Eye Matey

This afternoon mom had her first cataract eye surgery (left eye). She did great. It was a quick procedure and they said it went smoothly. They called me back after about an hour. When I first saw her she had her “eye” closed an was resting and all those memories of being in the hospital came flooding back. This wasn’t anything to worry about by any means, but just seeing her in that bed, in a gown, with all the monitors and an IV stunned me a little. I hadn’t really put much thought into the whole thing because I had lasiks before. While it’s not the same, I think I was expecting…well…I don’t really know what I was expecting. I certainly wasn’t expecting to have a reaction like that. To be startled by seeing her there. It was like stepping back in time. But it was all completely fine. She was fine. It went very well and we go in the morning for a follow up. When I saw her, she was a little groggy, but functioning. They put an eye patch of sorts over her eye to protect it, mostly for when she sleeps so she doesn’t rub it unknowingly. By the time we got home it was starting to hurt a little. She’s allowed to take tylenol so that should help. We will find out tomorrow when they will do her right eye. She couldn’t get over how blurry her right eye was as her sole eye. She was able to watch tv but it wasn’t clear.  When I left her she was doing great. Like she didn’t have anything done today at all, except she has a patch on her eye. She’s a little bummed that she can’t wash her hair in the morning before her appointment. She’s not allowed to bend down for awhile or get the patch wet. We’ll have more instructions tomorrow. She’ll have more eye drops to use for a while as well. She has been using them all week and I thought she would need help with it. Some things make her squeamish but not this. She did it all by herself. She’s coming along so nicely. She does all her own meds now (prepping them for the week). I can finally see the new beginning we’ve all been waiting for.

Last Monday we saw her UMC transplant team. They were all very pleased with her progress. We have her yearly follow up in Tucson at the end of May and they said she’s doing so well she won’t even have to have a bronchoscopy! That was music to her ears! That’s one of those things she was dreading. Yippeee! They want me to send them a picture of mom walking, or standing to share with the folks back in ICU. They have all been asking about her. They are having trouble believing she’s doing so well. The last time they saw her was when she went from ICU to Rehab and she was barely standing then. They will be amazed.  We will plan on visiting them all when we go down there. I can’t wait to see all their faces when they see her.