| The decision to have this procedure done was easy. It was done under general anesthesia and entailed five hours of removing bone and tissue from under and around both of my eyes. I am always asked if this was painful and the answer is YES. The pressure alone from TED is painful, but it is tolerable. The pain from surgery is bearable as long as your pain management needs are working for you. I say that because everyone is different. My nerves got the best of me prior to surgery. I remember waking up from surgery, still disoriented, and was not prepared for ice bags bandaged to my eyes. My first reaction was to put my hands up on my eyes to move them-I don't recommend that. They have to be wrapped around your head with pressure to help aid in keeping the swelling down. I believe for the first day it was 20 minutes on / off. I felt bad for the nurse who had to keep up with that. It is very odd having a nurse take care of you and you can't see them. What was difficult for me was not being able to see for the first few days. It felt awful to open my eyes for the first time.The ointment made everything blurry and it burned when the air hit my eyes. Three days after when I looked in the mirror, I just cried and cried. I was in shock at what had become of me, of this... I could not grasp I just had this surgery done-who would ever think-"orbital decompression"? So many thoughts raced through my head from why me to how, etc. I had to get off my pitty pot and just be thankful. I realized that I had taken my eyesight for granted. |
