You've seen the commercials, nine out of ten doctors surveyed....
Well here is my experience.
"I will tell you that over 90 percent of the people who have this surgery are disappointed with the initial results".
Dr Holmes actually said that.
Before I had the surgery.
What the hell happened to the miracle man? Where did he go I want that guy doing the surgery!
He went on to explain that as patients we tend to assume that surgery fixes everything. You go in, go to sleep and when you wake up everything is better. In many many cases that is simply not realistic but as patients we tend to expect that. Such would be the case with my surgery.
So I had the surgery this past Tuesday. The surgery took a little over three hours and according to Dr. Holmes went wonderful. They ended up doing surgery on both eyes and when I awoke I was still seeing double. Disappointed? Yep, big time.
They had attached surgical thread to the muscles of both eyes and then started pulling on them to align the eyes. All I can say about that experience was that it hurt like hell even with numbing drops. Once the eyes were adjusted they had Edie in a chair across the room and I was to focus on her. Was there any part of her face that I could see singular vision of. There was. Her nose. Everyone in the room got excited except me.
Seriously was that as good as it gets?
He then holds up a Dilly Bar stick (tongue depressor) with letters written on it. The biggest letter was an "E". "Tell me if there is a place where you only see one E?" There was at just over three feet away. Again all the folks in the room got excited. Me, not so much.
Seriously? After three some hours of surgery I was seeing single vision in a space no bigger than a quarter. I can understand why most people are disappointed after surgery.
I am now almost a week out of surgery and the quarter vision only is only slightly bigger. It could take eight weeks for this to get better. I am not impressed.
I put in the drops, hourly. I do the exercises four times a day and in the end the headaches are intense. However everyone says DR. Holmes is a miracle man.....
So let's look at the positives.
I no longer wear a patch. My eyes are not level so I look like a Picasso painting, but the pirate look is gone.
I can see out of my right eye. Instead of being high and wide to the left with a tilt. it is now side by side with a little tilt. DR. Holmes feels my "mind" will fix the tilt. I feel I might have killed that fix with the alcohol I drink (just kidding, but really turn one eye ten degrees to the left?).
I get to drive and go back to work on Wednesday.
I have a follow up appointment with Mayo on the 22nd.
I am hoping that things change between now and then: the 22nd.
Turn around, Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listenin to the sound of my tears
Turn around, Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by
Turn around, Every now and then I get a little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes
(Total Eclipse of the Heart Bonnie Tylor)
