Check Up (21/05/2018)
Had my first check up since keratotomy surgery today, and it went well.
Astigmatism has dramatically declined due to incision surgery. Went from 6.6 down to 2.1. Wounds are healing up as expected with another month or so left to fully finish off. They now want to try glasses due to my intolerance/their reluctance to trying lenses. They’re pretty confident that glasses will most likely work this time. If not, then more surgery will be needed (which is not the end of the world).
Right eye is behaving itself for the meantime.
But also, I have stopped taking my anti-rejection eyedrops for the last week and a half and haven’t seen any symptoms so that means my eye has accepted my cornea for now! Feels good not having to put in steroid eyedrops every-day.
The future is positive!
Ollie shares his tissue donation story
Hello all,
The interview that I did for NHS has been uploaded to YouTube for you all to enjoy the site of my ugly mug! But all in good to spread the word about how amazing the NHS, and the person who donated their cornea, have been to me!
O X
Hospital check up appointment - 29/06/2017
Hi all,
As of writing this, I had my check up.
To cut a potential long blog short, the usual check up and scans happened and I finally went and saw my consultant.
The vision on the left eye is improving. With still some hazing going on from the recent rejection attempt. As it seems that whenever I’m not put on steroid eye drops, the cornea starts being rejected. So, for the time being, I am having to be on them for what my team said for at least a year. And as the left eye vision is improving, I will be going back in a few months to see the in-house optician to see if glasses will work. If they don’t, then they’ll start looking at having further surgery to improve the structure of the cornea. LASIK basically. Or possible incisions.
Just before I was about to voice concern about possible degrading of vision in my right eye, my consultant said that as he hadn’t seen the right eye for some time he’d check my notes and see if the scans indicate anything. And they did. Minor progression of Keraotoconus. Considering my CXL surgery was well over 2 years ago, and only minor progression has come out of it, that surgery did the job quite well. But 1 more cross linking is needed to try and halt the rest of the progression.
So I’m back in 2-3 months about glasses and then back in October to see my consultant again regarding the future in which I undergo surgery.
A bummer yes that I need more cross linking, but from one personal experience of it, it did the job well. And despite it being extremely painful, it was well worth the torture. I know a lot of people that didn’t have any pain or just mild soreness, so please just assume that my painful experience was just merely a bad reaction to the surgery on my part.
The future is somewhat bright. It pushes some goals further away, but sometimes you have to worry about yourself before doing what you want to do. I want to go back into my music, but, as always, is on hold for the meantime.
If any of you have questions regarding my past cross linking or whatever, please do free feel to message me.
Have a good day!
Ollie
Removal of All Stitches & Another Minor Graft Rejection (Hospital Appointment Update) - 08/03/2017 & 17/05/2017
Hi all,
Sorry for not updating this blog as much as I should be, but to be honest with you all, not a lot has gone on. I have spent most of my time since the post forgetting that I even had eye problems. It’d only be until people brought it up and asked that I remembered again.
One thing that I did do was an interview for the NHS Blood and Transplant Department. I’ll be doing another post about that once all the material is approved and, hopefully, sent out into the world.
Let’s start with the first appointment.
March 8th ‘17:
It’s the same old, normal routine, various eye tests and scans. HOWEVER, the one unique thing in this appointment was that I’d have all remaining stitches taken out on the day.
I won’t bore you all with the minor details and such, but let’s just say that it all took but 45 minutes to cut and pull out around 8-10 stitches that we still in my cornea. Painless but tense, but nevertheless went through it without a hitch. Well… Apart from one part where I accidentally flinched and it looked like I lunged right into my consultant’s forceps. But nothing bad came out of it. After that was all out of the way, I was told to expect the process of trying to improve the vision even better as it was still not good.
I was then sent home and I rested for the remainder of the day.
Onto the next appointment which was this week…
May 17th ‘17:
Again, the standard routine of the eye tests and scans. I see my consultant, which was a bit of a surprise as I had been expected to see my contact lens expert, but nevertheless, I and the Mother walked into his office.
Instead of immediately looking through my eye with his slit lamp, he asks if he could try a little experiment. I obviously agree and he goes and fetches this large wooden briefcase, which when opened, showed off a huge amount of lens inside it. He starts combining some of them and then proceeds to ask me the standard questions whenever you do an eye chart test.
