A different focus

BOX SCORE
Element	Current	Std. Range
Hemoglobin	11.5	13-17
Platelets	117	140-375
ANC	1380	1800-8300

Today is a big one for me. If you are a follower of this blog, you may recall that the Cytarabine chemotherapy that I had last year made a mess out of the corneas of my eyes. Fortunately, I have a wonderful ophthalmologist who has been working diligently to help. Dr O has been so supportive and professional, not to mention knowledgeable and capable. 

After I finished all of my chemotherapy cycles last year, I made an appointment to see Dr. O, because my vision had significantly changed. It turns out that Cytarabine is very hard on the eyes. That explains why I was always given prednisolone eye drops while I was receiving that chemotherapy. Nevertheless, my corneas were damaged, and one of the first things that Dr. O said was that this is the year I will need cataract surgery. 

She started by doing what is called a superficial keratectomy (SuperK), or in her words, "We scrape the surface of the cornea, and then let it heal." Ouch! Really? Scrape? It turned out to be a simple 15 minute operation that was painless and only required a temporary contact lens "bandage" and lots of eye drops. At my post op appointment, Dr O was pleased and so was I. I could already see better. 

When Dr. O went on maternity leave in late May, Her colleague, Dr. Katz took over and did the SuperK on my left eye. By the time I was all healed up from both surgeries, my biggest problem was finding the right strength reading glasses. I no longer needed glasses for distances! 

Now Dr. O is back. She has a beautiful daughter named Emilia, and I have an appointment today for cataract surgery on my right eye. I opted for a multifocal lens that should allow me to see clearly at any distance from the horizon to about 20" from my eye. It is likely that I will need readers for reading a book or other close up work. I have appointments for surgery on my left eye with follow ups. I look forward to being able to see with less difficulty. 

As you will notice in the box score above, my blood counts are reasonably stable although slightly low, which means that I have been able to be active around the house doing some projects that have gone wanting. I am still careful about too much exposure to soil or windy condition, and Jill and I are maintaining fairly strict quarantine conditions. 

My next chemotherapy cycle begins next Monday and is nicely sandwiched in between my cataract surgeries. God continues to orchestrate all things medical for us, and all things medical are currently going well. My platelets are low but not alarmingly so. My ANC is a little low, but I am still considered non-nutropenic, which means I am not currently as immune compromised as I have been when my ANC was below 1000 (or totally at risk as when ANC was zero). If past experience means anything, I should be about at the nadir or low point of my declining counts. We had an appointment with one of the oncology nurse practitioners last Friday. She was astonished at how well my numbers are holding at this point in the cycle. 

So, although this month of medical mania (see my previous post) continues, it is so far turning out to be less taxing than we imagined. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.