S3 13 days post op

Hello!!
No, I didn't fall off the planet. I'm still here. :) I just kind of relaxed--away from the computer--for most of the weekend.

I had my post op with Dr. T today. He seemed happy with my progress. I asked him about the deep bruise on the right lower and he said that sometimes when injecting the Novocaine, they hit a blood vessel causing bruising. He said that when they hit a vessel during surgery, they can clamp it or put pressure on it but when its the needle that hits it, there isn't much they can do. We joked about it for a minute and he assured me that he didn't jab me in my sleep! I also asked him about the twitch. He gave it some fancy medical term that had about 30 letters in it and says it can be caused by stress or caffeine or one other thing that I dont remember at the moment but that it usually resolves itself. He didn't even notice the dot and didn't connect it to the twitch so I guess I was wrong on that. I have been under considerable stress lately and I do drink gallons (just kidding) of coffee so he could be right. We'll see if it resolves.

We talked about the graft sliding loose and the moat. He gave me a funny look and laughed about me calling it a moat, but it did look like one until a day or so ago. He didn't seem surprised that it had opened and said it looked fine.
He thinks that last piece of xanthie above that area may be able to be removed right in his office. Hmmm. I'm not so sure about that! I'm kind of a chicken and I dont know how I'd feel being wide awake. It does seem a bit extreme to put me to sleep for just that piece though. We're going to evaluate it and the right lower in 10 weeks when I go back. He also noted that my left lower was "puffy". Little does he know that I squeezed that crap out of that dot just a few short days ago. I think that's why its puffy but I didn't tell him. Besides I could be wrong--yet again! He seemed to think it was possibly some fatty tissue that could be removed. He did say that it would be totally cosmetic for that and I'm sure my insurance isn't going to be interested in paying to fix that. We'll see how that progresses and if it is in fact the dot or not.

So that was my visit. Nice and neat. As for the eyes, well, the moat is closing in and is healing up. I've been letting it dry out a little every day and that seems to help it along faster than the raw spots last year. The dot area still feels like something is in it and its not really healing so yeah, I think there's something in it, but it will just have to work its own way out. Everything else looks just fine.
I may not be on here too much now until my next appointment. This surgery was so much simpler than the other two. Naturally, if something changes I'll be back before then. 10 weeks is a long time so I may come on just to say hi sooner~
Here are today's photos. Notice the moat is drying up!! yea! One thing I notice though is that the flash catches what's left of the xanthies and in real life, you dont see them quite as much. I'm still a lousy photographer!!!
Can you believe in 2 days it will be the 1 year anniversary of the first surgery???
Take care!

S3 10 days post op

Hello~
Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Not much changed yesterday anyway!
The bruise under the right eye is healing but still there. The left lower is a little tender if I rub it but is otherwise fine. The right upper is as if nothing happened there. It was only a tiny dot anyway!!!
The left upper, where the flap and moat are continues to heal. I got it wet for the first time yesterday and it appears to have done it some good. It actually looks like its sliding into place now. The moat is still there but after it got wet, the new "scab" looks a lot better. It's going to take it's time, just like the raw spots but it is healing.
On the photos, you may be wondering about the red dot under my left eye. Remember with the last surgery how those 2 bumps came up? Well, this bump had been there since that time but never looked close enough to the surface to do anything with it. Over the past few days it has come up a little closer to the surface so, since I'm totally incapable of leaving well enough alone, I decided to fool around with it. It's definitely just like the other two but is still too deep to get out. It even has a little blue tinge to it. Strange that any remnant stitch would still be there but I cant imagine its anything else. One thing I have to say, after playing with it, my eye doesn't twitch nearly as much as it had been twitching. Connection of some sort?? Possibly. As I said, it appeared to be coming to the surface more over the past few days and that's when the twitching started getting worse. Hopefully over the next day or so I can get what ever is in there out. If not, I see Dr. T on Tuesday...maybe he can get it out.
On another note, I spent some time looking at my eyes and previous photos. There are still 2 areas that I think need work.
1) Right lower lid: Dr. L removed the entire lesion in S1. Within 4 months it was back in its entirety. Dr. T removed the lower 3'rd of the lesion in S2 and after 6 months, it has not returned. In S3, he only took a slither off from the top 3rd. I'd like to see more of the body of the lesion removed using what ever technique he's using that keeps them gone.
2)Left upper lid: Now that the swelling has gone down and the flap is falling into place, I can see what he did and what still needs to be done. There is a piece of xanthie above the flap that is part of the reborn xanthie on that lid. Dr. T took about half or maybe 2/3'rd off but there is still a piece that I would like to see removed.
It looks like he may have used a laser on the right upper, right lower and left lower. I'll have to ask him. I had originally thought there were actual incisions on 2 of them but I'm starting to doubt that. It just isnt the same as previous incisions and looking closely at it, it looks like laser to me. Add that to the list of questions for Tuesday!

Here are tonight's photos. Sorry I didn't take the time to get the clear shots I normally get. It's kind of late and I'm tired but since I didn't update yesterday, I didn't want to update without photos. Besides, this blog is not just for you guys, it's for me too! I think somewhere down the road I'd be upset with myself for skipping 2 days of photos at only 10 days post op!
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!!

