Update on Tom’s eye surgery recovery…

It has now been ten days since Tom had surgery to repair the detached retina in his left eye, and so far, his recovery seems to be moving along as expected. Of course, when you’re going through something like this, it’s hard not to pay close attention to every little change and wonder if everything is healing as it should.

At this point, Tom still can’t see much out of that eye. His vision remains extremely limited, which isn’t particularly surprising this soon after such a major eye surgery. Retinal detachment surgery is not one of those procedures where you wake up the next morning and suddenly see clearly. The retina needs time to heal, and vision can continue changing for weeks or even months. How much vision eventually returns also depends on how much damage the retina sustained when it detached.

His eye is also still very red and looks sore. Seeing that red eye every day certainly makes me a little uneasy, even though redness can be part of the normal healing process after retinal surgery. The eye can remain red for several weeks as the tissues heal, and the appearance can gradually improve over time.

Tom continues to use his eight daily eye drops, and one small milestone is that he can now put them in himself. I didn’t mind helping him at all. In fact, I was happy to do whatever was necessary while he was recovering. But Tom is Tom, and he insisted that he could handle the drops himself. And, to his credit, he can.

I’m sure he enjoys having at least one part of this whole ordeal that he can do without my assistance!

The next big step will come on October 8, which is only 12 days away. We’ll make the trip back to the ophthalmology clinic in Nelspruit, where his ophthalmologist will remove the silicone oil that was placed in his eye during surgery.

For anyone wondering why they put oil in his eye in the first place, it actually serves a very important purpose. During retinal detachment surgery, the surgeon repairs the tears or breaks in the retina and then places either a gas bubble or silicone oil inside the eye. The oil acts somewhat like an internal splint, gently supporting the retina and helping hold it against the back wall of the eye while the repaired areas heal.

Silicone oil is used rather than simply allowing the eye to heal on its own because the retina needs continued support after it has been reattached. Silicone oil is particularly useful in more complicated detachments because, unlike gas, it doesn’t gradually disappear on its own. It can provide longer-term support while the retina stabilizes.

Eventually, the oil can be removed in another procedure once the ophthalmologist believes the retina is sufficiently stable. In Tom’s case, his surgeon has scheduled that removal for October 8, just a little more than two weeks after the original surgery. The timing, of course, is based on what his ophthalmologist sees when examining his eye and what is appropriate for his particular repair.

So, for now, we’re taking things one day at a time. Tom is faithfully doing his eye drops, taking it easy, and waiting for that eye to begin showing signs of improvement. I know we’re both anxious to see what happens when the oil comes out, and his eye has more opportunity to recover.

After everything that happened so unexpectedly, from noticing the strange shadow in his vision to getting him to the ophthalmologist in Nelspruit immediately after we returned from Madagascar, we’re grateful that he received treatment as soon as possible.

Now we wait, watch, and hope for continued healing.

The school holiday season is evident by the lack of animals visiting us and the crowds on the roads and at the shopping centers. Soon, we’ll head to the Wild Butchery to pick up a roast Alta ordered for us and buy more biltong, which may be sold out soon with so many people in Marloth Park.

Be well.