3 Surgeries

Yesterday, I assisted in three surgeries.

First one was a membrane peel. We removed the membrane that was distorting this patient's macula and causing everything they saw to be crooked and curved.

Second was a macular hole. We peeled off the membrane and put in some laser where we saw 'tuffs' that could lead to a retinal hole.

Third, was a man I worked up this morning. He had a macula-off retinal detachment. We had to leave less pressure in there, because he's a rancher and has his house in a higher elevation.

5 Surgeries

Today, I assisted in 5 surgeries. The first one was a lady who had to have a new lense put in from her cataract and then we did a membrane peel to fix a giant macular hole. Dr. JC said that the ICG was known to hurt some of the layer of the retina, so he was careful not to get it into the actual hole.

The second surgery was a membrane peel. The membrane had two layers, you could just see the ripples in the retina, even after we took off the membrane. It should settle down after 3-6 months. I guess I assisted in the surgery of the other eye back in October as well and boy did that membrane have so many layers, it was crazy! The vitreous wouldn't let go in spot and it caused some tears in the retina and even a small Retinal detachment. So she got some gas in her eye that will last 6-8 weeks.

The third surgery was the uncle of a girl optometrist! He had his cataract surgery done by another place and they put in silly sutures that caused the sutures to cut the iris like cheese cloth and caused some hemmoraging. We did vitretomy, but he had a previous retinal detachment, so there wasn't much after we put a new lense in, this time in front of the iris, because he no longer had a capsule to hold the new IOL.

The fourth surgery was a retinal detachment. I guess she had a brain tumor and it left her mentally retarded. We left her with gas, and it was originally a macula on surgery, but once we got in there, we discovered it was a macula-off RD.

The fifth surgery was a RD. They had already had one, but he developed another hole and so it detached again. We thought it would be a quick procedure, but it was the works. We not only took out his cataract, we had to put in a buckle, put in some laser, do a fluid gas exchange, etc. I had to leave early (thank goodness!) to work up some new patients--one CRVO, one with wet AMD, one with a dislocated IOL, and one with myopic eyes with a macular hemmorage. I really enjoy working up the new patients, because they have some really interesting diseases/cases. I also took pictures of each of these patients as well.

So it was a full day--from 7:30 am to 8 pm at night. And it caused me to not be able to go to Moab tonight and see my boyfriend who I haven't seen in what seems like FOREVER.

What the Inside of Your Eyes Look Like

This picture is a good example of what you see as you look through a dilated pupil. Notice the optic nerves are towards the nose. Top picture is a right eye. The bottom picture is the left eye. I focused on the retina or back of the eye and not the front of the eye.

White Spot

I took this picture of the periphery of the right eye. Patient has a curious white spot on the periphery of the retina. The technical term for this . . . "white spot".

One Good Eye, One Bad

I took these. Can you guess which one is bad? Left eye is on top. Right eye on bottom.

Happy Easter Everyone--Result of Last Surgery Mentioned

A few weeks ago, I assisted in a surgery of a man who was climbing a hill with his 4-Wheeler and it fell on the top of him. His eye was pushed out of the socket and with the help of many surgeons, his eye was repaired as much as humanly possible. Today the man doesn't look the same. One eye is lower than the other and the injured eye lids droop down. The man told me today that he doesn't dare look at his own face in the mirror. He avoids it.

As I think of Easter coming up in the next few days, I am reminded of what this time of year means. We celebrate Easter not for the colored eggs or the bunny, but of Christ's death and resurrection. Christ suffered for our sins in Gethsamane so that we could overcome spiritual death caused by our sins. But Christ also arose from the dead 3 days after he passed away. He was resurrected. His body and spirit which were separated at death were reunited in a perfect form.

I know that this man I saw today--that doesn't recognize his own reflection--will in fact be perfect again. He will not only one day see again, but his eye will be as it originally was in its perfect form.

I will forever be indebted to my Savior for His healing power.

4-Wheeler Accident

Last Friday, I assisted in a surgery of a man who was riding his 4-wheeler up a hill and it rolled over backwards on top of him. It badly injured his eye. It split open the globe of the eye and caused a lot of bleeding behind and inside the eye. The globe of the eye was immediately stitched, but we didn't operate until 3 weeks after the accident.

We began by removing the old blackened blood from behind the eye. I pulled on the eye with silk ties around two of the four muscles around the globe. We removed all the old blood and then went inside the eye.

The eye was completely filled with blood. It look like cottage cheese. It was hard to see in, so much that we slowly made our way with the vitreotor chopping and sucking up the hemmoraging slowly. Eventually we got to the retina and it was splotched with old blood behind the choroid and newer blood. Damage was done to the macula, but it looked a lot better afterwards, clear of debris and old blood.