Recovery Update: THE DOT IS GONE! 👁️🎉

Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this update when I woke up this morning.

I got up to head to dialysis, did my usual check of the left eye, and went looking for my little unwanted passenger — the mysterious “air bubble” that has been hanging around in my vision.

And it was SUPER, SUPER SMALL.

We’ve gone from something noticeable at the bottom of my vision, to roughly the size of a 1-cent euro coin yesterday, to something this morning that looked almost like a pinhole.

It was so tiny that it looked different, too.

Before, the dot had been translucent. I could sort of see through it. This morning, it was so small that it just looked dark.

And it was moving around a little.

There were also a few other floaters joining the party, because apparently my left eye needed one final going-away celebration.

Then I got to dialysis.

I looked for the dot again.

Nothing.

Looked around.

Nothing.

Moved my eye.

NOTHING.

THE DOT IS GONE!

GONE! 👁️🎉

After days of calling it a horizon indicator, vinaigrette, an eclipse, a euro coin, and whatever else I could come up with, the mysterious dot that my doctor thought might be an air bubble appears to have finally disappeared from my vision.

I am certainly not declaring the entire eye adventure finished. I still have healing to do, and after everything this eye has put me through, I'm not tempting fate by announcing that Left Eye Airlines has permanently landed.

But today?

I'll take the win.

Now, about that arm...

Yeah.

While the eye seems to have decided it wanted some positive attention today, my arm apparently looked at the assignment and said:

“Don't worry. I'll keep things disgusting.”

It is crusty.

It is dark.

It looks nasty.

And judging by the picture, it may actually be getting more impressive in the grossness department while it heals.

So today's scoreboard:

👁️ Eye: DOT GONE!
🫧 Bubble: Apparently departed.
👀 Floaters: Still making occasional appearances.
💪 Arm: Crusty as hell.
🩹 Recovery: Still moving forward.

There have been a lot of strange developments during this recovery, but watching that dot get smaller day after day and then finally disappear is one update I've been waiting to write.

Sometimes progress happens slowly.

And sometimes I get to dialysis and realize...

THE DOT IS GONE!

Recovery Update: The Mystery Dot Is on the Move

Another day, another episode of “What Is My Left Eye Doing Now?”

The good news is that there seems to be some movement — literally.

For the last several days, I’ve been talking about the translucent dot in my vision. At my one-week follow-up after the silicone oil removal, the doctor couldn’t actually see the dot I was describing. His thought was that it might be an air bubble.

When I looked straight ahead, it had been sitting near the very bottom of my field of vision.

Today, it has moved.

The dot — bubble, UFO, freeloading tenant, whatever it ultimately turns out to be — has risen a little farther into the bottom portion of my view.

And it’s getting smaller.

At this point, I’d estimate it’s about the size of a 1-cent euro coin in my field of vision.

So apparently my eye has its own European currency now. 🇪🇺🪙👁️

I’m taking the fact that it’s getting smaller as something worth watching. I’m certainly not declaring victory, especially after the doctor told me there’s a possibility I may need injections because of the blood vessels in the back of my eye.

For now, though, I can report:

Mystery dot: smaller.
Mystery dot: moving.
Eye: still red.
Me: still watching everything like a hawk.

Meanwhile, the arm continues doing its impression of something discovered during an archaeological excavation.

It’s crustier, darker, and still looks considerably more dramatic than it feels. Every day it seems to find a new way to look disgusting while apparently continuing to heal.

Between the eye and the arm, my body seems determined to make sure I never run out of material for these updates.

Tomorrow?

Who knows.

Maybe the bubble will shrink again.

Maybe my arm will finally stop auditioning for a zombie movie.

At this point, progress doesn't necessarily have to look pretty. It just needs to keep moving in the right direction.

Recovery Update: The Bubble, the Blood Vessels & the Crusty Arm

Today was my one-week follow-up after having the silicone oil removed from my left eye, and apparently my recovery story needed another plot twist.

First, the easy update.

My arm is getting crustier.

That sounds disgusting because, frankly, it looks disgusting. The road rash from my disagreement with my prosthetic, gravity, and the carpet is continuing to scab over. It may technically be healing, but aesthetically, we're still several miles away from a Neutrogena commercial.

Now, back to the eye.

