The big event of December

December has also been a busy month! The insanity of work continued, of course - but then there was also all of the annual holiday-related stuff thrown into the mix too.

And on top of all of that, Dan had eye surgery on his left eye earlier this month (December 16). For those of you who don't know, Dan has an eye disease called keratoconus. He had a cornea transplant in his left eye 1995 - at that time, he was told that it was a last resort to repair his eye. It's held up okay since the transplant, but his sight has continually deteriorated. Thanks for modern technology, laser surgery is now an option for someone with kerataconous! So he was scheduled for laser surgery on his left eye - it was basically a similar procedure as the "normal" procedure that a lot of folks get, but with a much greater risk of something going wrong because of the transplanted cornea. A lot of people have immediate improvement with their sight - but in Dan's case we were told that his vision would return to its original level at about 2 weeks after surgery. Then, if all goes well, it will continue to improve after that (for up to 1 year).

The eye drop routine after his surgery has been intense - the first few days following the procedure was insane! I was actually given a spreadsheet by the clinic so I could keep track of the various eye drops, meds, etc. And thank goodness I had a chart to track it all, or I definitely would have lost track! Dan is now down to 4 different types of eye drops and 2 meds taken throughout the day.

He's been back to the specialist 2x since the procedure and his eye seems to be healing as it should. Phew! His distance vision is still pretty bad, but at least he can see up-close better already! It's amazing (let me tell you - his sight was SO bad before the procedure that, even with his glasses on, he had to hold literature right up to his nose in order to read it). He can now read literature at almost arm's-length, without glasses on at all. Wow.

Once this eye is out of the "danger zone" and is well on its way to healing, Dan can have his right eye done. That eye still has kerataconus in it, so it's a more involved procedure. His surgery will actually be part of a clinical study for "Corneal Collagen Crosslinking with Riboflavin". If all goes well, it will not only improve his site, but will result in him not ever needing a cornea transplant on that eye! (errr, if it doesn't go so well, it will mean that he'll need a transplant much sooner ... but we're optimistic this won't happen)

Dan hasn't been allowed to drive since the procedure but will find out on Friday if his vision has stabilized enough to drive. I sure hope so!! And how I hope his sight continues to improve and he's able to see better. Fingers crossed. :)