience!

Tuesday was another great day.  After school, my mom took me to Dr. Patel's office for another check up on my cheek.  He was impressed and went ahead with scheduling my scar revision surgery.  He said he was able to eliminate his first two options because of the profound healing and would only have to remove the scar and pull my cheek up to cover the spot.  Of course he used more medical lingo, but I think I got the gist of it.  He sounded like it would go smoothly and there would be little to no issues at all.  I'm pretty happy with my scars as is, so I can only imagine what it will look like when the worst place is removed.  Surgery is set to take place in a little over a month!  Spring break cannot get here soon enough.

Snow days are always good days in my book, so Wednesday was great!

On to today which, in my opinion, was the icing on the cake.  I had my first appointment with the eye muscle specialist, Dr. Stevens.  She was not only very informative and extremely nice, but scheduled Strabismus surgery for the first week of May!  I will have a straight eye by summer!  I know I've mentioned it before, but the one thing I really hoped would get fixed was the placement of my eye just because it is the one thing that is very noticeable.  Seeing with one eye is getting easier by the day, but seeing myself in the mirror is still hard no matter how often I tell myself it could be much worse.  The approach she will take is different from the ones I watched on the internet, but made perfect sense after she explained it.  She will borrow some of the "power" from the muscles/nerves that work the up/down motion of my eye and move it to the right side.  So, when looking at me head on, my eye will be straight.  I will continue being able to look left, up and down, but still will not be able to look right.  Just the thought of having a straight eye is so exciting to me!!

After the appointment with Dr. Stevens, I saw Dr. Timoney.  He was very excited about the condition of my eye.  He said the dryness had improved dramatically. He also mentioned possibly jumping in on Dr. Patel's surgery if he plans to do a similar incision.  If not, he will wait until summer after the Strabismus surgery.  I guess I should hear back from him soon about the possibility of the two-in-one surgery.    He also gave me the three pictures he promised.  One was of a CT scan showing the piece of wood protruding through the eye socket and nearly touching my sinus cavity/brain.  A second was the actual piece of wood he removed from my eye that measured 6 cm!  And, the last, was my face in the ER.  You could see muscles, tissue, removed bone, the piece of wood, and lots of blood.  I honestly had prepared myself for worse, but just seeing it made me a little sad because I know what Ella saw that day was not pretty.  It also makes me so very grateful for the progress I've made!  God and those doctors are amazing!  It really is miraculous how the human body works! (I'd totally upload the photos, but I'm not so sure everyone would appreciate them!)

Other than the exciting news about surgeries, Kermie took me to Malone's for lunch.  YUMMY!  I may have been slightly stuffed and sick afterwards, but it was delicious and well worth it.  Here's a picture I took really quick just a minute ago for you to see the latest healing.  Please excuse the messy hair and lack of makeup!  I'm tired and ready for bed :)  

Recognition Deserved

Today was a big day for Ms. Ella!  She was recognized by the paramedics that responded to our accident along with other members of GSCEMS for her bravery.  It was great seeing both of the paramedics again... this time in celebration!  I didn't think I'd remember their faces, but sure enough I did.  Before going to Ella's classroom for her recognition, we talked about both the accident and recovery.  They also showed me some pictures of the van and a little yucky feeling crept up inside of me when they showed me the picture of the inside of the van.  I had no idea that crazy piece of wood made its way all the way to the back of my van!  Seeing that picture was just another reminder of how grateful I am to have my sweet baby and for her to still have her mommy! 

After one of the paramedics spoke about the accident and how Ella was able to stay brave and calm during the accident, they presented her with a framed certificate and an honorary pin.  She was in awe of both, but especially the pin that had a beautiful blue jewel in it.  :)  She's all girl!  I am thankful for both GSCEMS and Ella's teacher for allowing her to have this time of recognition.  I think she was a little nervous, but loved the extra attention.  I'm hoping that the other kids in her class will be inspired to be brave not only in times of tragedy, but in every day life as well.  There are so many times each day that we all have the chance to be courageous by standing up for what we believe, standing up for another person being bullied or abused, or even other things that seem near impossible.  The great thing is that all things are possible through Christ and all it takes is a little faith.  Had you told me I would have been in a car wreck and Ella react the way she did a week before the accident, I wouldn't have believed it.  To me, she was this tiny, worrisome little girl who would be horrified and traumatized by such an experience.  But, no, she turned out much stronger than I ever believed which makes this recovery so much easier for me.  For that, I am also grateful! 

