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Friday Update: 09/22/06

I just wanted to update everyone on Matt’s eye surgery. We went to Iowa City on Wednesday for pre-op appointments with the doctors performing the surgery and also the anesthesia department. We went out to dinner and sat next to Derek Lee (a Chicago Cubs baseball player), and didn’t even know it until someone came up, got his picture and autograph. Small world. We spent the evening relaxing in a hotel…nothing too exciting.

Matt’s surgery went well. It was a long one though. He went in around 12:15 and was done about 3:45. George came out to sit with me during surgery too, so I had some company. We got to go back and see him about 4:45 or so. He was pretty groggy, but was in good spirits. He joked to the recovery nurse that the next patient she had coming in wouldn’t be as nice, or cute, as him! He had an ice pack wrapped around his eyes, so he couldn’t see, but he was fairly talkative. When they changed ice packs, he did open his eyes a little…but they were very red and irritated, so he only opened them briefly. It didn’t take long for him to munch on some crackers and drink some juice. He was feeling pretty good! We got him dressed and ready to go around 6:30 or so, and got home around 9. It was a long day!

Overall, the doctor seemed pleased with the surgery. He said Matt will be sore and swollen for a few days, and the redness may last for a few weeks. He also said it may take a few weeks for us to really know how good the result are, that the double vision could in fact be worse at first. His eyes appear to be better aligned when looking straight ahead, but it’s hard to say for sure. It did seem that he could move them around and change his focus easier than before, without them going in all different directions…so we’re hopeful that a lot of the issues have been fixed. Right now, he’s just taking it easy. He needs to sit with an ice pack on his eyes to help with swelling, so he’s not really able to do much. He has drops for the day and ointment at night, and we have to really watch for infection. His eyes are quite weepy (and the tears are bloody), goopy, and swollen. The whites of his eyes are pretty much blood red…I teased him last night that he has devil eyes! He thought they were pretty freaky too. The redness may take several weeks to resolve, so he might be wearing sunglasses at the party! We’ll see. We go back next week to follow up with the doctor, just to be sure there is no infection and to check that things are healing appropriately.
Here is a picture from last night:














Here is one from this morning:

















Matt is doing well though, relaxing comfortably on the couch with the doggies right beside him. They are so happy we are both home! The cat was curled up with him in bed this morning too, naturally! The next day or so, he’ll probably just take it easy and rest with the ice pack on…so we’re glad he’ll have the weekend to recover. Hopefully next week he’ll be feeling good and looking better. He’s not in too much pain right now, mostly discomfort in his left eye. He said his right eye doesn’t hurt at all! They had to do more on the left side, so we weren’t surprised it is more irritated. The doctor said this morning would be the worst of it though, so hopefully it’ll be much better by the end of the weekend!


Thanks for all the prayers while he was in surgery! We are glad to have it behind us and hope that the results exceed our expectations!

Comments

Emily said…
You're right, these pictures are crazy. So glad for Matt that he doesn't have to go through any more eye surgeries - these are hard to look at.
12:06 PM
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