In The Land of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is King

According to Erasmus. Unfortunately for me this is not the land of the blind. Just quick update on the 2 week anniversary of my second surgery to fix detaching retina in my left eye.

No particular new issues to report, thankfully. The PFAS (perfluoropropane) bubble they installed in the eye is slowly shrinking, just as it did last time, and as it is expected to do. The bottom of the bubble is visible just above the midline of vision in that eye, and based on my experience last time, it's only a matter of a few days more until I begin to get a glimpse of the world without the bubble, beginning as a narrow band above the center of vision.

The major difference between this surgery and the last is the installation of the rubber band, excuse me silicone scleral buckle, around the eye, in an attempt to hold it tighter against the retina. I ain't gonna lie. The rubber band isn't pleasant, at least initially. After the steroids they put in the eye in surgery wore off, it was darn sore, and I discovered that alternating acetaminophen and ibuprofen largely suppressed it. Still, looking at close items, or glancing hard sideways would set it to hurting more. Yesterday was the first day I tried stopping the ibuprofen (I don't want to use NSAIDs, based on the risk of bleeding, even though the surgeon approved of its use). It's working, but I definitely become aware of when the acetaminophen wears off.

The swelling and redness externally is dissipating, but not yet gone. This time I've been much more diligent about using the erythromycin ointment that they prescribe for eye discomfort, and it seems to be helping. I can't figure out why grease with antibiotic in it would help the eye feel better, but it seems to. I'm down to two different eye drops, twice a day, a steroid, and an anti-pressure drop to counter the pressure increasing side effect of the steroid. Only two more weeks to go for eye drops.