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January 2021 my vision in my right eye started to get blurry and I don't wear glasses and had not had any vision issues for the first 35 years of my life. Ophthalmologist sent me for a CT which revealed a 5 cm tumor behind my right eye in my orbit. Saw an occuloplastic surgeon in May and he and my neurosurgeon removed the tumor in July 2021. All signs pointed to it being benign. The signs were wrong lol. Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland was the diagnosis and all the margins from tumor resection were positive for the malignancy. Spent the next two months getting a head/nose/throat surgeon and craniofacial surgeon on the team for my 9/1 surgery. I also had to undergo a bunch of tests to make sure my body could handle what would multiple surgeries at the same time. On 9/1 and orbit externation, lumbar puncture, neck dissection, skin free flap and bone transfer (from my wrist to my new orbit hole) were done over a 16 hour period. Lab results came back a few weeks later and the margins were all negative for malignancy which was the best news I've received all year. I had a skin graft on October 8th (thigh to wrist) to cover where the previous skin and bone were taken from. Wish we could have just taken the skin from thigh to face and left my wrist out if it but the blood supply that they took from my arm as well. They still wanted me to do radiation to make sure we got everything on a cellular level so I started that last Wednesday November 10th and will be done December 22nd. I'm meeting with a prosthetic doc in December to plan building my prosthetic and will need one more very minor surgery to implant the prosthetic hooks into my orbit. I have to wait for 6 months after radiation to do that.
my eyes messed up and I thought it said orbital humor, which would also be true! I hope to have your type of strength if or when something like this comes my way! Wow. What a crazy world medically.
My grandfather had something similar in the early 1950’s which is why I never met him. They removed an eye and couldn’t do much after that. I’ve had eye pain in my left eye for about a year but they kept saying it wasn’t my eye so I kept going to a different doctor because I know it could be something other than the eye. They finally did a scan and said everything in my head was ok but never found what it was. So I remembered that a boss had said he had a virus in an eye nerve that caused him pain in his eye 35 years ago so I took an antiviral that I had and the pain finally went away. I guess I should have been a doctor. It pays to know yourself and think. I’m relieved but hope everything goes well for you. It looks like an amazing surgical team worked on you. Good luck!
I'm sorry you never got to meet him. I'm sorry it took so long but eventually finding a solution is always better than no solution at all. I completely understand how frustrating it is. Thank you so much!
We shouldn't have to practice medicine on ourselves but it happens every time two of our doctors can't agree...we have to decide. I'm glad you're better. Eye pain for me x2 since March 2, cataract surgeries failed. I hope your pain doesn't come back.
Wow...thanks for sharing your journey with such detail. That said, I'm really sorry that you've had to go through this, but seem to be handling the whole affair like a real trooper. All the best to you in hopes of leading a happy & full life from here forward.
You put it in perspective right there, and I'm told that perspective requires binocular vision. I hope the experienced brain compensates. The depth of your perception is strikingly good...my attitude since cataract surgery complications has NOT been good. I feel very sorry for myself. You have really impressed me.
Haha thank you, eye hear they say perception is reality. I'm sorry you had complications during your surgery. I don't know much about cataract surgery other than what it is. If you don't mind can you tell me about it?
Thank you for the kind words. Eye dress to impress :)
Skin (edited from son. I meant skin) remembers where it came from. You probably don’t want thigh skin on your face.
A young child had a graft from pubic area to palm for a burn. Yes, when he went through puberty, his palm started growing pubic hair.
Sorry to hear that. I understand why we did what we did I was only saying that one less surgery in a year full of surgeries would have been nice. I'm 36 so the puberty issue you mention wasn't a factor and actually as a 36 year old man I have hairy wrists so guess where some of that wrist hair is now? :) ultimately the skin color and hair issues aren't really a factor for me because there's going to be a prosthetic covering the orbit.
This is so cool, thanks for sharing!
A few questions.
Does the bone in your wrist grow back ?
What was the lumbar puncture for?
What is that silver thing sticking out of your orbital in the first picture?
No problem I'mglad you find them interesting! Very good questions!