Below are a few pictures my mom and mother-in-law snapped during Ella's recognition.  Mom also arrived a little early and sneaked in pictures of me teaching without me knowing!  SNEAKY! 

Here is a link to Ella's news debut! 

Back at it!

With all of the crazy weather we've had, my first day back at school got pushed back two days.  I didn't end up going back until Friday, but I had no complaints because anybody can handle a Friday, right?  I was super excited about returning today, but Snow Day #15 made that slightly impossible.  I am definitely not complaining about another snow day as we were gone all weekend and today has given me a chance to catch up on a lot of things that needed to get finished! 

But, back to the first day...  it was terrific!  It's kind of hard not to have a terrific day when your co-worker/third grade teacher brings you a box of chocolate, your teammate brings you a McDonald's sweet tea, your students shower you with hugs and gifts, and your school counselor sends you a sweet text along with every other friend and family member! On the other hand, being out for almost nine weeks does a number on your memory!  I completely forgot about being able to wear jeans on Fridays and even forgot part of my daily schedule!  I guess that's what happens when your only scheduling consists of doctor appointments and the Price is Right. :)  Below is a picture my mom snapped from her phone Friday morning after I dropped Grayson off. 

Tomorrow, I go back to the doctor to get the stitches out of my cheek.  Yay!  Several of my students said they thought it was a mole!  On Friday, I opened up each of my four rotations with a discussion about my accident and healing.  The students had a few minutes to write down any questions they wanted me to answer and then we spent a good 15 minutes talking about the accident, Ella, my surgeries, my feelings, and the biology of the eye!  They had some great questions and I loved getting to teach some science!  I really wish I had an appointment with my eye doctor sooner than later because my upper eyelid and skin under my eye has been swelling quite a bit the past several days.  I have been waking up and going to bed with an ice pack on my eye and started back on the Ibuprofen.  Hopefully it's just part of the healing phase and will stop soon!

Until next time, I hope everyone has a blessed day! :) 

Unwanted Culprit

Despite the terrible weather Monday morning, Kermie took me to my doctor's appointment so that I could finally get the piece of wood out of my cheek!  It didn't hurt or anything, but it was another reminder of the fence that threw me for a whirlwind and I've been ready to get it out since the day we noticed it was there (Way back before Christmas!)!

I know I've mentioned before how protective my husband is, but our car ride to UK was just another example.  He's so funny and don't get me wrong... I love that he likes taking care of me!  He kept asking if I was nervous, asked me if I had eaten breakfast, tried to find me something to eat (I guess he thought I was going to pass out or something), asked if I needed an anxiety pill, etc.  I told him maybe he should be the one to take a pill! Honestly, I wasn't nervous at all.  In fact, my mindset was: one thing down... a few more to go! 

The procedure took less than 30 minutes once we got started.  I felt nothing other than the numbing shots which definitely didn't feel good.  Dr. Patel and April are almost like family these days so I felt very comfortable.  There was a new guy who helped out, but if they like him... I guess I do too. :)  Once they sewed me up, Dr. Patel showed me the culprit which was crazy to finally see outside of my cheek!  Before they took it out, I could literally pick it up and hold it under my skin, so I knew it wasn't a small splinter or anything.  I kind of wanted to ask if I could keep it as a souvenir, but I thought they may think I was crazy or something. 

So... I return to the doctor next Tuesday afternoon to have the stitches removed.  Then, meet with my eye doctor and muscle doctor at the end of the month.  No final word on Spring Break surgery yet, but April seemed to think that we would be doing the scar revisions first.  On the other hand, if the weather cooperates, I return to work tomorrow!  I'm not nervous yet, but I'm sure it will set in soon!  I'm just thankful to be able to return!  Praise God for giving me another chance to do one of my most favorite things... teach!