This is a pretty important week in the life of Duane. On Tuesday I’ll meet up with my plastic surgeon which might potentially be the last meeting I have with him regarding this whole affair. My first meeting was about twelve months ago and resulted in two surgeries to my eye socket. I’ve spent this last year bouncing between doctors offices, getting eye exams, several CT scans, and will meet this week to probably wrap everything up.
In terms of my vision, it’s still not perfect. I see pretty much everything perfectly below the midline (i.e. looking straight or down), but as I look up I tend to see double of everything. I have sort of naturally adjusted by automatically raising my head when looking up so the object I’m looking at is straight on, but it’s a fairly big pain in the ass for me, especially when it’s dark and my eyes are tired from a long day at work.
I had a fairly thorough eye examination a few weeks ago, and the doctor basically said that I should I’ve faired amazingly well considering the extent of the injuries I received. For the most part, I doubt anyone would really notice the changes had they never met me before.
A Few Minutes Before Mapping Out My Last Surgery
So on Tuesday, I’m fairly certain my surgeon will basically say that’s it and close my file. If I had my way, I would probably consider another small corrective surgery which would involve adding one more piece of plastic under my eye to bring it up about 1mm and towards my nose slightly. This would probably help my vision, but of course every operation carries risks, and I’m quite certain my doctor will say it’s not worth it. When I look at getting glasses again next year, I might be able to correct some of what’s left with special prism lenses that have a vertically changing prescription, but I’m not really sure.
While most orbital floor fractures are usually correctable completely, mine is complicated by the fact that due to the kick I received in the face, my entire orbital floor (the bone under my eye) shattered, along with part of the bone against the inside of my nose. This makes it extremely difficult to properly place a plastic implant.
An Implant Sort Of Like The One I Have Under My Left Eye
So I have no idea what’s going to happen. Some people think I’m a sucker for punishment going through all these surgeries and what not, but they have to realize that not only is my vision still affected, but I have a constant reminder every time I look in the mirror about that night. I might try to compromise with my doctor and get one more CT scan to evaluate the current position of everything. I figure with one more dose of radiation I might be able to start crawling up walls or moving objects with my mind, which would be rather cool.
On Thursday is my Christmas party, and then I think there are a few more on the weekend, so this week is shaping up to be super busy. I still have no idea what I’m going to wear for my party. Last year I think I just wore a nice sweater and some dress pants, but I think I might class it up a bit more this year. Considering I might have my new super powers by then, maybe I’ll wear all black and do some crazy jazz dance like Peter Parker.
Or not. We’ll see.
I can’t say I know much about the incident that has put you in this situation, but sorry to hear it has been so difficult for you. You are a brave soul, you know that? I won’t even let them do the surgery on my knee they’ve been trying to do for years…too chickenshit.lol Hopefully it can be corrected without more surgery though…too scary…Glasses aren’t so bad… 🙂
Super powers from medical radiation….well. it hasn’t worked for me yet, but who knows?
And you dance way better than Peter Parker….you are Duane the minx, after all….
>> but I have a constant reminder every time I look in the mirror about that night
Hmm, maybe I need to scan the archives. Seems I got here a bit late in the game.
Anyways, I’m glad to here you are slowly recovering even though it does sound like a hell of a lot to go through. Wishing you the best!
Check out this blog entry — it has a pretty good summary.
I appreciate the well wishes! Thanks.
Good lord man — saying that’s absolutely horrible would be a ridiculous understatement. You got the shit end of the stick for just doing what was right. As for those guys, I get the feeling it’s going to come around some day; it almost always does. It’s logic just as much as it is karma. You spread around enough shit to enough people and you are bound to step on the wrong toe someday. You’re a bigger man than I am. Seriously. You may have had to go through a lot of pain and recovery — but you have also gained a bunch of strangers’ utmost respect.