Dear friends at USA.life,
I didn't have a chance to tell you guys while it was happening, as everything happened so fast, but here's what I wrote to eveyone on my e-mail list to keep them informed:
This is just a short note concerning my recent health problem. Many of you have been praying for me and information has gone out through various emails and text messages. I just wanted to get everybody on the same page so that everyone can know what is occurring.
Wednesday night when I removed my contact for bed, I noticed what I thought was "gunk" in my eye. As this occurs from time to time, I thought nothing of it. Thursday it was still there, so Noreen went to the pharmacy to get some eye wash. When that did not solve the problem I started to get a little worried. About 13 years ago, I had a torn and detached retina in my right eye and although this eye was showing different symptoms it seemed like a possibility.
We called the local emergency room, who said not to bother but to go directly to an eye specialist. They gave us the number for one, but when we called they said they could work me in next week. Not soon enough or me. Friday morning I called another specialist. I explained my issue and they said "be here in an hour."
Noreen took me to the appointment and after a series of tests the Dr. confirmed that my retina was starting to detach. He consulted with the same group of doctors that did my previous surgery and told me to be in St. Louis at 2:00 PM so that I could have surgery that day. We didn't even have time to go home, just called the kids to tell them what was happening.
The doctors in St. Louis did even more comprehensive tests. They determined that they couldn't wait long but thought it would be best to have the surgery Saturday morning. Many of you had already gotten prayer requests - either by phone, text or Facebook. One close friend following events offered to use their travel points to put us up in a nearby hotel. A great big thank you to them!
Saturday morning I arrived at Saint Luke's Hospital. There, three wonderful doctors proceeded to torture me and save my eye. I say that because the procedure they used can best be described as: Removing your eyeball from it's socket, squeezing a rubber band around the back of it, removing all the jelly from your eyeball, blowing it up with compressed air and using a laser beam to reattach the retina. When they were done, I looked and felt like I had just gone three rounds with both Mike Tyson and George Foreman.
Sunday morning we were to have a post-op appointment at their Clayton office. On the way there we get a phone call - power is out - go back to the hospital for your check up. One of the surgeons did a very thorough exam and said that everything should be OK. I of course will have other follow up visits in the coming weeks and eventually I will have to have cataract surgery.
Of course there is a long healing process that I'll have to go through. Lots of eye drops and cold compresses, sleeping face down for several nights, keeping my head down and lots of physical restrictions. I won't be able to join any Iron-Man contests, run any marathons or do any mountain climbing for the next several weeks. Heck, I'm not even allowed to lift more than a gallon of milk! But that's not too much to go through if it means I get my vision back.
I'm already feeling a bit better. The swelling in the eye is down to "ran into a door" levels, and the pain from the "Hulk Hogan headlock" feeling that the band on the eyeball causes can be managed with OTC pain meds.
For those of you who have been praying for me, thank you so very much! For those of you who didn't know yet, here's your chance to catch up! As you can see (no pun intended) it hasn't affected my sense of humor!
God Bless you all for your concern and prayers.
Tim