What was weird was they weren’t standard lenses as per say, but whenever he twisted the lens cap, it would sway side to side, obviously trying to amuse my eye. But, like me, my eye was very stubborn and didn’t want to do anything with this test.
Thus then, I find out I had astigmatism. It’s a fairly common thing among us humans, and I’m sure something that is very common when you undergo a cornea transplant.
He then proceeded to check my eye like the normal way he does, but much to his dismay, he saw minor graft rejection in progress. ANOTHER ONE?! WHEN WILL I GET A BREAK? Well, the question to that answer is never. I did sign up to this, so I can’t really complain.
But I do however feel a bit foolish as I did have some stabbing pain and a sore eye for a couple days, and I hadn’t realised that was warning shots to me that something wasn’t right. But we all live and learn. So I was told then that if even it’s a small thing, to ring them and explain the symptoms and go into them as I was a high-risk case. So, again, lesson learnt.
So because of not me going into the hospital when I should’ve, I am back onto steroid eyedrops and following a strict regime. The drops I am taking are called Dexamethasone Sodium Phosphate. They’re a lot gentler than the ones I’m used to having, but they do however have the inconvenient feeling of stinging when I have them (speaking of which, I just had to take a drop a few minutes ago as of writing this).
I was on an hourly drop, but that has been downgraded to one drop every two hours. And then when every new week passes, the frequent amounts of drops needed are less and less.
As I do have astigmatism in my left eye, it does mean that they’re looking into having what I believe is LASIK laser eye surgery to fix the problem. Yay, more surgery. But no, seriously, I do forward to seeing (pardon the pun) how this surgery could help improve with my current redundant eyesight. Now if LASIK surgery is on the NHS or I have to go private, I don’t know, but I’m sure that will be discussed when I go back there next month.
I do have to say that my Eye Clinic team are an amazing bunch of people that do so much for so many people. I can only hope one day to repay back their hard work.
That’s all the updates I have really.
I hope you all have a brilliant, rainy (where I am), week.
Ollie
Minor Graft Rejection
Hi all,
Here is another update for no-one to read. I hope you, the reader, enjoy it:
Just a week after having 5 stitches of what was 14 stitches, I started noticing that my eye felt very more fragile than normal. There were times that I found it very hard to keep it open as it didn’t like how bright it perceived the light. I didn’t bat an eye (pardon that intended joke) until I realised that my eye didn’t like it whenever I put in lubricating eyedrops, and would actually react badly to it.
So skip to a few days later and it’s Christmas Day, and my eye is completely red and raw, and very comfortable. So I decided that morning to give it a couple more days, as I know it being the day it was, some people were more VIP to be seen to on C.D. So my family finally has the chance to call the eye clinic and they sounded very concerned. I didn’t know why, but they insisted that I come in and be seen immediately.
I’m not sure which date I went for the emergency appointment, but we went nevertheless and… There was no-one there. The staff were there but in less quantity, but hardly any patients waiting to be seen. I have never seen it that empty before, but obviously, emergency doctors and staff were there waiting for that you-never-know case.
We waited ten minutes before being called in for a quick eye test, which was the same as always, and put into a different, smaller waiting room to be seen by a doctor/consultant. After five minutes, my name is called and I am examined/questioned about my problem. The doctor asks about when I had the surgery, why it was needed, when was the last time I went to an appointment, what meds I was taking, etc, etc etc. After some good time look at my eyes, testing the pressure and looking around with a slit lamp, he blurts out “Your cornea is being rejected!”. It was all a bit out there, but it didn’t surprise me that this appointment wouldn’t be as easy as the others.
After some more questions and answering them, I was under new eyedrops and instructed to take them hourly for the next week until I was seen again by the proper Eye Clinic team. By now I obviously knew they were pretty worried, and so should I.
So I stuck to this regime of taking them hourly for a week, and then I was seen a few days after the new year rang in, and the same old stuff happened as usual, and they were very happy with what happened last week. My consultant reminded me how lucky I was to have decided to go in when I did, otherwise, the situation would’ve been a lot worse than it was.
As there weren’t any new talks of rejection, I am going to assume that the eye isn’t rejecting the cornea, but I am still taking my eye drops six times a day until I am next seen to have my stitches removed at the end of January.
