We've just returned from Austin where we met for another check-up with the surgeon who performed the second surgery on my damaged eye. He was all smiles, and was quite pleased with the progress. Additionally, I have been able to perceive color when holding a lens up to the eye. The gas bubble that is holding my retina in place is obscuring my view, but as it dissipates, I can perceive shapes surprisingly well. While we haven't been scheduled for any more surgeries, they are still expected to take place within the next year. I think that the next procedure will be a corneal transplant, followed by a lens implant. Today we learned that the cornea does two-thirds of the job of focusing, and the lens does about a third of the job. The doc went ahead and removed two of the sutures (of which there are still more than a dozen) that may have been causing some undue irritation. I think that the pain is indeed dropping as a result. Thank you all for checking in and for the wishes of support and recovery. Evidence of the injury will almost certainly remain, but that is not even a concern of mine. I only mention it here because someone brought it up. I honestly don't care how my face looks, if I can see.

It's my first drive since losing sight in my right eye. I drove about ten miles (I'm guessing) to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Cathay House. I drove it alone, since I can't bring myself to beg anyone to drive me over there for a late lunch. The place is just too busy at regular lunchtime, so I like to show up between 1:30p and 2:30p. That still qualifies for the lunch special.
It was a lilttle scary. I drove alone. My "troubled eye", as I like to call it did a lot of watering during the drive. It can still detect light, and since most of that iris is gone, it is quite sensitive to light levels. So, there was much watering, but not a lot of pain. No close calls. In fact, I spotted some pretty bad driving along the way on the part of others. I was so nervous that I was worried that I would be too jumpy to eat, or that I would get sick to my stomach once I did eat. But no. The food was comfy enough to stay down and calm my spirit. This all bodes well, as my office space is just a couple of miles down the road.

As if life were becoming a bit too hum-drum, I managed to blind myself in the right eye on 30 Nov while tinkering in the garage. The resulting trauma to my eye was sufficient to cause near total blindness in that eye, and send waves of horror through my circle of friends and family. I do apologize for putting everyone through this, especially my mom and daughter.
Many friends and family members came to visit me in the hospital, for which I am quite grateful. They brought gifts of their company, support, prayer, and in one case wildly-colored footwear.
Yesterday, I had a fairly thorough set of ultrasound images made in Austin. They revealed an eye full of blood. But, hope is not lost, so long as I can detect light. More surgery is planned for next week, which may restore some sight, but I would be happy just to be able to keep the eye. Actually, I don't even know if that is true, because during the course of this ordeal, we learned of a more significant ant potentially life-threatening condition that had gone undetected for my entire life. Without this key discovery, my life could have been significantly shorter, and since blindness is not fatal, sight is something that I would readily trade for life on earth with my loving wife and family.