I was looking forward to my second visit to Dr. Ayres since the surgery on 15 April. The last few days have been trying. I began to notice that my vision was changing. I was getting a bit nervous as I was having difficulties seeing things close to me and up to five to 10 feet away. Some of the problems, I figured, had to do with my eye healing and changing. The eye drop regimen also could play a part in my vision.
While we were in the waiting room, Eliz and I did the word scrambles in the Inquirer (her mother gives that section to us after she finished the crossword puzzle, so we usually have a few days of scrambles to do.) I realized today while we were doing the scrambles that I am a visual thinker when it comes to these puzzles. That is not good since I can’t see the puzzles at all. I have no trouble doing math in my head without seeing the numbers, but I am slow, usually, with the words. I do occasionally get the words before Eliz, but she is usually quicker than I am.
After completing three puzzles, we were called back to Pod 2. I was able to read the OBLB (20/100) line, though it didn’t seem as crisp as it did the day after the surgery. The pinholes brought it into focus, but I couldn’t read any of the CAV8 (20/80) line. Dr. Ayres came in and had a look. He said things looked very good. My IOP was up to 10 (which is higher for me than normal,) but he believes it is from the steroid drops that I was taking four times a day and believes that will fall back a few notches as I lower the amount of those drops (I take them three times per day for the next week and then two times per day until I see him on 21 May.) I hope he is correct about the pressure…
After he finished looking, we talked about what is going on with my vision. I told him of my difficulties seeing things close to me and the trouble I had since the weekend even on the computer. He apologized about not giving me the whole story before the surgery and said that the lens he put in was for distance. I told him I was happy with how I could see things in better detail than before. He explained that, like a person 10 to 15 years older than me, I had lost the ability to focus at things close up. He hoped that the problem could be fixed with glasses, but it was too soon for that since my eye is still healing and will continue to change as it does.
I brought the pair of reading glasses I’d been using since the surgery to read on the computer and see food on my plate so he could check the strength. I’ve used several different magnifications since the transplant in December ’08 and I wasn’t sure which pair these were. I was also concerned, since they were less effective over the last few days. Fortunately, they were 3.5X. I knew that I had a pair of 4x glasses at home, somewhere. When we got home, I found them and was relieved that they made reading my screen much more comfortable than the 3.5X pair. I hoping I don’t need to go up to 5X, but they would still be cheaper than prescription glasses. They will do a refraction at my next visit on 21 May.
I don’t know if it was the 4X reading glasses or what Dr. Ayres had to say about how good things looked, but it seems that I can see better after the appointment. I only have to wait two weeks before I see my glaucoma specialist, so we’ll see how the IOP is doing then. I’d also like to get a fields test to see how that has changed since the surgery. Maybe I can have that done then too. I’ll post it here on the blog if I have it done…
Generally, I’m happy with the results so far. Eliz and I may go to the movies this weekend (her birthday is Saturday and she’s requested Mexican Post for dinner, then a movie at Regal across the street.) Jane’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah schedule (six in the next eight weeks) may force us to reschedule… I tried to help Eliz prepare some parts of dinner tonight, with limited success. Shooting pictures and video is something I’d like to try soon. I tried taking a picture a day or two after the surgery, but couldn’t see well enough through the viewfinder. I may have to leave the lcd screen on for pics and videos to be usable… For now, lets see what tomorrow brings.
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