That is all the updates I have about my eye! I will write another update in the next few weeks to talk about the rest of the stitches being taken out. I am very excited, but let’s hope the rest of this journey is as smooth as possible.
O.
Hospital Appointment - 5 Stitches Taken Out [12/12/2016]
Hi all,
So today was my last appointment at the hospital for the year, and I’m glad that it ended on a good note.
I arrived at the clinic at around 10:30 and do the usual routine of waiting and then being called, reading a chart, waiting again, being called again and then having my eyes scanned, and being made to wait again. All in about 45 minutes. This time it’s a lot busier than usual, I presume because of Christmas and everyone having their appointments before the end of the year.
I am then eventually called again by the contact lens specialist who checks the pressure and overall state of my eyes and he’s happy with what he sees and then walks out to talk to my consultant who handled my surgery and they both come back in and my consultant examines the eyes himself, and concludes that 5 stitches need to taken out today. I was a bit nervous although I had 2 taken out already, that experience wasn’t very good as my eyes decided to be extra fussy and resist against the eye numbing drops, so I could feel most of what was going on. But, luckily, this didn’t happen this time ‘round.
So I had a few more eye numbing drops put in my eye and then rushed to another room to have these stitches taken out. This experience was a lot nicer I can say. All done within 10 minutes. The team originally wanted me to go on surgery day to have the remaining 9 stitches taken out, but as they were very pleased with how still I was throughout the removal of the stitches, they’re confident enough to want to do them in the clinic rather than in the theatre. So I’m pleased that I won’t have to prepare for any surgery again. But I won’t keep my hopes up anytime soon, just in case.
Today was a lot nicer experience, and I look forward to having the rest taken out, as my consultant said: “The real fun will start then”.
The photo that you see was taken around 2 hours after being done at the hospital, so please do excuse the orange stain that’s around the eye as that’s the eyedrops that leaked. You can see where the remaining 9 stitches are (if you can’t they’re in the right hand of the cornea with a loner one on the left-hand side). And yes, there is a tiny bit of blood at the top, but that’s nothing to worry about. It was a cool experience to have the eye colour change to grey for an hour or so, but at the moment of writing this, it’s a very weird dark green colour.
This probably my last post before and after Christmas and the New Year, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Eye Appointment Date Changed
Hi all,
As I just updated my Tumblr with how my emergency appointment went, I just wanted to update that my appointment that I was meant to have in a couple weeks times has been delayed to December (one week before Christmas to be exact) so I guess it makes sense, and that when I go I can give everyone in the department presents. They do work wonders. I’m not too bothered about the change of date, in fact I feel like happy to be honest.
But bring on December! Christmas and eyes ‘n’ shit!
Ollie
2 Stitches Removed
Hi all,
Sorry I didn’t update you all on this as soon as possible, but I was out of the country enjoying myself, returned back and only just realised I didn’t even write about the experience of having 2 of my eye stitches removed in my emergency eye appointment.
On Friday 26th August, I went to the hospital for an emergency eye appointment due to having some discomfort in my eye, which it came to the point where it was unbearable.
So I arrive at the hospital first thing in the morning (they like to make my appointments very early) and I have the usual tests, the reason why I made an appointment. I then saw a junior doctor due to my consultant being away at the time. But we ran into a problem. It looks like my eyes are starting to build a resistance to the numbing eyedrops that they put in to obviously numb my eyes. This normally takes one eyedrops for it to fully numb and then start with business. But for some really weird reason, it would take SEVERAL drops until I stopped feeling anything in my eye.
Due to the constant problem I had with the eyedrops, I had to brave it out and just let them do their work, no matter how much my eye tried to make life annoying for me. It took another eye specialist (the one who happened to try help in my failed attempts of fitting scleral lens) and it turned out two of the stitches were wobbly, indicating that they didn’t want to be in my eye. So I was rushed out to the waiting and told to expect having them removed within the next hour or so.
Just as a prisoner walked into the Eye Clinic with 4 huge officers, one on each side of him, I was called by yet another eye specialist to come with him, looked at my eye and told me that he’d be taking the stitches out.
