Woe is Me

I think I need to rename this blog: Kelly's Medical Woes.

I saw Dr. C (oculofacial surgeon) this morning for my "it's been seven weeks since your surgery" appointment. The upper eyelid stitches (which dissolved) are completely healed and the scars are completely invisible, which is somewhat surprising since I am so fair-skinned and tend to get puffy, pink scars from paper cuts or razor mishaps.

Everything else is as it should be. The feeling on the right side of my face continues to return in the form of that pins & needles feeling when your foot wakes up after having fallen asleep. It's not painful, but it's also not comfortable, and it's pretty constant. He said this could last up to a year. Oh well.

I have very minor double vision when I look as far up as I can without moving my head. Who cares? I don't, and he doesn't either, because who the heck looks all the way up without moving their head? So we're not touching that, and he continued to profess how delighted he was that I didn't have any double vision that affected my eyesight or daily living. He was quite concerned this would happen as a result of removing so much bone and fat.

He wants to wait six months before performing the upper eyelid surgery, which I do need, but he said there is still some swelling that will continue to improve over the next few months. He also doesn't want to perform any surgeries while my thyroid levels are unstable, which they continue to be. I'm just glad they behaved the week of my surgery, for the first and only time in three years. I was really hoping I could have the surgery soon, but I agree it's best to wait until all the swelling is gone and my levels are stable.

My proptosis before surgery was 23mm in the left eye, 25mm in the right eye. Both eyes are now sitting pretty at 19mm. I have no dry, only some dryness, moreso than before surgery. I can no longer wear my two-week contacts for the full two weeks…more like 10 days. I am going to inquire with my optometrist about dailies, at least for the next few months. The surgeon gave me drops but I imagine the dryness is because of the minor upper eyelid retraction.

All in all, he is pleased with his work and even more pleased with my progress and realistic outlook on my situation. He knows I'm eager to be done with surgeries and back to my pre-TED face, but he appreciates that I am educated and informed on how this whole process needs to go.

So since that's settled, I decided to call my primary care physician and focus on my newest medical woe: these tiny little invisible bumps all over my body (except my face) that feel like goosebumps. They appeared about a week ago out of nowhere. It honestly felt like I had forgotten to shave my legs, and I almost got back in the shower to shave them when I was like, "Wait, I DID shave." Now they are everywhere. Mostly my skin feels dry, tight, and occasionally itchy, but then why aren't they red? Clearly my skin is just pissed to be back in the frigid New England weather, even though the rest of my body is jumping for joy because it's no longer sweating in November. So I have to go to the doctor tomorrow morning and find out what's wrong with my poor skin. Google tells me it's keratosis pilaris (which people often refer to as "KP" - my initials), but Google Images tell me it's not, because mine aren't red at all. You can't see them at all, only feel them. Gross? Yep.

I really thought I was dying today. It turns out I was just losing my mind. I kept seeing this clumpy white stuff fall onto my pants and desk. I checked the mirror - no dandruff. My neck has been really itchy from those bumps, so then I panicked thinking every time I scratched my neck, something was coming out of me. I checked the mirror - nothing on my neck except angry red scratches. Finally I took a step back from the mirror (I'm so short that unless I'm right up against it on my tiptoes, I can only see the top of my head) and saw the source: a clump of deodorant on my sweater. I guess I got it on myself this morning while getting ready, and no one at the doctor's office or in my office bothered to point it out, probably because my hair partially covered it. Either way, I am not dying, just a sloppy klutz.