Monday, January 31, 2005

Surgery on Thursday

Thanks to all of you who have been praying and thinking of me.
I am prepared mentally, physically, and spiritually for this surgery.
I will be cut on at 1230PM on February 3, 2005.

My eye has healed to the point that the surgery should be routine.
The good news is that I should have better vision almost immediately after the surgery. However, the hard part will be no physical activity for the first two months. This will be inconvenient but it will also be a welcomed break from the house and the gym.

I plan on focusing on school, work, and Amie.

I will let you know what the experience is like on Friday.

Thanks,
Brian

Monday, January 17, 2005

Healing Service

Since, things have been progressing so well with my eye. I went to the healing service at St. Ann's tonight to thank God for the healing he has given me and to ask him to heal a man I met in the Doctor's office that is on his third unsuccessful cornea transplant. I was amazed to find out how many of my parents friends knew who I was and have been praying for me. After the praise and worship service, the group prayed over me again and asked the Lord to heal my eye. I feel much better about the surgery now knowing that God is working at healing my eye. My anxiety is gone and I can not wait to get this thing fixed.

Thanks again for your prayers,
Brian

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

CHCHCH...Changes

Well things have taken a turn for the better. I have noticed that the swelling in my eye has started to go down. This is amazing. I think the back of my cornea has begun to heal. This means that the chances of a successful surgery increase as the pressure and swelling in the cornea decrease. Praise God.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Prayer for Healing

Sunday before church my mother and father came over to the house to pray over me for God to heal my eye. As some of you may or may not know, my parents have been very active in a healing ministry at St. Ann's. For the past few years they have been praying with, for, and over people to heal their spirtual and physical ailments. They have prayed over me on several occasions and I can tell you that I firmly believe in the power of prayer. When people pray over you, you can feel a physical and spiritual manifestation God's power fill you with love and warmth.

After they were done praying for me, I felt very tired and calm. I took a nap for a couple hours and felt great afterwards.

Thanks Mom, Dad, and Amie.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Surgery Scheduled for February 3, 2005

The surgery is scheduled for February 3, 2005 at 12:30PM.
I ask for all your prayers on this day.
I would ask that God use Dr Stulting as his tool to heal my eye.

Thank you to all those who have been praying for me.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Scheduling the Surgery

I went in to get re-evaluated by Dr Stulting after seeing the his resident on Sunday evening. After several hours in the waiting room I finally got a chance to see "the man." At this point the hole on the front of my cornea had healed, but fluid had continued to gather between the layers of the cornea. The fluid had accumlated to the point right before it ruptured earlier in the week. Dr. Stulting said that there was a large tear in the back part of the cornea that was allowing the fuild between the layers of the cornea. He did not feel the situation was going to get any better, so he thought we should go ahead and schedule the cornea replacement. The problem with going ahead with the surgery was that the tissue in my eye was very soft due to the swelling caused by the hydrops. Dr Stulting's fear was that the soft tissue would not hold the sutures required to secure the new donated tissue. So, he suggested we schedule the surgery a month out to let things settle down. I thought I was ready for the surgery, but actually scheduling the date was a swift blow. I felt kind of scared and unsure of things. I did not like the fact that the situation was less that optimal. I had a great deal of anxiety about things.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Happy New Year

New Years Day

Well things have must get worse before they get better I guess.

Amie and I were driving home to Atlanta through Louisville, KY when the hydrops in my eye ruptured.
It freaked me out when all of a sudden fluid started running down my face like a fountain.
It initially felt like something was in my eye and then the fluid started flowing.
The hydrops is the fluid that accumulates between the layers of the cornea.
Thankfully the inner layer had begun to heal and the fluid stopped after about an hour.
I called my doctor and got the resident on-call. He did not have much experience with this issue and called to get some advice.
He called e back and told me to get to Atlanta as soon as posssible. He said to call as soon as we reached town and he would meet us at the hospital.
So, the next morning we high-tailed it to Atlanta and met the doctor at 6PM on Sunday evening. He initially thought he was going to have to glue the hole in my eye shut, but the hole had miraculously healed itself. He did ask me to come back later that week. I was thankfull to find out things were not as bad as they could have been. So, we had a little scare. Poor Amie drove most of the 12 hours back from Michigan. Needless to say, I think we will be flying up there next time