Just Too Little Time

First of I’d like to say thank you to everyone who responded to my previous post about my mom’s corneal transplant. It’s nice to read all your comments there. The surgery itself went smoothly last Saturday.

We arrived at the hospital at 8 AM, the doctor and her team were already waiting for us. They ran a few tests on my mom before sending her to the inpatient room so she could take a proper rest before the surgery. FYI we live about an hour drive from the hospital so it was tiring journey for her.

At 10.30 AM she was brought to the OR and from there we trusted her to the medical team. However, we were able to see what was happening inside the operating room through a big screen TV just outside. After the surgery she was taken back to her room and spent the night there.

Sunday morning her doctor put an eye cover on her left eye before slowly opened the bandage from her right eye. Then she asked, “Can you see any light ma’am?” My mom smiled and responded, “Doctor, I can see your face.” Then she was asked to identify some objects and colors around the room. Every question was answered correctly.

Later I asked my mom if the process was similar as we saw in the movie. You know, if you saw a movie/drama/telenovela (whatever) about a person having a corneal transplant, it was usually visualized with a dark screen and slowly progressing to a blurry gray-scaled picture before finally became a clear colored picture. My mom said, “No! I instantly saw her there in pink dress.” (It was Sunday so the doctor was actually off duty and she wore a pretty pink dress instead of white). Interesting, isn’t it?

Anyway, before the transplant, the visual acuity of my mom’s right eye is HM (Hand Motion) means she could recognize (sometimes blinked) if a hand was moving in front of her face. That was it, other than that was total dark. So to be able to see the entire room was a great progress. I know transplantation is a long process, the doctor reminded us frequently about this, but at least I can say that was a good start.

She was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon and scheduled for checkup next Saturday morning. I will follow up about her condition next week. Thanks again for your support everyone!