It hurts
It's two weeks since the corneal graft and I can still feel discomfort and pain. The doctors said it's normal so I'm not freaking out about it.. It is major eye surgery so I just have to keep reminding myself of that and take each day as it comes.
The tension in my head has eased up, it was like every muscle in my scalp, forehead and cheek was so tight and I had continual headaches for the first week. I found that giving my scalp and face a massage really helped, though it would have been nice to have someone do it for me :).
I can always feel the corneal graft, the stitches softly scratch away at my eye lid. On days that I'm still and listen to audiobooks and basically don't use my eyes it is more like a bearable discomfort. However, I'm no good at sitting still, I want to research more about good health, I want to go for a walk or I have an appointment to go to, or the Chemist, so sitting still with my eyes closed doesn't happen willingly.
I find the pain gets really uncomfortable when I've been laughing or if I've been trying to focus my eye when I read a book, watch TV or use the Ipad/Iphone/Computer. There's something about the focusing that brings out all of the pain, and the laughing is pushing my cheek up against my eye so I'm guessing that action is causing the discomfort. My eye lid starts to burn and heats up the longer I use my eye and I get these horrible short stabbing pains right in my eye that make me cringe. As well as headaches just above eye, like they are from eye strain. The weirdest pain though is achy cheek, it's like the throbbing of a tooth ache but in my upper cheek.
I took Panedeine Forte regularly for the first week but now I'm trying to just take Nurofen and Panadol, so it probably wouldn't hurt as much if I was on stronger pain killers. That's something you can decide when you're recovering.
My tip to ease up the pain is to wear a patch over my eye when I'm focusing on a book, watching TV or using the Ipad/Iphone/Computer. It definitely relaxes my eye and I don't get any of the symptoms I've mentioned above. I should note though that the hospital said it's important to use my eye, so I'm not wearing the patch all the time.
I am at peace with what is. Miss Nat xoxo