Eye Surgery Done

The radiation plaque surgeries have come and gone.  Neither surgery was all that bad; in both cases the surgical team was fantastic.  I had sedation rather than general anesthesia which I am happy about; others on the ocular melanoma website that had general anesthesia didn’t sound all that happy about it.  Also, my time with the radiation plaque was outpatient  - while isolated, there were small tasks at home I was able to do.

The second surgery beat up an already traumatized eye.  So, it is going to take some time to heal.  It doesn’t look all that horrible, but it doesn’t look good either.

I have a follow up appointment in about two weeks.  Then, they will monitor the tumor via ultrasound every few months.  The side effects are different for each patient, but it is expected that a cataract will appear fairly soon.  It seems that the eye continues to experience deterioration from the radiation for about two years…and then stabilizes.  So, time will tell.

I hope to make it back to work for a half day tomorrow, then have a day off for New Year’s holiday, then possibly a full or half day on Friday – then try to have a normal week starting the 5^th.  In the end, while I do like this job, I don’t know that such a high reading/writing concentration job will be a good long term fit given all that has happened in the last months of 2014.  Also, my boss put in his notice and his last day is Friday.  He was one reason this job was really good – he was being so very compassionate about the whole medical situation too.   

Finally – I will mention that I really like the ocular melanoma doctor.  We have a lot in common for our love of the National Parks.  He is a hiker and climber.  He was telling us some bear stories from his time in Alaska; he has made it to both Gates of the Arctic (saw polar bears) and Kobuk…two really hard parks to get to.  His visit to Lake Clark also sounded really amazing.  The third week in January he was going to return to the southern Utah area for some canyoneering.   The only unfortunate thing about this amazing doctor is that he is around 60 years of age…what shall I do when he retires?  One article on him states that he has been consistently recognized as one of the “Best Doctors in America” and the Consumer’s Research Council of America selected him as one of “America’s Top Ophthalmologists”.  I already wrote a note to my local retina specialist thanking him for the wonderful referral…not a bad outcome for the HMO.