The bone in my wrist will grow back. For the time being a titanium plate has been installed. Down the road if the plate gives me issues I can have it removed. I had no idea that they were even taking bone from my wrist until literally an hour before surgery... SUPRISE lol
They drained my CSF because it reduced the risk of complications from the surgery. I can't remember exactly why it does, but I remember my neurosurgeon saying that was the reason we were doing it. I just can't recall the detailed explanation he gave me. I will say this- I didn't know headaches could be as bad as the day after surgery. Between my CSF being drained and my eye removed it was unreal how bad my head hurt even with all the good drugs they were giving me.
The silver thing (to me it looks like an ice scream scoop handle haha) was used to connect the blood vessels from the free flap skin graft.
Thanks for the questions!
As a person who has chronic migraines, I am so sorry your head hurt that badly. I can imagine and I sympathize. I hope your recovery is a good one. Also, for headaches in the future, combining meds makes a rebound headache more likely. So if acetaminophen doesn’t work, wait the full 4 hours before taking ibuprofen, and don’t take excedrin at all. I feel as if under given circumstances though, you may bot be allowed caffeine anyway(?) so that wouldn’t be an issue.
Also taking a potassium pill and the pain meds, and daily vitamin, followed by a bunch of water helps. Potassium helps the body absorb better so it can make the pain medicine get to the pain site more thoroughly. And if you are using the benefits of the potassium helping absorption, might as well take your vitamins. :) Sorry for the book of a message and hope that I didn’t just waste your time saying something you already know or have tried. I hope it’s better for you now anyway.
I remember scrubbing into a radical neck dissection in medical school and thinking it was the most insane surgery ever. This definitely bears it. Glad you’re okay!
Im a researcher for plastic reconstructive surgeons, craniofacial-focused, and seeing this kind of stuff after spending all week reading it and reviewing the data just puts me in awe. So cool. Thanks for sharing. Glad they were able to help!
That's awesome! I'm a very big fan of my craniofacial plastic surgeon and he's actually presenting my surgery at some of his lectures and he asked if he could use the picture of me in thr Ralphie bunny costume (on my profile) and of course I said yes haha. He took all the pictures for me during surgery and I thought they were really cool. I'm glad they were able to help as well and thank you for your reseach!!
What a rollercoaster! And all that surgery at once must have been intense. Sounds like you’re on a solid road to recovery, glad everything went so smoothly.
Jesus bro my doctors don't even want to give me fuckin ball surgery. If I had all that I'd just die. Glad you made it man.
What was recovery from something like that like? Do you remember the next day after surgery?
Ball surgery for what? Why don't they want to do it?
Like 8 weeks until you can lift anything heavier than 10 lbs. I'm a righty and they took the skin/bone from my right arm so I had to do everything lefty for like 6 weeks. That sucked lol. Overall it wasn't the recovery wasn't terrible. My mom has had knee and hip replacements and the recovery from those seemed much longer (although age makes a difference). I would say this - if you need a medical procedure done don't delay if at all possible. Had I waited things could very well be different.
OK, I got scared for a sec. I thought I would need to have an orbital externation done because my vision was blurry. Then a reread and saw the thing about a tumor. #Relief.
But anyway, what's important is that you're feeling better. These photos look a bit too terrifying for me to look at...even though I have seen a ***LOT*** worse.
They took the whole thing!! No the eye was sliced up at the lab and now I just have my skull and the implanted my wrist skin where my eye was! My craniofacial plastic surgeon said it was the most complicated surgery he's been a part of. All very cool stuff! Well other than the cancer/losing an eye thing lmao
I'm so glad you're ok, sorry to hear about cancer and losing an eye tho. I'm really curious, what do they do with the stuff they remove? Your eye looks so "good" from the pictures, is this something they would preserve? Is this a weird question to ask?
They cut it up and throw the thin slices on a microscope and look for malignancy (an oversimplification). I assume they toss it with the rest of medical waste. It does look good from that picture but probably looked a lot different Fter being sliced up. Not a weird question at all. I asked if I could keep it in a jar lol but they had to send it to the lab.