S3 8 days post op

Hello~
I was thinking last night how boring the recovery for this surgery has been. Well, maybe not exactly boring but more un-eventful than the others. Dont get me wrong-- I'm not complaining!!!
Todays report is good. Upper right, lower right and lower left all look and feel fine. If it wasn't for that bruise under my right eye and the red on my eyeball, you wouldn't even know something had been done! The left upper is still doing it's thing. The moat looks to be closing in just a little bit and the flap doesnt look as weird. It may all be falling into place but it definitely has a ways to go. The moat is still a moat! I was looking closely at it today and it reminds me of the raw spots I got with the other 2 surgeries. Obviously this is larger but it looks and feels sort of the same. Raw, itchy and mad! One thing I dont think I've mentioned is this new twitch in my left eye. It's coming from the lower outer edge. No scalpel has touched that area so I have no idea why it's happening. I'd really REALLY love to rub that eye... nice and hard!!!
Something else I didn't mention this time that was issue last time is washing my hair. My recovery was so much easier this time and the surgery so much less extensive that I washed my hair IN the shower on day 4! Ha!!! I didn't even tell you guys! I figured, it's really just the left upper that shouldn't get wet and it was easy to cover AND shampoo at the same time! Actually... my hair could use a color touch up but I'm not that crazy. That will have to wait until the moat heals. I remember the raw spots and what happened when they got wet. It was icky. I'd rather wait it out.

So that's todays update. The photos are taken with ointment on so they have that glossy look. It makes the moat look worse doesn't it??. Tomorrow I'll do them dry.
See ya!

S3 1 week post op

One week since the surgery... I cant say it went slow or fast this time. It kind of went by normal!
Not too much to report today as there isn't too much of a change since yesterday. The bruising on the right lower definitely looks better and so does the bruising on the left upper. The right upper, right lower and left lower are all healing, and closed. That was probably faster than any of the other surgeries!!! The left upper still looks a bit angry. Its struggling to heal but looking at it closely, I can see why. I have to keep in mind that it IS only a week and it was the deepest and largest of the incisions this time. The flap doesn't seem to be quite as swollen but it definitely still hurts underneath. The moat part is kind of raw but I continue to use the ointment on it and keep it clear. Remembering not to rub that eye has been a challenge....
So, here are today's photos. They look kind of the same as yesterday dont they?? ;)

S3 6 days post op

Good Morning~
After stressing my eyes yesterday, you'd think I would have gone to bed and slept for 10 hours right..? Hardly. If I got 4 I'm lucky. I woke up SO early today and just couldn't go back to sleep. Oh well...
The eyes are continuing to heal. The right upper and left lower look fine. Unless you look closely, you cant even tell something was done to them. The right lower still has that bruise that looks like a black eye. What ever external stitches he had on that incision fell out yesterday afternoon. If it didn't have such a deep bruise, that lid would look fairly normal too. The upper left on the other hand definitely still looks weird. The last of those stitches fell off this morning and after wiping around it with an alcohol pad, I can finally see what he did. Its like he cut a U shape of skin or a flap and moved it to cover the hole left by taking out some xanthie. I'm not convinced the flap piece was big enough though and around the lower margin, there appears to be like a moat. Yeah, I know... weird. I'm hoping it will all heal together and flatten out---one day! There is still bruising on that lid but only slight swelling. I still think I'm healing faster than before but it could be that it just wasn't as extensive.
My post op appointment was scheduled for Thursday but I have a conflict so I called yesterday to reschedule. The soonest they had available was next Tuesday. I asked the girl to bounce it off of Dr. T and if he wanted to see me sooner I'd find a way to get to his other office. I told her I was doing fine, that this wasn't my first time and that there were no external stitches to be removed. She said if I dont hear from her then Dr. T is okay with Tuesday. So far I haven't heard from her.
There really isn't much else to report today. This surgery seems almost boring compared to the other 2. ~sigh~
Here are today's photos. I'm not sure what to think. Because of the bruising, the right lower remnant xanthie looks huge. Its definitely not thick and gross like they were originally but clearly, there is still xanthie there. There is also a decent size piece still on the left upper. I guess we'll have to see what Dr. T says on Tuesday about that.
See ya tomorrow~

S3 5 days post op

Just a quick update. As I have found out before, I always try to do too much my first day back at work. 7.5 hours later, my upper left lid has a little bit of fresh blood and both eyes hurt and are a little swollen. I should know better by now...

No photos... maybe later. I'm kind of bummed. :/

S3 96 hours post op

Hello~
Would you believe there is really no significant change since yesterday? Well.. it's true!
The bruising on the left upper and right lower may be slightly better. It's sort of hard to tell because its dark and rainy today. No good sunlight to inspect the eyes with! The left upper still hurts and still looks weird but its not a painful type of pain. More of an irritating raw feeling. I haven't had the huge swelling that I've had with the previous surgeries but there is some, again on the left upper and right lower. It's better than it was a few days ago but it never really got too bad. Overall, I'd have to say this surgery was the easiest of the three. However, how the left upper turns out still remains to be seen. Looking at it, I cant imagine he's done with it. There seems to be just too much xanthie left. It's still a bit early to tell though.
I've been sleeping a lot these past few days and I cant say I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Then again, in this economy, I am thankful that I have a job to go back to...
Here are today's photos. Maybe there will be more of a change to report tomorrow!
See ya~