03/12/2007

Torn Retina

The only thing worse than finding your house has been igored in your absence is to have it igored while you are actually there but unable to prevent it. This has been happening to me.

Since Tuesday 20th December, when I was diagnosed with two tears in my retina, I have had to lie down keeping my head still and on its side and, even harder, not moving my eyes either. You can imagine how difficult this was - not allowed to read, not allowed to use pc and no knitting. Scream. But to know that not following these instructions would result in retinal detachment is very strong motivation.

Two days after the diagnosis Iwas treated by cryotherapy which causes the edges of the tears to be irritated and in the susequent healing to knit. I won't bother you with the details of how they get the cold stuff near the tear edges......but it's only a local anaesthetic....I think the modern alternative laser treatment is slightly easier to do but couldn't be used on me because there was a blood vessel across one of the tears.

I was told I could begin to get back to normal last Friday afternoon and today I'm definitely feeling more like my old self although my face is still quite swollen. I shan't know whether the cryotherapy has been successful until I see the consultant tomorrow so needless to say I'm not able to relax about it yet. Just crossing my fingers.

And hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to catch up with all your blogs. Bloglines has got lots for me to read!

I did manage to get some knitting finished before this eye business started although I'm not able to do the photos yet but here's one that I'd already photoed.
It's Huckleberry Ascot this time in TeosHandspun Cashmere that I bought at AllyPally and with a few beads added to the bobbles.

5 comments:

florencemary said...

Kathryn, you are really having a horrid time of late. Your eye problem sounds excruciating (I scratched my eyeball whilst gardening a few years ago, and I thought that was bad!) and I do hope all goes well tomorrow (it's a pity, though, that you might soon be able to see the full extent of the igoring....yikes!).

The cashmere scarf is gorgeous - I love the colour!

Maureen said...

I hope the rest and the treatment have done the job in repairing the tear. And....I hope the house is being cared for while you take things easy.

Lovely scarf, the beads are a nice touch.

KnitYoga said...

Oh, Kathryn, I do hope that the tear has healed properly!

The cashmere ascot is lovely and the beads really make it look extra special.

Dipsy Doodle said...

Oh Kathryn, I'm so very, very sorry that you've been having such problems with your eyes! This sounds absolutely horrible to me, especially that you weren't allowed to move your eyes in all that time - then again, as you said, the fact that the problems would have worsened must have been a strong motivation for sure.
I'm so glad to hear that you're feeling a bit better and can slowly, but surely go back to normal - and I do have all my fingers crossed that the therapy was as successful as it can possibly be - sending over lots of positive thoughts and a big hug to you!

belaybunny said...

I hope your eyes are better asap and that you can get back to normal again soon. I love this scarf, it looks really classy. The beads are especially nice.