It has been about three weeks since I started wearing this new eye on a daily basis, and I am getting used to it! Better than that, no one is noticing it. I first thought I would get a lot of attention, but what really happened was that folks forgot I wore an eye-patch all of last semester, and said nothing about it! They must all be getting old and forgetful - like me!
The Glue
This white Elmer's-like glue used to paste the eye on my face is a mess, but it works nicely for long enough that I can get through my long teaching day. I am settling into a pattern for putting it on in the morning and peeling it off at night (UGH! - Still looks weird!)
You use a cotton swab to paint a 1/4" band of glue around the perimeter of the eye patch, and then you use a good mirror to paint a similar band around my eye socket where the patch will live. (My mirror is now magnifying my face to the point where I spotted hair growing out of what used to be part of my leg. I must remember to shave higher than normal!)
Contact!
What I do next is take a hair-dryer and blow dry the glue until it turns clear. That takes a minute or so to do both the appliance and my face. Then I have to hold the new eye piece up to my face, make sure it is reasonably aligned with my other eye, then let the top stick on my face and slide my finger out from behind the patch and paste the whole thing on. There is usually a bit of white glue showing around the edges after this, so I use a bit of water to trim that off. All in all, it does not take that long to do this, so I can be half-asleep and not have the eye upside down!
I have one shot at getting the eye lined up correctly. The one time I messed up, I tried to pull the thing off and re-align it, but the glue started to let go very early that day. So I take care to get it right the first time, and I have not had problems with it falling off.
Wearing it
In fact, the eye patch hangs on fairly well. The top part is where it comes loose first, which I am sure is because that part of your face moves a lot as you work your eyes. The nerves on that side are not working, but the skin still does move a lot, and that movement pulls the glue loose. Fortunately, I wear my glasses, and they help hold things close to my face, so no one has noticed it coming loose (except me when I check it).
Especially with my glasses on, the edge is barely noticeable. What surprised me is that no one notices that the eye does not move at all. Probably since so few folks make extended eye contact these days! In any case, having an artificial eye is no big deal, as long as it does not fall off in public. Then small children will run away screaming, I am sure!
Teardown!
The most time consuming part of the process is removing the thing at night. I have finally convinced myself that this silicon is pretty tough, so I just take hold of the loose edge and slowly peel the thing off of my face! Sometimes I scream, just for the effect! (Not really). I was surprised to discover that most of the glue on my face stays on the silicon, so cleaning up my face with hot water is no big deal.
The patch, itself, needs more attention! Peggy told me to soak (really soak) a wash cloth in hot water, then place the eye on a small plastic cup to hold it off of the sink, and place the hot rag over the back side of the patch, where the glue is exposed. You leave it soaking that way for between 30 and 60 minutes. Hopefully, the glue will soak in the water (not always enough, though), and you can use the rag to wipe the old glue off of the edges. This is not so easy to do, and I worry that I am wiping away the paint on the front side as well. It does seem to be losing some paint, but it gets clearer, and my skin shows through, so it does not show as a problem when I put it back on.
After wiping all of the glue off with water, I wipe it down with an alcohol wipe to sanitize it, and put it to bed in a plastic cup. Sadly, the eye never closes, so it sleeps wide wake.
Bottom line
So, life with my new artificial eye is not a huge problem, and I look as normal as I ever did. Teaching this way feels netter than it did when I wore the pirate's patch, but it is not so much fun. I do not get to watch people as they walk by and see the effect the patch has. Most seemed to cringe a bit, and I know they do not like the idea of losing an eye. I sure did not, but life goes on, and so do I.
I am still getting messages from folks telling me I am on their prayer lists, and I want to thank everyone again. Cheryl and I are enjoying this time with no cancer worries at all. I am off all of my pain medicines and am back to a normal life, dealing with around 90 students all trying to learn a bit about computer science.
Next Steps
My next cancer scan happens after Spring Break, and I plan on going to a Computer Science Education conference in Kansas City in early March. Cheryl will be going with me to do more work on our house. She spent the last week up there for our grand-kid's seventh birthday. (He was born right as I had my first cancer surgery, so I missed that event. I remember his birthday and surgery at the same time, sorry to say!) Anyway, Cheryl managed to paint all of the walls on the second floor, and some of the first floor as well. Scott installed wall plates, ceiling fans, and light fixtures. We get toilets on our next trip! Yeah! (Sell your Burger King stock soon, their business will be going down when we do not have to go there so often!)
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