For the past several days, I've been talking about the horizon, the vinaigrette, the eclipse and, most recently, this translucent dot or bubble floating around in my vision.

Naturally, that was one of the things I wanted to ask about at today's appointment.

The Good News

The doctor looked at my eye and didn't see the translucent dot I'm seeing.

Okay. That's encouraging.

Apparently, whatever I'm seeing isn't something obvious sitting there waving at him from inside my eyeball.

The Bad News

He said what I'm seeing might be an air bubble.

So after spending the last week describing my eye as an airplane cockpit, apparently there might literally be air involved.

You can't make this stuff up.

The horizon has been shrinking. The vinaigrette has been disappearing. The eclipse came and went.

Now I've potentially got my own tiny bubble level.

👁️🫧

And Then Came the REALLY Bad News

This was the part of the appointment I wasn't particularly excited to hear.

The doctor is concerned enough about the blood vessels in the back of my eye that I may need injections into the eye to help prevent further bleeding or problems with those vessels.

Yes.

Shots. In. My. Eye.

I've dealt with an amputation.

I've dealt with dialysis.

I've had retinal surgery.

I've had silicone oil put into my eye.

I've had silicone oil removed from my eye.

And somehow the phrase "injection into your eye" still manages to get my attention.

I'm not saying that's definitely happening yet. That's the possibility we're now discussing, and we'll see where things go from here.

For now, I'm continuing the recovery process and paying very close attention to what I can—and can't—see.

The good news is that I'm seeing better than I was immediately after surgery.

The weird translucent bubble is still hanging around.

The arm continues to transform into one giant, crusty scab.

And apparently my left eye has decided that one surgery wasn't enough material for this blog.

Stay tuned.

At this rate, my eye may develop Wi-Fi tomorrow.

Healing… Or at Least That’s What We’re Calling It

Today’s medical update comes with two exhibits: the eye and the arm.

Let’s start with the eye.

The silicone oil was removed a few days ago, and somehow my eye looks more bruised now than it did on Day 1. Apparently, healing sometimes likes to make things look worse before making them look better.

And the view through that eye?

Previously, I described it as looking through a glass of cloudy liquid.

I’ve decided that description needs an upgrade.

It’s like looking through salad dressing.

Not ranch. Not Thousand Island. I’m thinking vinaigrette—something slightly cloudy where the oil and liquid are separating, and gravity keeps moving everything around.

Basically, my eyeball has become a condiment bottle.

Meanwhile, we also have The Arm.

That’s the rug burn from Friday’s unfortunate disagreement between my prosthetic leg, gravity, and a large Dutch Bros passion fruit soda.

It looks horrible.

It feels… surprisingly fine.

It hardly hurts at all.

Maybe I’m just tough.

Or maybe it’s those steroid eye drops.

I keep putting steroids in my eye four times a day, so surely at some point they travel down to my arm and turn me into the Hulk. That’s how medicine works, right?

So today’s scorecard:

👁️ Eye: Looks worse. Vision by vinaigrette.

💪 Arm: Looks terrible. Barely hurts.

🟢 Hulk transformation: Still pending.

I’ll keep documenting this highly scientific healing process as both my eye and arm figure out what they’re doing.

At this rate, I’m just happy nothing else has started leaking, bleeding, bruising, or falling off.

Recovery continues.

Day 2: My Eye Has Seen Better Days 👁️

Day 2 after having the silicone oil removed from my eye, and this is what we’re working with.

As you can see from the picture, my eye is still very red and irritated. It currently looks like I either had eye surgery or seriously underestimated my opponent in a bar fight.

For the record: eye surgery.

The weirdest part remains the vision. I’m still looking through what feels like a glass of cloudy liquid, complete with a visible line that shifts as gravity does its thing.

It’s like someone installed a tiny carpenter’s level inside my eyeball, except this one is considerably less useful at hanging pictures.

Meanwhile, I’m continuing my eye drops four times a day—antibiotic plus the steroid. I have checked several times, and despite the steroids, I have not turned green, ripped my shirt off, or become the Hulk.

Disappointing.

At night, the eye guard goes back on to protect everything while it heals. Then I head back to the retina surgeon next week to see how things are progressing.

For now?

Red eye. Cloudy vision. Eye drops. Eye guard.

And apparently a front-row seat to watching gravity work from inside my own eyeball.

Day 2 of recovery continues.