Hello family, friends, youth, prayer team and church family.
First of all, thank you so much for the prayers and the overwhelming emails, texts and facebook messages. Wow. I never had a chance to think that I wasn't covered in thoughts and prayer.
The surgery itself went well. I don't remember any of it (especially the constant chills, shaking and moaning that my mom wrote about). I remember the doctor saying goodnight, waking up to apple juice and 30 seconds later, being forced to get up and into a wheelchair to head home. Answered prayer #1, I didn't have to watch the operation on my eye. Slept right through it. Ptl.
The day after, I barely had any vision. I couldn't see the largest letter at the top of the eye chart. My vision was blurry and hazy. It was also painful to keep my eye open... and it was painful to keep my eye closed too.
The worst part was the constant headache. Surviving on one eye ruins your depth perception and the way your brain processes everything. Try keeping one eye closed for a day, even just an hour. When my eye was open it was like seeing clearly through one eye (the un-operated left eye) and a white thin sheet with a bright light pointed at it over the other eye. That also messes with how my brain interprets the information its receiving. But God is good in all of this.
I had a 6th day follow up appointment today. I can see 20/60 in my right eye. Not much worse than before the surgery with some recovery left to go. The haziness has not gone away though. This is due to corneal swelling, which is why I need the corneal transplant in a few months. So while I can struggle to see things, a little bit of light spreads and floods everything I see. I may not be driving for a few more weeks, reading and concentrating on books, or my computer, etc will be minimized. Night time is much more kind than daylight.
The doctor said that everything is healing as it should be, but he thinks I'll still need the transplant. He did say, "I would love to be wrong," implying that there is an off chance that the corneal swelling can go away on its own.
So my big prayer request is that God would heal my cornea so that I won't have to have this second surgery. I need to wait 3-4 months before my eye would be ready after this operation which means the surgery would be about the beginning of Yumi's third trimester. It'd be easier to have the surgery before the baby comes, but even better if I didn't need it. God can do it!
Another request, I'm noticing symptoms of my macular edema (retinal swelling). This is the problem I've had over the last 3 years. hope this is a side effect of the surgery that will go away. If it doesn't, I may be facing more eye injections. Its weird, but for some reason, I really do not like those. By God's grace, I would really like to avoid those as much as possible. So please pray for retinal healing too!
Yumi has been fantastic taking care of me. My parents have been super supportive and helpful. And thank you to the Chu's for a fantastic dinner!
Thank you all for your prayers, emails, messages and encouragements and please let Yumi and me (and the Pathway prayer team - prayer@pathwaycommunitychurch.org) know how we can be praying for you.
My next appointment is in 3 weeks when I will see both my retinal and corneal specialists in the same week. Until then, happy Easter, He is risen! Praise God for all things (even eye surgery and injections because He can use those for His glory).
God bless
Tim
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