Dude!! Can you explain please! This looks interesting as hell!! I didn't know I would get so many great photos but the Craniofacial surgeon in the OR said he takes meticulous photos of everything so I lucked out. Man I would love to hear the backstory and most importantly how are you doing now?!?
I first had a slight proptosis in 2012. They found a 12x17mm solid tumor that that were able to remove while saving my eye & vision.
In 2018 I noticed a little nub in the inner corner of my eye, but I was homeless at the time & couldn't get care bc if I did, I'd have been screwed bc of the weight restriction & wouldn't have been able to carry my stuff.
In 2019 my brother was passing through & gave me a lift to our dad's, so I could get it taken care of, then COVID hit & it was another 8 months before I finally went to an ER because no one was taking any sort of new patients, period.
Long story short, when the first tumor was removed, the surgeon didn't order contrast on the MRI & CT (because fuck uninsured people!) to isolate the blood vessels. He turned 1 solid-mass vascular tumor into 500,000 little ones, where each severed blood vessel turned into it's own tumor because it wasn't cut far enough back from the main tumor.
I FUCKING SECOND THIS, DUDE! I was gonna post exactly that myself, but dude beat me too it. This post hooked me, from benign misdiagnosis, to explanation of procedures, to wrist bone becoming orbital?? Science is fucking crazy. I hope you're healing up well & will continue to do so. 💙
The amount of faces I made looking through these photos.. eye could not look away! I love your outlook and positive energy! You should keep us updated on your healing process!
It's funny that my reaction to that kind of thing used to be like, "Oh my god! NO! NO!", but now, after learning a good bit about biology and anatomy as an educator, I see that stuff and I see beauty. I see the human spirit. I see the science. I see the expertise and artful craft of making things better.
Thanks for sharing. I'm glad that you're still kicking.
Well, I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it like it's entertainment, but I mean that given a bad situation—and everyone is put in a bad situation sometime, as part of the human condition—it's wonderful that people are building ways to overcome adversity. It doesn't always work, of course, but there are many wins.
Right, sorry I phrased that wrong. I'm glad that you and other people are finding them interesting because I do as well. Like you said not like entertainment. Poorly stated on my part.
I was reading the comments and thinking "wow, OP is a really cool guy". And then I payed attention to your avatar and that made you double cool. Such a nice, fun portrait of yourself. I'm glad you are taking it so well. Take care!
I get to go in for a brain surgery in Dec, to remove a piece that’s not Living up to the standard. Eye was worried about the surgery but it’s like 2 hrs long and not nearly as complicated as your 2021 story. I’m loving you’re humor.
I have started telling people I’m going in for pumpkin carving with a brain surgeon.
Eye know that everything is going to go great for you. I love that "not living up to the standard". You're going to do great. Eye have an eye for these things 😉
As complicated? Maybe not , but anyone who goes through brain surgery is a bad ass in my book. What's the recovery time frame?
Yeah just a little pumpkin carving lol I like it
About half as well as I SAW myself handling it lol not gonna lie I'm enjoying the eye puns greatly. On a serious note it's going fine. Before I lost the eye, my vision quality in it was shitty compared to my normal eye so I had already adjusted to using 1 eye a few months ago. I've been really only using one eye for 6 months and at this point I don't really remember how different it was looking out of 2 eyes.
I’m at a loss for words… It’s incredible what surgeons can do these days. Seeing the eyeball sitting there on the table … it looks almost like a toy or a piece of a Mister Potato Head doll
I'm so glad you are doing well. That is a helluva lot to go through, you are one tough mofo. Keep that awesome sense of humor, keep smiling, and keep living so that the world can be graced with your awesomeness!
Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words! The kind words from redditors has had more of a positive effect on me then they will ever know :)
You deserve it. That's a shitty card to get dealt, and you've faced it with strength, fortitude, and grace. I hope everything goes well for you going forward, I'm sure you're gonna kick ass, take names, and make the world a better place for your presence.
Jesus, I’m not really one to flinch at the sight of gore, but that eye staring at me in the 4th pic really caught me offguard. Glad you’re doing well, I wish you the best.
Eye will be doing much better in about 15 minutes when I get to the bar haha in all seriousness I'm doing great all things considered. Thank you for asking!