Now, no matter how much I tried Googling or YouTubing this, I’ve never seen how they took out the stitches, but how they do it is remarkable. While he looks through the eye examation machine, with the thinnest tweezers I’ve ever seen, he started poking (jk) my eye with grabbing the stitch to pull it out. Like what I mentioned, my eyes have built a resistance to the numbing drops, so I could feel this happening, so my reflex was to move back and keep apologising to the specialist while he went out to get a new pair of tools. After several eyedrops, my eye eventually numbed so he could continue with this work. The first stitch wasn’t that bad, I didn’t feel a thing. But when he went onto the second one, I started feeling incredibly sick. But he pulled it out very quickly, so the feeling went away quickly. But my eye started watering up, feeling sore and going back to feeling a bit sick. After that, he gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and sent me my way.
Afterwards I had a breakfast at Morrisons, needed some help getting back to the car because I couldn’t open my eyes, so I went home, straight upstairs to bed, and when I woke up I felt so much better.
So it’s been a month on the exact date since that appointment and my life has been improved greatly. I no longer feel sensitive to light or have any discomfort. It’s amazing to think what problems incredibly thin stitches can do to your life. But upwards and onwards.
I have one more update to do before I head off to bed, but enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.
Ollie
Emergency Appointment
Hi all,
There hasn’t been much to report on until now.
The last couple of weeks, I have been suffering terribly due the hot weather, and with hay fever being an enemy, my left eye has been swollen and even times difficult to keep open, and with it being more sensitive to light.
But fear not, I have booked an emergency appointment with the Eye Clinic and will be seen to within the next few days and will update on the situation. But from the sounds of it, they’re very worried.
Hope enjoys this lovely weather, and be safe!
Ollie
300 days since my cornea transplant surgery. Despite the weather being hot, and making my eyes sore, it’s doing pretty good.
Eye Stitches Are Coming Out (Eventually)!!! [25/04/2016]
So, I went to the hospital for my first appointment since January. And it was quite an interesting one.
I arrive at the hospital first thing in the morning, and wait. I am seen to by a nurse to have an eye test with a chart. My right eye was capable to read two more lines than it did in my last appointment, so I’m glad that the vision in that eye is getting better. But with the left eye, as always, failed to read even the first big letter on the chart. However, with a pinhole covering my eye, I managed to read down five lines. Another improvement (with the last time being only 2 lines down)!
I go back to another seat to wait to seen to by either my consultant or someone else. Not surprisingly, I was seen by a different ophthalmologist, as the waiting room was literally packed. I am escorted to a room where there is a desk, computer, and that massive machine they use to check your eyes (don’t have enough time to Google it). As it was the first time I met this lady, I gave her a quick history with my eyes and after she was briefed, she checked my eyes. Weirdly, she checked my right eye, which is a first as it’s normally the left eye everyone in the department is interested in. I’m considered a bit of a freak show by how unusual my eyes are. But there is always a first for everything I guess!
She said that my right eye is in brilliant condition, considering the surgery that had it go through. CXL (Cross-Linking) is such an amazing and simple procedure. Sure, it was EXTREMELY painful, but the results easily make up for it. She then checks my left eye and says that the graft is clear and that everything is in the way it should be. After quickly asking again when I had my DALK surgery, she said that after a year or so after the surgery (which I had back in October 2015) they’d start considering taking out the stitches. It’s amazing to think that it’s already 6-7 months since my surgery and they’re already talking about removing the stitches! She then says that after the stitches are out, the department will start to look into seeing corrective glasses/lenses or, if both of those fail, possible laser eye surgery.
She then quietly excuses herself out of the door to talk to my consultant about what to do now. After 2-3 minutes of waiting, she comes back and says the plan is that I will go back in October for my usual check-up of my eyes and then they’ll want to discuss about more surgery in the stitch removal area. I was asked about either wanting local or general anaesthetic. I choose local as one, it’s quite a small operation for it to feel like I need to be put to sleep, and two, I like watching the consultant operating on me and learning a thing or two about the eye!
One thing I always hate about these checkups is that they always put in numbing eyedrops which hurt like a mother. That will always be one feeling I will never get used too. I think the GIF down below perfectly explains the feeling.
But after a quick conversation, she gives me a piece of paper to give reception and I then I’m headed to the hospital canteen to have some breakfast and then head home.
A quiet appointment, but one filled with positive vibes and a bright future. Bring on October!
P.S. Sorry for not posting regularly, but will try and keep posting about my eye from time to time.
