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!

For the last two years my mom has been through several procedures to restore her sight. Started with cataract and glaucoma surgery (Aug ’08),  YAG laser capsulotomy her POC treatment (May ’09), Lucentis Injection for AMD treatment (Sept ’09), and Intravitreal triamcinolone (IVT) injection for her CME treatment (Jan ’10). All of the procedures were done on one eye only, her left eye.

Her right eye, on the other hand, was already damage. The cloudy cornea had caused blindness and the only available treatment for her was a corneal transplant. The procedure includes removing the cloudy cornea and replacing it with a clear cornea donated through an eye bank. And because of the complexity of this procedure, her doctors advised us to focus on her left eye first before proceed to her right eye.

Until last week when she had her regular checkup, the option of corneal transplant was discussed again and yesterday we were informed that an eye donation was available for her. The doctor then asked if my mom wanted to proceed with the transplantation.  She agreed, so yesterday evening she had a complete examination prior the surgery. She had an ultrasound scan on her right eye, hematology test and EKG monitor. We went home late last night.

I found two interesting articles concerning pregnancy and having children. I quote the articles here and let you decide which one you want to believe

First, a five-year study run by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction proves what many in the scientific community have always suspected: having children significantly lowers the IQ of both male and female parents.

Dr. Hosung Lee, director of the study, was not surprised with the findings. “The research proved that our hypothesis was correct. Having children does retard one’s brain activity, and since both parents lost intelligence, we must assume that this loss has a psychological rather than biological cause.”

The IQ tests show that when a child is born, the part of the brain that makes one think objectively takes the biggest hit when it comes to losing brainpower. “This explains why every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid in class or the best athlete, even if that child is as dumb as a box of rocks or needs a calendar to time their forty-yard dash. People who before were intelligent and open-minded turn into raving lunatics who want to blame a teacher or coach every time their mediocre child fails,” said Lee.

Lee says the Kinsey Institute will continue to test the couples participating in the study to determine if the loss of intelligence is reversible once children grow up and leave the nest and if parents who continue having children lose even more intelligence.

Second, a recent study performed at the University of Richmond and Randolph-Macon College in Virginia illustrates that pregnancy brainpower actually doesn’t decline at all during pregnancy.