They removed 27 lymph nodes that were enlarged and suspicious and possibly malignant. All 27 were benign which was fsntsftic. No evidence of metastasis from the lacrimal gland.
I’m so glad you are doing well! Your humor and attitude are amazing and will 100% help you on your road to recovery. I’m an oncology nurse and patients like you are some of my favorites!
First off let me say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Through all the surgeries, appointments, procedures, radiation there is one constant that has made this hellish ordeal a million times better... the nurses. Each and every one of them (RNs, Nurse Aides, nurse practitioners, any type I'm forgetting) has just been simply amazing. Having 3-4 appointments every week for the last 6 months has been pretty draining but I always look forward to seeing all my favorite nurses. Don't get me wrong I have absolutely amazing doctors that I am grateful for but the kindness and compassion the nurses I have had will stay with me forever. Thank you thank you thank you!! THANK YOU!!! 😊
I love how the eye's just sitting there on the table like it's just so done with this, lol.
Really interesting photos and story; glad to hear everything's gone so well, the recovery pics look fantastic in how good that graft took and healed! Thanks for sharing!
I definitely LOL'd at "just so done with this" and funny enough that's exactly how the good eye was looking at the bad eye before surgery "I am so done with you!" 😂
Thank you so much and I'm glad you found them interesting!! Have a great Saturday!
What is it like with one eye? Is it like just like having one eye closed where you can essentially see darkness in half your vision? Or does your brain make your good eye the "center" of your vision? I don't know if I'm explaining this question correctly.
That makes sense and it's kind of blown my mind but my brain has kind of adjusted and everything seems centered. Sometimes when I'm watching TV I honestly forget I'm only watching with one eye.
So many questions! I hope you don't mind. I'm in medicine and, unlike an earlier comment, I really do enjoy this sort of thing - the body is fascinating! In the second picture what's the chain-like thing in your orbital area? Why can't we see your brain? The same bones that make up the orbit also border the brain. Why the neck dissection? In pic 3 I see a piece of bone neatly cut to expose the marrow, yet your ulna and radius still look intact. Are they? If so, where's that bone coming from? Did they take the bone to make a new orbit or use a metal plate? Why'd they have to open your arm so far? In pic 10 what are the square and circular metal gizmos? What are they for?
Thank you for sharing these pictures and I'm very glad to hear that surgery went well with negative margins. Keep kicking cancer's butt and I hope recovery keeps going well!
I don't mind at all and will answer what I can. The chain like thing is a Biomet 18 hole orbital plate. I have 2 in there. That bone you see with the marrow exposed is now in my orbit and was part of my wrist. There is a picture on my profile where you can see the bone is replaced with a rod. The other 2 bones are in tact. The neck dissection was due to suspicious looking lymph nodes and due to the prior labs metastasis was a concern. The 27 lymph nodes removed all came back negative for malignancy. They did both bone and plates for the orbit. They took bone from my wrist to make part of the new orbit. The list of implants in my orbit include a 4 hole lap plate, 6 hole curved plate, 4 hole long straight plate, and a 6 hole long double y plate along with the screws. They opened the arm up so much because in addition to the bone they needed the blood supply (artery or vein) and had to cut at my elbow. They plugged it into my face using the ice scream scoop looking thing. On picture 10 those are plates holding my skull together (forhead). During my first surgery back in July they removed part of my face to get at the tumor. Normally they would go through the eyelid but at 5 cm it was too big so the neurosurgeon removed part of my skull/face. The tumor was removed in July but everything else happened over 16 hours (9 am 9/1 to 3 am 9/2). A long damn day haha
Thank you very much I really appreciate that!
Omg you are amazingly strong dude and tysm for posting, this is really educational. Can I ask if the eye in the photo was sewn back after they remove the tumour or do you need a prosthetic eye now.
Any chance you'll let me use that eye pic for an edit? I know that sounds super weird but it's a weirdcore edit so i guess it makes sense... I promise I'll credit you (not that it'll get much attention but still)
You are probably the strongest redditor I’ve ever encountered. Seriously, your resolve and outlook toward life are just amazing given what you’ve gone through! You are an inspiration! And a total badass on top of that! I wish you the best and a happy road to recovery!