No longer require eyedrops!
For the first time since my DALK surgery, I am now allowed to stop the eyedrops I’ve been put on. I still have to take lubricant eyedrops whenever my eyes feel dry, but a big step towards recovery nonetheless. My next appointment will be in late April so expect my next update then.
Have a safe easter.
Ollie
Hospital Check-Up Appointment [25/1/2016]
First hospital appointment of the year has come and gone. I was a bit nervous as I was worried that they’d tell me that the transplant had failed (jumping to conclusions, again). Didn’t have to wait too long until someone called out my name and my eyesight tested. The right eye (which had Cross-Linking surgery in May last year) hasn’t changed, while the vision in left eye has slightly deceased, only able to read the ‘A’ at the very top of the chart.
I sat back in the waiting and had my name called out again and I didn’t see my consultant but rather another eye specialist. Explained to her my situation so she had some background. But there was major confusion as I had my eyedrops changed so many times during December that we had forgotten which eyedrops I was taking. Eventually my consultant told the junior specialist about it and quickly went away. I told her that I was noticing a triangle halo was developing at the top of my eyesight and that vision was decreasing, so she saw to it, and reassured me that it’s most likely the stitches causing the problem and should be gone when they’re taken out in about a years time. I now have to take the same eyedrops I was taking since December (Prenisolone Sodium Phosphate at 0.5%) but instead of 3 a day, I take 2 a day for a month, then 1 a day for another month, then stop altogether. Next appointment will be around April, so I look forward to it.
Funny story, as the specialist was putting local anaesthetic in my eye, some of it went over and covered my bottom eyelid. So I had orange eyelids for the day.
Even though the appointment only lasted 20 minutes, I hope that vision will get better and that the surgery didn’t go to waste. So I’ll keep optimistic.
Anyways, back to recovering and all that shiz.
Enjoy your day,
Ollie x
"Sorry for the lack of updates..."
Sorry for the lack of updates. Nothing has really happened since the last post.
Firstly I just want to say how deeply sad I am that David Bowie passed away last week. I remember as a kid questioning my family about his weird eyes. Never would I know that when I’d be 19 that, for a couple of days, I’d have two different coloured eyes after having DALK surgery. It was a brilliant experience to go through. All my life I have always been fascinated by his eye condition; even before I had Keratoconus. Very iconic look. RIP Bowie.
Changing subject, I have an appointment next week. Sadly I have been noticing decline in clear vision and left eye is almost going back to way it was. Hopefully that this is normal, and that its just me being impatient and jumping to conclusions. Fingers crossed.
More updates as they come.
Ollie★
Eye Drops Changed Again Two Weeks After Last Change.
Worst week I had ever had last week (eye wise). Was in so much pain after given new eyedrops to try and ease the pressure that was building up in my eye, but my eye was completely red and to the point I couldn’t open it because it was too much for my retinas to handle. It was so bad, we were considering going to A&E, which is the last thing I ever want to do.
Luckily family rang hospital at 9am, and spoke to the emergency nurse about it and they’ve completely changed my drops, so hopefully I will feel a lot better now. Fingers crossed.
I have to give it to my local hospital for being so helpful and nice. So grateful to them.
P.S. The eyedrops I was taking before was Lotemax. But obviously they were the problem because whenever I put them in, they instantly hurt.
3 weeks after my corneal transplant surgery. You can just make out the stitches which are in my eyes, but they’re thinner than a width of hair. Which is pretty cool. But yeah, more blogging coming soon.
Ollie.
Twitter: @olliestorey
Facebook: /olliestoreymusic
Insta: @oljstorey
Tuesday 13th October 2015 (DALK Corneal Transplant Surgery)
It’s Monday 12th October. I had just been to the Crime Museum in London, and having my last meal. It was a Chinese. Very lovely and nice. But this would be last meal before I would of had to fast for my surgery the following morning. I make the most of it, and eat as much as I can. People tell me I’ll be very hungry after I wake up from the surgery, which was under general anaesthetic. My family told me to have an early night, but as I knew, I would be up much of the night anxiously waiting for 6am to come by.
It’s around 2am, and I take my last sip of water (I wasn’t allowed to drink after 5:30am and I wouldn’t be awake by then. I close my eyes, and then the next thing I remember is being awoken by my mum at 6:45am. “Come on darling, it’s time to get up”. I do what most people do and close their eyes and soak in the rest of the time they could in their bed. Off I go.
