3/20/09 - 6 Week Appointment

As I wrote earlier, I had my 6-week appointment yesterday.

The good news was that Dr. Rapoza told me that everything was progressing along great. My eye was totally clear (no infections, or rejections) and that the healing was coming along nicely.

They tested the vision in my eye and it appears, however, that I have a lot of astigmatism, due to a couple of factors (the swelling and the arrangement of the stitches). Dr. Rapoza scheduled me for an appointment to re-align the stitches, which he told me, once completed, should hopefully get rid of the astigmatism and leave me with much better vision (maybe just nearsighted). The procedure is actually done in the chair in the Dr.'s office and he told me, it should not hurt much, but that my eye will be tender afterwards for about a day (he asked me to bring someone to drive me home). He also is making me wait another 6 weeks, as he let me know that he likes to wait about 3 months before doing this procedure, less the wound open-up before it is fully-healed.

Obviously, I was happy that things are progressing well with the healing, but a bit disappointed that I will have to wait another 6 weeks before I can start seeing better out of the eye. Apparently, once this procedure is done, then I can also wear a lens/glasses, etc. to correct any remaining problems (near-sightedness, etc.). So, I guess it is just more waiting....

Oh, also, a couple of interesting tidbits from the appointment. The technician said something amusing, which is that he could tell that I was taking my Pred-Forte drops (steriod, anti-rejection drops) because I had a bunch of dried up white goo on the inside of my eye, which is how he said he can tell when people are lying about taking their drops - no goo. Also, when I commented that I was hoping that I would be able to get some vision correction that day, he said, "well, we did just cut off your eye and put a new one on, so try to be a little patient with the recovery..." Definitely, good perspective...