Macular Hole

[Blazin'Jane]

I have just received this diagnosis and will have surgery on Aug. 19th --next week. It will be followed by 1-3 weels of 23 hr/day face down recovery and then a gradual comeback to life as I know it. This problem usually shows up in 3.3 people/thousand, more often in women over 60 who are nearsighted. I win! Does anyone else have experience with any aspect of this issue? I plan to spend my face down days juice and green smoothie feasting. Any hints would be appreciated. Thanks. :confused:

[Lukesgramma]

No tips, sorry. But best wishes on your surgery! Hope your recovery is swift!

[michigan roman]

doc's are predicting the amount of time spent recovering from their experience's with s.a.d. eaters

but as a rawfoodie of several years i bet your recovery times
at least half that or more

ide def include alot of dark greens and carrots in juices to
feed the cells building blocks to repair with ,
to me the more of these juices the faster the healing .
also cantelope for vitamin A

get to catch up on your sleep :)

[DawnD]

Jane I wish you the best as you go thru your surgery. Keep us posted on your progress. I like what MRoman says about raw food and healing. You have and advantage over SAD eaters.

[Blazin'Jane]

I survived the surgery and ended up spending 10 days face down. "No fun, for sure, but it's in the past now, and I learned today, 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, that the hole is closed. My granddaughter Leah, who 3 1/2 ydars ago (when she was 15) introduced me to raw foods, came to stay 3 weeks with me. I had green smoothies (on steroids!) morning and evening and vegetable juices for lunch. I also started taking some "Perfect Eyes", a supplement by Nature's Sunshine.
Thursday will be the 4 week mark, and then I can gradually return to my life as I know it--work, swimming, biking, yoga, etc., but I am going to do it very gradually.
This is very wierd business, unlike anything I have encountered in my 69 years. I can quit putting dilating drops in my eye now, which means that some sight will return---it's about the same now as it was before the surgery. More may return after that as the eye continues to heal. However, it is likely that I will develop a cataract in the operated eye, due to all the trauma, which may mean another surgery, less awful, to remove it. So the beat goes on. I do agree with what you suggested ---I gave myself the best shot at a good and lasting recovery with my raw diet, and I'd like to believe that it will carry me forward with no more back-steps as I go along. But, who knows!?? It was just so strange that this happened in the first place, given my very clean diet and lifestyle.
Well--it's done. It is what it is. If any of you run into someone in a similar circumstance, maybe we can start a raw vitrectomy club or something. Meanwhile, thanks very much for your concern and support. Life is looking good again!:)

[michigan roman]

thats great to hear , keep on blazin :D

[RawKnitster]

So sorry you had to go through all that. Thank goodness for modern medicine. Even rawbies need help sometimes. Good work on your speedy recovery.

When reading your thread I thought it was struck bylhow many times the number 3 appears. Just for fun I googled to see what the number 3 represents in numerology. Seems like maybe it describes you...? ;)

Number Three is a sociable, friendly, and outgoing vibration. Kind, positive, and optimistic, Three's enjoy life and have a good sense of humor. Ruled by Jupiter.

Keywords: jovial, friendly, positive, adventurous, self-expressive.

:D

[DebB]

I'm glad to hear the surgery was a success! Wishing you a continued speedy recovery. *Ü*

[margoss]

I just saw this. I worked in Ophthal for 15 yrs, some of that with Retinal Specialist. I will say that 10 days face down is fabulous!! I feel that the raw may have helped. Could you get a Cat..yes, but it could be slow growing. One Ret guy I worked with ALWAYS stressed green leafy veggies and carrots. He ate this daily with his hot sauce, ha! He was always after us women for our 'food needs'.
It sounds like you're so great. Don't think about the cats, invision clear vision. The dilation drops were to keep the muscles from moving, the eye rests better & it's easier for them to see inside with a full dilation kept. It may take several days for undilation bc it's usually a stronger drop.

[Blazin'Jane]

Thank you all so much for the encouragement. Margoss, i had'nt noticed all the 3s, but it's a good number for me according to your numerology!
Michigan Roman, I did, in fact, catch up on sleeep during themonth I was off, and on my photo albums which had been sorely neglected. Also, while i had the gas bubble in my eye, I couldn't read, but i was allowed t watch tv, so I saw some movies and watched almost every matech of the US Open Tennis tournament
I'm 6 weeks past surgery now, and go back to the doc Oct. 19th. My sight in the bad eye is much better, but still not right. It may never be, but also may keep improving for a year. I'm back to almoost my full plate of biking, swimming, and yoga, and still keeping up with my 2 qts of green smoothies a day and 1 qt of vegetable juice. I'm going to stay on that diet for another 6 weeks and then back off a bit, so I can chew some salads.

Again....thanks for staying in touch!

[Mary Kay]

Best of luck to you. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Mary Kay

[michigan roman]

glad your doing well :)

[Blazin'Jane]

I didn't catch everyone up after I saw the eye doctor at the 2 month point post surgery. That was in mid-October. I had been toled that the average sight regain is 2 lines on the chart. My operated eye was at 20/70 just before the surgery, and I tested in October at 20/30. That's 4 (count 'em!) lines on the chart. I was thrilled, and sure that one reason I had such a good recovery is that I drank all those smoothies and juices. Now it's the end of November, and I don't think my sight has changed much more, but I see the optometrist in a couple of weeks, so will post again when I see the numbers. My sight is not perfect. I still have "hole" in the middle of whatever I'm looking at, but my other eye covers for the imperfection pretty well, and I can do everything I want to do.
Again, thanks for all your care and concern!

[bonnieengler]

my sister will have this surgery on feb. 28, 2011. i have never heard of it. how did you do and how was your recovery and was everything successful? i do hope so. can you give me any adivce so that i can help her. she is 63. thanks, bonnie