I was looking forward to this surgery. Mainly because it’s been talked about, debated about, and planned about for so long, it felt weird that it was actually going to happen within the day.
The reason for this surgery is that I had one of the most severe cases of Keratoconus they had seen in a very long time. Especially someone so young (18 at the time of being diagnosed). Funnily enough, a month before the surgery, while having my eyes scanned, the nurse kept thinking I was blinking throughout it because the test kept coming back as purple and black colours. Which often means the eye is in a pretty bad state. So I had to spent 30 minutes having a nurse watch me to make sure I wasn’t blinking while another took out the test. Funny how life works sometimes.
That type of scenario proves why I needed a corneal transplant so badly. Even the nurses were going mad about how bad my eye looked compared to my right eye (which is quite healthy after my CXL surgery and it seems that the Keratoconus has been halted).
Anyway, back to the main story. I brought along my Bronson book (I had been watching a lot about Charles Bronson, now known as Charles Salvador for some time), my Mophie case for my iPhone just in case I had to wait all day and if my iPhone was to die. And that was it. On my way in a baggy grey shirt with some grey jogging bottoms, because I knew I had to be as comfy as I wanted to be, because this would be more serious than my cross linking. I regret not bringing my headphones because after I was out of the recovery ward, I just wanted to blast some Aphex Twin on my phone.
We arrive at the ‘Eye Day Surgery Unit’ which is this massive cubical in the middle of my local hospital and we go inside and register so they know I turned up and just wait. The nurse then calls my name (I will tell you though, feels so good to hear my new legal name than my boring birth name). I get called to ½ of the wards they have ready to question the patient and do anything that is necessary which the other waiting patients don’t need seeing. I have been through this sort of procedure before and I know what happens. They ask to verify who you are, why you’re at the unit and why do I need this surgery. Basic stuff. But knowing me, I give the nurse a full lecture as to why I needed the surgery, and she knows I mean business. Or I am just crazy. Probably the last one. Nope, definitely the last one. I am very crazy.
I fill out forms and wait to be seen by my consultant who would be conducting the surgery. He calls me into one of the offices. “How are you feeling today, Ollie?” he asks as I close the door and walk to my seat. “I’m very nervous but excited!” I say quite quickly and nervously. “Good, what we’re (him and two other people which looked like students) going to do is quickly measure your eye to see how much tissue needs to be taken off, and these two will quickly observe your eye and what needs to be done to make this surgery successful. So I lay my chin on those machine which they use to examine your eyes with. I hear my surgeon mumbling to himself measurements of my eyes and other stuff he wants to note to himself. “Now”, my consultant says, “If you two have a quick look at this persons Keratoconus you will see what I’ll be doing during the Keratoplasty surgery and how severe his Keratoconus is”. They observe my eye then I am sent out back to the waiting room.
I then meet the Anaesthesiologist, who, of course, will be putting me to sleep before I head into theatre. She measures my height and weight so she knows how much dosage she needs to put me to sleep and such (hence why she’s an Anaesthesiologist).
As I was going to be put under general, they wanted me to be comfy, yet want access to my chest and such if any problems occurred (which didn’t). I was told to put a gown which they gave me on and special tights which you have to wear during the op (I forgot the reason why but yeah, can’t be asked to Google it at this moment of time). With the tights on, the gown on and my red Nike shoes on, I looked and felt like someone who claimed they were the second coming of Henry VIII.
Before I’m asked to go with the doctors, the nurse starts giving me eye drop after eye drop. The first stung like a bitch, so obviously that was the local anaesthetic, because they always f%&*ing hurt. Then she gives me another one which makes everything in the room greenish yellow. Charlotte (my sister) says that it made my eye look like as if I had cross linking surgery again. Ah, the good old days.
