1/30/2009 - 6:45 PM - 1st Day Post Surgery

All I can say today is wow!

My wife Caroline asked me today about how I felt about the surgery the day after relative to my expectations, with 0 being the worst and 100 being the best and I have to say 99! (with the exception of the migraine headache yesterday).

I had my post-op visit this morning and Dr. Rapoza was very pleased with the results. He told me that everything looked great and even asked one of the technicians to come over and admire his work (saying that it is good to look at the stitching in a Keratoconic eye, as the eye is otherwise healthy). Dr. Rapoza also had another great line today, when my wife, having looked into the eye said that the stitching was beautiful and looked like a patchwork quilt, said the Dr. "I don't mean to brag, but the people in medical school used to call me the sewing machine!" - Bravo! Boy am I glad that I decided to go to the guy that that was the toast of his med school class.

He was also very pleased with my vision, saying that most people are "counting fingers" and I was able to see the second line down on the eye chart, albeit still quite blurry. The best way I can describe the vision in my left eye is as if I am looking through a dirty piece of glass (but none of the fun house mirror effects of my previous Keratoconic eye)...

Also, from a pain perspective, I am doing great. My eye hurts a bit (feels almost like I have a scratchy contact lens in it) and the area around my eye hurts a bit (probably from the injections). I still have a mild headache, but I think this is more from my adjustment to the differential in vision. After my appointment today, I came home and slept for 4 hours and it was a good idea, because I am still a bit worn out from the events of yesterday. I am taking Tylenol every 4-6 hours and don't feel like I need anything stronger.

I also noticed that I am a bit light sensitive, but the BIG sunglasses that I received in the Dr.'s office made up for it, just based upon the fun factor alone - I told my wife that I thought I looked like Kayne West...

I was instructed to take 2 sets of drops four times a day (the Antibiotic Zymar and the Steroid PredForte) and one set of drops twice a day (the Anti-Inflammatory Xibrom). This routine goes on for about 2 weeks, at which point I only need to continue to take the Steroid drops (presumably to prevent rejection).

The Dr. also told me to take it easy for awhile, not to lift anything that heavy and to just be careful around the eye (I am already picking up my son Bradley, but just keeping him on my right side, away from the transplanted eye). I am going to heed the advice and just be careful - sleep as much as possible and just rest in general.

It will be interesting to see how things progress and I am REALLY excited to see how my vision improves, but I have been knocking on every piece of wood that I can find, because things have gone so smoothly...

Oh, and thank you to the person that commented on my last blog post about sending a letter of thanks to the family of my transplant donor - I had asked in the Dr.'s office and they told me the same thing - I am definitely going to write a letter to the Eye Bank this week...

More to come, hopefully, I can post some of my pictures shortly...