Posterior Pole buckling nervousness

[spookyluv]

Just wondering if there's anybody else anywhere out there who has had the posterior pole buckling procedure done by Dr. Ward's office in Santa Cruz.  I am scheduled Nov. 11 and very, very nervous.  I have read horror stories of scleral buckle complications and I guess just need a pep talk or something like that.  Haven't seen Dukey's posts in a while, not since June 30 and wondering how he's doing.  Anybody else with information, would appreciate it.  

[spookyluv]

And anyone else interested, just an update.  Two and one half weeks post op.  The double vision is to a point where I would echo Dukey in saying it is "not that bothersome."  The first two weeks was very bothersome, it was debilitating, in my opinion.  I could hardly stand to open my eyes and there was a very strong urge to create a prism by twisting my glasses up on the left, which isn't a good thing to do because the whole idea is to get your eyes working again at the level they're supposed to be.  So as of Tuesday it started to really get significantly better.  Today I have both my contacts in and have the double vision straight on at a distance and up and to the right, as Dukey said.  Anything on the left and lower is pretty darn good.  As soon as everything is stable I will need to get all new prescription.  With my glasses I can read and do close up work, I even was doing cross stitch yesterday, with my contacts that is not the case even with reading glasses, the whole thing just needs to be tweaked.  

All in all I am glad I did this although not looking forward to the double vision when doing the left eye which I feel I need to do.  That's for later, I really feel that if I had done this when eyes were shorter I wouldn't be facing vision loss from myopic MD.  

[spookyluv]

1 week post op report -- I am so glad I did this.  I keep saying that, I know, but it's because i was having so many "worst case scenario" moments in the hours before surgery.

Saw the RS this morning, my eye feels normal today.  Up until today the right side was really irritated, I'm thinking maybe from sutures.  It's so much better today.  Vision is 20/40 in that eye, still have double vision but can only tell with glasses because I wear a contact in the left eye during the day and the vision is so bad uncorrected in my right eye, who knows?  I did notice however that when mixing cat food for the strays in the garage there were three bowls instead of six -- in the slightly lower left area of my vision.  Which is an improvement!

The RS said my staphyloma is not as deep as it was.  There is some limited mobility that I honestly didn't even notice, even if that was permanent I wouldn't consider it a problem.  All looks good in that eye, and off all meds, my pressure was -14 using only eyedrops, no oral medication.  

I am feeling upbeat, doing whatever I can to help minimize vision loss in my highly myopic eyes.  I do feel strongly that this procedure holds the promise of arresting staphyloma and progression of length and if done early enough in the process could be a totally preventative measure.  The first week was the hardest, I expect it to be much better from here, after a week or so and see how it goes I do want to think about when to do the left eye.

I gotta say that it's so worth consulting with Dr. Ward, he's primo and really knows his stuff.  And he truly, honestly cares, he knows how traumatic the diagnosis of future vision loss is for people and how hard it is to have something done to an eye that is still seeing 20/25.  

Any questions, send me a message or whatever.  I want to share whatever positive comes of this because it is so often that all that is posted in internet is negative stuff.  

[spookyluv]

Yep it's Nov 12, surgery was yesterday.  Won't type much as I am looking out of one eye only with that slight distortion from a CNV last January.  But it was the procedure to stop /slow axial elongation.   I have much to report, especially on the emotional - decision making process, I am thinking I'll post it on a board or something for others to read to help them in their decision.  I'll just say now that I was up all night before the procedure fretting, got to a point where i had to verbally tell myself "I can't do this" all the while knowing in my gut that I needed to do it.  I am so very happy that I did it and already thinking about when to do the other eye which is not as long but still degenerating.  I will type more next week as my eyes start working together again and I am back home in Idaho.  

Eyesight is so precious, we must be proactive.

[spookyluv]

Yes, great to have you back.  We all wondered about you.  About the hospital cost, we paid the out of pocket up front when we were there, everything else is covered by insurance.  As far as I know, I hope there are no surprises on that front down the line.  They gave a discount for payment up front, it was around $500.  

Are you planning on doing the other eye?  

[nickppatel]

Dukey, glad to have you back.  Re: the bill, did your insurance end up covering most of it?  Was your out of pocket expense outrageously high?

[dukey]

Really sorry guys, I have been trying to get some of the enjoyment of life back after surgery and have not been spending much time here lately.

Spookyluv - really sorry I wasnt around prior to the surgery, I feel a little bit bad about that. Sounds like it all went very well and your vision recovered quickly. Mine was like looking through jelly for a week or two. Over 6 months for me now and all is great. The double vision to the extreme right has never gone away but even when it was more prominent it never bothered me to be honest. I'm not sure if it is still improving but I would happily live with it. The only problems I have had post-surgery are occasional dryness/irritation and some mild blepharitis. Vision 20/25.

Oh and Spookyluv, I did like the hospital, I just didn't care much for the bill! If you havent got it yet, just you wait!

[spookyluv]

From what I understand not good to use prisms as the idea is to get your brain/eyes working together on their own.  Contacts would not fix double vision, only glasses with prisms.  At any rate, it gets better day by day.  Just takes time.

I also wanted to mention one other thing, Dukey didn't like the hospital that Dr. Ward used (Good Samaritan) but I thought it was great.  One of the things I liked about it was that it is quite small and personal.  

[JodieJ]

I hope your new prescription provides significant improvement.  (I'm not very knowledgeable about myopic MD.  Do you think that disposable contacts or stick-on prisms might help to eliminate some of the double vision you experienced during your first two weeks post-op?)

I admire your courage in actively seeking a solution to your vision problems.  Please continue to update us.

[spookyluv]

One i had done is 30.5.  Left one is 29.1.  Ideally I would think 27/28 would be ideal, since the longer your eye is the more damage is done.  

[nickppatel]

All great news!!  Can you tell us how long each of your eyes are/were?  What length do you wish you'd gotten them done at?

Thanks and congrats again!

[JodieJ]

Bravo, and best wishes for a spectacular recovery!  Please continue updating us.  I'm sure that your experience will provide invaluable information for others.

[nickppatel]

Awesome!!!!  I'm extremely excited for you.  And happy.  I don't have any questions at the moment ... but I'm sure I will think of some and I'll ask you!

Congrats again!

[nickppatel]

That is so fantastic and encouraging.  What a blessing to hear positive news from you.  I do wonder what happened to dukey.

Please do post back soon, I'm eager to hear from you!!!

Congrats!

[nickppatel]

I'm not sure about the retinal detachment that Dr. Hagan is referring to (I'm not aware that you had one).  I'm assuming you're having this surgery to prevent axial elongation.  I hope you went through with it (by now it's Nov 11).  Please come back and let us know how it went!!!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

RD surgery is big time surgery. You can read about it using the archives and search feature. Realize that if the RD is not fixed the portion of the retina that is detached eventually loses sight.

JCH MD