More Eye Problems for Mom

Mom had a setback on her cataract surgery today. Yesterday she was having blurred vision in the eye that was operated on; she was also having discomfort and dryness. It was bad enough that she called Rob this morning (Sunday) and they got an appointment with her eye doctor, Dr. Mattingly. He thought there might be an infection. Infections of this nature are very rare he says--about one in 5,000. He says he hasn't had a case of it since 1999. He arranged for Mom to be seen by a retina specialist, Dr. Schraut, at St. Elizabeth. He wanted to do an exploratory on her eye for which he had to anesthetize her. Apparently he found quite a bit of matter in there that needed to be cleared away; there was some stuff in front of the retina that was causing the vision problem. He took sample materials to test for infection, but his visual impression was that infection was present. He put antibiotics into the area while she was under. She came home with a large gauzy patch over her eye. That will come off tomorrow, presumably, when she sees Dr. Mattingly. Then on Tuesday and Thursday she will have appointments with Dr. Schraut and will get more antibiotics.

This process took the better part of the day. I think she left the house with Rob at about 11. I stayed with Dad all afternoon and early evening. Steve sat at the hospital too and brought Mom home about 7 p.m. Dad was very anxious about everything; thank God there were football games to watch. Mom came home in reasonably good spirits and Dad was very relieved. (The phone started ringing alsmost as soon as she got home with Federated wellwishers.)

We won't know for sure if an infection is present until the lab results come back--Tuesday, I think. Assuming that it is present, the possible outcomes range from complete recovery to loss of sight in the eye, depending on the virulence of the infecting agent. In the one case Mattingly had the patient recovered fully. So things will be touch and go here for several days until we know how this is going to play out. This is certainly not what we had expected!

Mom is tired tonight and will go to bed early. I'd encourage you not to call tonight (Sunday). We'll try to keep you posted as things develop.