Recovering from Eye Surgery requires a lot of Patience

Something I am very short of

I would try and research it on the internet

But some of the things worrying me

Didn't seem to appear

However I understand its very common so I'll share it here

The first two hours following the surgery, I had to sit in a position with my head bent over my lap, forehead towards my knees, looking down at the floor. the reason for this is to ensure that the gas bubble I had inserted would be able to work with gravity and push the retina against the back of the eye, keeping it in place allowing the glue to hold it as it all set.

Perhaps better explained here :  Macular Hole Surgery

This position is highly recommended to be continued until the gas bubble completely disappears which can take up to six weeks, for me, it took three weeks for the bubble to be absorbed. So for three weeks I would spend two hours a day looking at the floor !!!!

Sleeping position also matters, You sleep on your side with the opposite cheek to the recovering eye being face down on the pillow. This again is also to do with the absorbing of the bubble.

About 2 - 3 hours after surgery, your eye starts to ache, this is the time to take painkillers do not wait until the pain kicks in or you will really suffer, I then proceeded to take painkillers every four hours, I would need no reminder, as regular as clockwork the eye would start to ache every 3 1/2 hours

You will also be given a prescription for up to 3 or 4 different kinds of eye drops, there are anti biotics, anti inflammatories, steroids and reducing pressure drops and they must be administered 2 to 4 times a day depending on your prescription. You are also given strict instructions about lifting. Its simple......don't lift anything !!!!!!!

For the first few days there is no sight at all in your eye, the hospital puts a large pad on your eye to protect it and you leave this pad for the first 24 hours, by then it really should be removed as your eye does get sticky and you can't afford to get an infection.

I then wore a plastic eye patch to keep my eye protected. Don't be alarmed if your eye feels "heavier" Its a weird sensation, its like their is a weight attached to the gas bubble.

I seemed to sleep...........a lot !!!!!! I would get up early and get the boys off to school then go back to bed and sleep until noon, shower, get dressed make a cup of tea, then fall asleep on the couch, wash a few dishes, be exhausted wait for the boys to come home from school chat for a bit then be asleep again, only to be woken by one of the boys asking what was for tea??????

About 3 days after surgery, I noticed I could see light in the very top part of my eye, not even colours just the awareness of light. Over the next few days as the bubble slowly shrinks, frustratingly slowly, you see more and more of that light.

Eventually the bubble has shrunked to the effect that half your vision, the bottom half is still black and the top half is light, and slowly the light becomes colours, at this point, as you can see visible the bubble moving, its almost like a being underwater effect, for me this gave me the side effect of feeling permanently nauseous as the level of the bubble would be constantly moving as if in a wave giving me the sensation of motion sickness. This motion sickness stayed with me until the bubble finally disappeared.

One of the most frustrating things for me was only having one eye seemed to take out all my perspective vision. I can't tell you how many times I would go to pour myself  a drink only to miss the cup as I hadn't lined it up properly. Or the phone would ring and I would reach for it and miss the phone completely because it wasn't where my brain was telling my hand it was.

This sense of perspective became all the more scary once I left the sanctuary of my own home. I was comfortable in my own home, to a point I was comfortable in my parents home too but I preferred being in my own home where I knew where everything was.

But I still had to be very careful, the boys would come home from school and drop their rucksacks in the hall, only for me to trip over them as I hadn't seen them, simple domestic chores were a nightmare, things like the hoovering, I wouldn;t see the wire and trip over that, as for drinks spilt or kicked over the carpet because I hadn't seen them........I simply gave up counting.

Then there was the really scary tasks........ Being outside
For some reason being outside, everything looked so huge, and I had lost my confidence walking, I would walk everywhere with my head down scared I would trip over something, only to then bump into another person/item or even vehicle that I hadn't seen coming. Things like steps were nerve wracking, as I had to really work hard at making sure I was placing my foot in the right place to go up or down the steps. But the scariest was crossing the road...........It had all become suddenly so complicated..............My left peripheral vision was non existent so I would spend ages at the kerb checking all around for traffic, see a clearing then have to look down and concentrate hard that I was stepping off the kerb in the right place, by then I would worry there was another car coming I couldn't see..........I went into town with my Mum and we were laughing as we had a complete role reversal of the elder lady helping the younger to cross the road, go into the right doors, walk up the steps..........

The day my bubble finally dispersed was strange.........I actually sat watching it disappear. In front of my eyes it got smaller and smaller and smaller until eventually it was a pin prick and then........gone. I was so scared it would come back I didn't even tell anyone for about an hour.

The returning vision is slow but steady. I went from seeing light, to seeing colours, to seeing blobs, to seeing shapes, to slowly seeing those shapes becoming familiar. Its now just the finer details that I am still waiting to perfect. Using both eyes together I can now see pretty well, although reading means the words have to be up close, but using only my left eye I can make out for instance a clock on a wall but not the dial or the numbers, I can see my children with my left eye but their features are blurred unless they are up close to me. Reading with my left eye only is still impossible, the words are nothing more than wavy lines of print, unless the paper is almost touching my nose and even then the print is slightly blurry.

But i am fully optimistic. I just have to be patient...............

If you are ever unfortunate enough to have eye surgery,  the best advice I can give you is to say, its not as scary as you expect it to be.
Take all the drops at the right times, don't try and be brave and see if you can cope without painkillers, its not worth it.
Be aware that losing your confidence is actually a very common occurence with eye surgery. We rely on our eyes for everything so to lose vision will naturally take your confidence with it.
Don't push yourself.
If you want to sleep.........sleep. Its natures way of healing
Stick to the instructions given to you by your Surgeon, its honestly worth it. All those hours I sat in an uncomfortable position were worth it to hear the Surgeon say that the re attachment was perfect and the retina was back flush and tidy against the back of the eye
It takes roughly six months before your eye has fully recovered and healed but you will only be out of action completely for the first 4 weeks.
And.......don't be like me.........don't panic !!!!!!