Minutes after, I go to the toilet and give all my electronics to my family and other personal items, and I walk into the anaesthetic room. I have been through this procedure before. Lie on a bed, and let them do what they need to do. The thing I was worried about the most was the IV needle. As most are, I’m not a big fan of needles. So I was a bit anxious but looking back, the IV was the least of my worries. I had never been under general so this was going to be interesting. They put this tube like thing around my arm, and then ask me to open and close my hand. I had always wondered how they put the IV in, and I didn’t use my common sense, but hey. They couldn’t find a vein so another nurse held my arm done by the side of bed and asked me to open and close my hand again and they found one. “You’ll feel a slight scratch”. Famous last words. I felt it going in, but it didn’t actually hurt as much as I thought it would, considering it was going into my vein. Around 30 seconds later, the needle did start feeling a bit itchy and irritating, but again, least of my worries.
They start putting this equipment on me, like the heart rate and etc, etc. They give an oxygen mask. And I have to say that pure oxygen is disgusting. The nurse says to me “Right, we’re ready to put you to sleep now”. I wanted to see how they did it. So I watched them inject it through the IV tube and it was this large syringe filled with clear liquid but with a few air bubbles here and there. All of a sudden, I start feeling pins and needles in my arm and I felt so knackered. My last words before I went to sleep were “Oh god, that is strong…” then I blacked out. It was a weird experience, but it was kinda cool, I guess.
All of a sudden, I start hearing beeping and felt like as if the bed I was on was moving and being turned around. I open my eye (my right one) and I realise that I’m in a room that I wasn’t familiar with. I was in the recovery ward. This really nice young guy gently wakes me up and says “Hi there sir, the operation was successful and you’re in the recovery ward. We’ll going to take you out in a minute”. I kept opening and closing my eyes and looking around my area. I noticed that I couldn’t open my left eye, and that it was patched. I couldn’t believe that it (the operation) had been done. It felt like I closed my eyes for like two minutes. Amazing how science works.
Around 5 minutes after waking up, I was wheeled back to the waiting room (they have two wards in there) and I noticed my family in their seats. They didn’t recognise me at first, until I started waving at them. I could hear my mum whispering “He’s out! He’s out!”. They walk up to me and the first thing I ask is for some water. I can tell you now, that sip of water I took was the best I ever had. I just blurted “God that water is f&*∞ing amazing”.
I waited and waited for the nurse to come and see me. I couldn’t open my eyes. So I had some assistance from my sister to walk me around the waiting room. Which consisted of bumping into the other patients and saying sorry whilst still in my hospital gown. I did my business in the toilet and went back to the ward. People say to you that you feel really hungry after being put to sleep, but I felt like I had eaten a couple hours ago and didn’t have any real appetite.
The nurse was satisfied that I could home, gave me my eyedrops and tablets, and discharged me. I have to admit the first few days were uncomfortable and I couldn’t open my eyes for the same duration. But I was prying my left eye open two days after the op, and my body couldn’t cope with how clearly I could see. Now note, when I say ‘clearly’ I mean ‘everything is still hazy but most of the halo’s are gone’. My balance was everywhere and even felt a bit sick.
But here I am now, two weeks after my operation, and typing this blog. My consultant has said that I have done three months worth of healing, and that’s mainly down to my mum giving me my eyedrops when I needed them, and I am doing well at the moment.
I feel excited for the future, and I hope that one day, I can have the vision that I once had and loved.
Ollie x
My blog on my day surgery is still in the works. But for the mean time, enjoy this photo I took today of my eye. The stitching looks beautiful.
My Transplant
So most of you might know, I am awaiting for a corneal transplant. Luckily, I only had to wait a couple months on the waiting list. My surgery will be around October. And I’m looking forward to it. The reboot of my life as I like to say.
Now some of you might be asking ‘Why are you excited for a painful 2 years of recovery?’ and I’d say because I want to get back on my feet and take on the world, but my eyes are stopping me from that. I want to become a music producer. And that means staring at screens all day everyday, even trying to write this post together is a challenge and a half. I want things to go back to normal, and want to be able to recover both physically and mentally and get myself out there in the world of work. Sadly, it takes time, but I won’t be a burden to myself or my family and use the free time I have to my advantage. I look forward to the future.
The exact procedure I am having is a Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK). A video of the sort of operation I’ll be having is in the link down below. Though it will likely be different to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hwtSeiFnV4
Two years means a long way for me, but something tells that it will go faster than I can say Keraotoconus.
If you have any questions or messages of support, please do feel free to use the fan mail feature.
Enjoy your days,
Ollie x
____________________________________________________________________
Twitter: olliestorey
Instagram: oljstorey
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/oljstorey