I'm hoping to touch bases with others who still struggle emotionally and physically following enucleation. I'm almost 7 months post-enucleation related to Choroidal Melanoma in my left eye. The tumor was large and the only treatment option was enucleation. I've since seen an ocularist and had a prosthetic made, but am unable to wear it due to how painful the prosthetic is. I've instead opted for comfort and wear my conformer instead.
I feel that emotionally, things have gotten better over time – but I still struggle with losing my eye and the way that I look now.
Initially, I adjusted to monocular vision better than I had expected. I still drive – but only to surrounding small towns and never on the highway or in bigger cities. In the small towns, I know my way around well and can get away with not having to change lanes (merging into the left lane is very scary for me since losing my left eye). My biggest complaint physically is that I'm more sensitive to light with my right eye. For instance, the glare off the snow gives me headaches – even in the house. I have been experiencing a lot of headaches over the past few months and some of them start whenever I'm around bright light.
It's strange – I need additional light in order to see properly in the kitchen or at my desk. But I also can't handle bright lights as they make my head hurt around my right eye.
I work from home on a computer – which requires me to be at my computer much of the day. Prior to my OM diagnosis, I was always near sighted with astigmatism and needed glasses for seeing far away (like watching television). My glasses would also help me when looking at my computer monitor and reading text on the screen that was more difficult to read without them. Now, after enucleation, my glasses don't help me with seeing the text on my computer – everything just looks fuzzy. My glasses do work otherwise, though.
I have a follow-up appt with my eye surgeon next week and will address the vision changes with her. I'm just curious to hear from others who still have emotional and physical issues after enucleation.
