Treatment Point 1 - Tantalum marker insertion - 1 week on

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This is a follow on from my experience with Tantalum Marker insertion a week ago where I mentioned I would look to include a separate thread for the recovery element.

I caveat as ever that mine is just one experience, and others may encounter other things.

I am going to start with the trip home. This wasn't too bad to be fair. I spent a fair bit of time negotiating trains both underground and overground (Does that sound a bit "Womble"ish?) but the key point in this, is it is at this point a travelling/surgery companion for the day really comes in to practical support. The anaesthetic is one thing (and I don't think it played any real part), but even being a confident tube/public transport traveller, there was a definite adjustment required where I needed the arm of another to steady my confidence for negotiating steps/escalators.

I also managed to eat. Certainly for me, I didn't have the biggest meal, I didn't really struggle, but I certainly felt I had eaten enough. I think this is a common response with any surgery, so my suggestion is eat moderately, but do eat. They do provide a post surgery sandwich at the hospital, but the thought of sorting a meal out at home later just didn't enthuse me.

Now I am not going to cover/contradict any of the advice paperwork given by the hospital, or medications. They will be yours and yours alone for this exercise.

Four sets of drops in my case and I suspect similar for others. Each has it's own function. 1 dilatory, 1 anti-bacterial, 1 anti-inflammatory and 1 lubricating. No getting away from the fact that the dilatory smarts a bit for a few seconds, but compared to everything else going on, small beer. Take good note of anything they may say about the use of any eye shield overnight/going out. The latter one will reduce air particulates getting in to an already sensitive area. Between each drop type, leave 5-10 minutes (easily missed). This makes it a 30 minute regime for 4 drop types! Let each lotion do its job some before applying the next.

So to the nub. You may/likely experience some or all of the following: eye swelling, sticky eyes in the mornings, irritation from dissolvable sutures whilst present, vision disturbances, eye pain when scanning up/down/left/right.

In my case swelling reduced quickly. Everyone is different. I'm at day + 7 and my eye is pretty much wide open although a little puffy on the eyelid. There will be instruction for cleaning out the sticky eyes in the morning with cooled boiled water (for sterilisation). This I have also found to be a useful thing to try and do before each round of drops application. It helps with the irritation somewhat on top of the drops. The aches and pains in moving the eye will tell you when you've gone too far, but it too well settle down. The muscles of the eyes will have been strained during surgery. This I believe to be the root of the discomfort. If you've ever pulled a muscle in a leg, then it makes a whole deal of sense I believe as to why stretching/using the muscles hurts!

Ibuprofen/paracetamol/similar. Have them ready. I only took Ibuprofen the 1st couple of nights, particularly night 1 when all the discomforts were at their worst post surgery and the anaesthetic finally clearing out. You should get a good night's sleep with good pain control. Take them only so long as you really need them I suggest.

Vision disturbances. Stretched muscles, dilated pupils, swelling, partial eye closure. Vision is going to be really odd for a few days or more. Expect double vision, expect focus being out of kilter, expect depth perception/stereo vision to be out of kilter. They are a nuisance, but they should improve. If they don't after a 10 day period or so then consider phoning the unit/your GP.

That's about it for my experience. I may edit this if other thoughts come in, but as before, I hope this is useful.

Step 2, mask moulding for PBT is next week, so I will give a step 2 breakdown next week.

As best you can, try and look for some good things to lift your spirits. But do let the negative get aired.

  • Hi,

    Thank you for sharing your journey so far. I too have a choroidal melanoma diagnosis and having markers procedure in a couple of weeks. Your post has helped greatly.