On November 3rd, I went to work and noticed a small spot that appeared in my vision like a dirty spot on your eyeglasses (but I wasn't wearing glasses!). I called the optometrist and went in right away. She diagnosed a retinal detachment and sent me right over to the eye surgeon (who was luckily just across the street). He numbed my eye and injected a gas bubble in to hold the detachment in place. I had to sleep sitting up on the couch with my head angled towards my right shoulder - highly uncomfortable after 3 nights, but better than going blind! Luckily (or maybe not!), this didn't happen in Hawaii, or I wouldn't have been able to fly home. . . the gas bubble can expand and cause damage if you fly when it is in place - so no trips to Whistler for the next 4 weeks, either!
The next day (Thursday) I went in, and the bubble appeared to be holding the retina in place - good news! On Friday, I saw the surgeon again, and he lasered my eye to create scar tissue around where the detachment had occurred. The scar tissues acts like glue to hold the retina together. It seemed to be fine, but last night at the photo shoot, I was noticing the lights were a bit brighter. I passed this off as the lighting in the mall being different from at home, but this morning, when I woke up there was a rather large blind spot in the middle of my vision! Scary!
To top it all off, Paul left yesterday to attend a friend's wedding Taiwan! I called the surgeon's office when I got to school and told them what was happening. They told me to go to Surrey Memorial to meet the doctor there as he was in surgery today - I had a bad feeling when I heard that. . . so I called my mom and she drove me out. I saw him in between surgeries and he agreed that my retina was detaching again. He recommended we do surgery and insert a scleral buckle.
I had to wait a couple more hours for surgery because he had other patients and also because I had had a cup of coffee and a cereal bar for breakfast . . . luckily it wasn't a big breakfast or I'd have had to wait even longer.
Don't be fooled by the smile in this picture - I'm only laughing because my mom thought she'd take a picture of the heart on my forehead (it's so they know which eye to operate on!).
Because I had to wait for surgery anyway, I sent my mom back to school to see Holly at the Remembrance Day Assembly. I was really disappointed I wouldn't be there, and at the same time I didn't want her to worry because I wasn't there - and I didn't have time to tell her what was happening before I left work.
The surgery took about an hour to complete - it didn't seem that long while I was on the table - and YES I was conscious during the entire process! It's definitely a bit strange to be lying on the operating table with a cloth draped over your face (there is just an opening around the eye they are operating on). I admit to getting a bit nervous after the 4th person asked me if they were operating on my RIGHT eye, but better safe than sorry! You can feel some pressure on the eyeball, but can't see anything because the lidocaine paralyzes the eye and blocks vision.
I found this video, which I watched AFTER the surgery, which is good, because if I'd seen this before, the doctor would have had to knock me out! If you are NOT squeamish, check this out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YftCbXIw11k.
Post-surgery at home. There is some gauze and a plastic eye patch to protect my eye. Tomorrow I see the surgeon again and the patch will come off.
