Eye Surgeries

I went to the optometrist  to get my eyes checked and see if I needed a new prescription. He said I had what looked like blood vessels that were encroaching my pupils (on the top of my right eye and on the bottom of my left eye). Yes, both eyes!
He suggested I go see a corneal specialist to see what was going on and how to stop it since it will impair my vision if it continues to grow onto the pupil.
I went the following day to see the Specialist and it took him all of 5 minutes to say that I needed surgery to remove it.
Not to scare any of you which I am sure it will some, like Mom... It scared me at first and I am still a bit nervous but was reassured that it will all be ok.

He basically said it is a pre-cancerous mass. He kind of described it as a mole on your skin that would need to be removed and sent to get biopsy but it is in the eye.

It is called Corneal Intraepithelial Neoplasia. I know - a really long medical term I can hardly pronounce!
Everything I found online was more for the medical field, people who understand medical lingo but nothing just plain and simple.
He will be doing a procedure called Superficial Keratectomy with biopsy excision with mmc treatment. MMC being the chemo drops.
Basically he will take the mass out and send it for a biopsy and then treat my eye with the eye drop form of chemo to kill all the cells in case it is cancerous.
He wont know until the biopsy comes back but he is going to treat it like it is just in case. If it is, then he said the chemo drops will take care of everything and we are good, and if it is not, then the drops wont do any harm either... So either way, we are safe.

He said it is NOT common in women my age and he is totally stumped as to why I got it. Just another weird health issue that I always seem to get... If it's weird and uncommon and hardly ever heard of, I get it! All the weird ones.
He said it is most commonly seen in older men, like age 65 and older. Usually caused by wearing contacts too long and not allowing your eye to breathe which I have never done or by eye trauma which I have never had. He said it could also have been caused by never wearing sunglasses and being outside all the time since I was like 3 years old which is also something I have not done. I always wear my sunglasses and don't spend that much time outside anyway. He was stumped.

One good thing is that he said he has never had a patient who he treated this way come back with having cancer in the eye later since he always treats the eye with the chemo drops while he is in there removing the mass.

I will be having the 1st surgery (on my right eye) next Thursday (July 21st), then I go back in the next day for a check up and then in a week for my 2nd post op visit. He places a protective lens in my eye after the surgery which then will be removed during my 1 week post op visit. Then we wait 3 weeks and my 2nd (left eye) will be done Aug. 25th with my check up the following day and my 1 week post op a week later.

He didn't seem to be too overly concerned. I am not sure if it was to not make me a nervous wreck or if it really was no big deal. He said he has done hundreds of these surgeries and they only take about 5-10 minutes. He said I didn't need to worry and would be fine.
I called back later to ask a few more questions and they told me again to not worry so much... I am sure they tell everyone that but I am trying to not worry and get too upset about it... One good thing is that they did say I caught it early since it had not gone over my pupil yet. Most people get to where it is on their pupil and they have a hard time seeing then they go to the doctor. It looks like a white cloud or film over your pupil when it gets that bad.

Of course anyone cutting anywhere in or around your eyes is nerve wrecking and there are the usual risks... And they make you sign your life away promising you understand and are willing to accept all the risks involved - not holding them liable... So please, just pray for me that it is not cancerous and the surgery is successful and for the doctor to have a steady hand and the be the best he can be those days of my surgeries!

On the plus side, I asked Jason if he would still love me if I was blind, deaf and couldn't walk and he said "yes"! Hee Hee!
Always got to look on the plus side!!!

Anyway - Please pray for me and if you want to keep updated on my progress, I will try to get hubby to write updates on my FB page that you can check out. My FB name is Claudia Araneda Mitchell.