Eye

I'm going to share some personal photos here. I would normally hesitate to share these pictures of me looking a little not like Miss America :), but since it's all going to turn out in the end (keep your fingers crossed), I'm going to share because I know you'll be interested.


So, I've had four eye appointments in the last week. On the first day I had an impression taken. It hurt. They have this little funnel thing with holes in it. She puts that into my eye and injects this plaster stuff (the same stuff from the dental impressions you've all done) into my socket and inject it until the pressure builds enough so that the stuff goes through the holes. It really stings. Here is a picture of the tube that leads into the tunnel. Isn't it weird? Click on it. Make it big. That thing is sticking out of my eye! (And yes, Ibroke my nose when I was little when my dad rolled up an automatic car window while my head was hanging out. It hit me smack in the nose and it hasn't been straight since.)

Next she made a wax mold from the impressions. She slowly slowly slowly shaved/melted the wax down layer by layer until it was thin and the right size to fit my eye. Here is a picture of what she ended up with on day one. It's pretty weird looking, but just keep reading for weirder.

The next appointment was to find the center of the eye for placement of the iris (colored part). She did this by using a red wax to mark where the color would go and then attaching a little stick to it to mark the pupil. Pretty cool pictures, huh?

The next day I was supposed to pick up the final product, but it turns out this is the hardest fit and the hardest color she has ever done. In my life I have always tried to not take the easy route, and I hold others to that standard. Although I am quite pleased with the progress she has made so far, I am looking forward to the final product which will be ready (hopefully) on Friday. Carole has worked tirelessly to make my eye as good as humanly possible, and I cannot say how wonderful it is to have a medical professional actually really care about me. The last ocularist would have sent me home after a few hours with a second-rate eye.

Carole did let me take the eye she had made but rejected, and I wore it to Thanksgiving. Here is how it looks. (And if you want to remember how i looked pre-surgery, click here.


It looks a lot better than before, but we're still hoping to adjust the color, the eyelid, and how it lines up with my other eye. Apparently this eye is looking a little to the right of where it should. I have no doubt she'll get it. Either way, I finally feel like I can have hope in my life again, and that's a good thing. Ironically I'll get the final eye one year and one day after the initial surgery. It's been long enough. Oh, and for all of you wondering what this little lab looks like, here is where I spent most of last week:



And that's it. If you made it to the end of this post, here's a little spoiler: I'm coming up on my 100th post and that means that I must follow the trend of a couple of my friends and host a giveaway. If you comment on that post (and I'll make it clear that it is the 100th post) I'll have two fabulous prizes ready to give to two random winners. And since I have about 4 people who comment regularly, it's going to be a tough race! However, I do know that at least 40 people regularly read this blog, so maybe we'll get more than just 4 comments. It will certainly be exciting :)