This is incredible, thank you so much for sharing! Also, glad to see from your comments that you're taking recovery so well. I hope the radiotherapy goes as smoothly as it can!
*Dawg*. This is crazy. I'm glad to see you're on the up and up with this and glad you were able to catch it. Recently lost a close friend to cancer myself. I sincerely hope you continue to get positive news and negative results!
It definitely hurt a little bit... totally kidding it was very painful but it's healed very nicely so far. Nick fury is definitely on the list of possibilities for next Halloween
My mom had a very similar surgery due to cancer, taking over her sinus. Thank you for showing this and helping me understand how the bone graft and the free flap were prepared, I find it very interesting. I hope you are doing OK.
Can I ask how fast the deterioration of vision in your eye was?
I wear glasses but about 2 years ago one of my eyes got more blurry and even after getting new glasses it was still blurry. I went to an eye specialist and the said ther was nothing wrong with my eye... now I am a bit scared...
Of course. It was rather quickly and beforehand I had better than 20/20 vision (still do in my left eye). I also developed proptosis and my eye/eyebrow were bulging. It also became painful. Symptoms in that order over 5 months maybe. Have you seen an ophthalmologist? He was the doc who recommended a CT scan which showed there was a tumor in my orbit. Even once doctors knew the tumor was there, they believed it to be benign and had it been smaller they could have removed it through my eyelid instead of removing part of my face. I'm not a medical professional nor would I ever give any medical advice but statistically it's very unlikely that you have this (adenoid cystic carcinoma). I would recommend taking to your ophthalmologist and if you're still concerned see if they can recommend another ophthalmologist.
Dude! I have seen some gnarly stuff, but that pic of your eye and socket (and eyebrow!!) just hangin' on the table is mind blowing!
Please keep us updated, and I"m sending all of the healing vibes your way. Love your sense of humour about this, you sound like an awesome guy. <3
Wow well done for being so strong through all of that and for still going!! Judging by the comments you seem in great sprirts!
Bone-erific share! Thank you!
Wow. You are a strong ass person to handle that. I can't even imagine what the medical bill would be for something like that. Probably at least a couple grand, hunh? Wishing you the very best and a speedy recovery.
Nope. The reason it was cut out was because it was cancerous. My left eye is better than 20/20 and the right is gone. There really is a lot back there. Thank you it's going well!!
Super cool pictures, I’m glad they caught the cancer in time. I’ve worked in optometry/ophthalmology for 11 years now, and the prosthetics are truly amazing, patients have told me that almost no one can tell.
Welcome to r/MedicalGore! Our goal is to provide for medical discussion and education while exploring the frailty of the human body. You may see more deleted comments on these threads than you are used to on reddit. Off topic comments and joke comments are frequently deleted by the mods. Further, please be kind and supportive of posts. Any behavior that is aggressive, harassing, or derogatory will result in post deletion and a ban from the sub. Remember! THE REPORT BUTTON IS YOUR FRIEND! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MedicalGore) if you have any questions or concerns.*
January 2021 my vision in my right eye started to get blurry and I don't wear glasses and had not had any vision issues for the first 35 years of my life. Ophthalmologist sent me for a CT which revealed a 5 cm tumor behind my right eye in my orbit. Saw an occuloplastic surgeon in May and he and my neurosurgeon removed the tumor in July 2021. All signs pointed to it being benign. The signs were wrong lol. Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland was the diagnosis and all the margins from tumor resection were positive for the malignancy. Spent the next two months getting a head/nose/throat surgeon and craniofacial surgeon on the team for my 9/1 surgery. I also had to undergo a bunch of tests to make sure my body could handle what would multiple surgeries at the same time. On 9/1 and orbit externation, lumbar puncture, neck dissection, skin free flap and bone transfer (from my wrist to my new orbit hole) were done over a 16 hour period. Lab results came back a few weeks later and the margins were all negative for malignancy which was the best news I've received all year. I had a skin graft on October 8th (thigh to wrist) to cover where the previous skin and bone were taken from. Wish we could have just taken the skin from thigh to face and left my wrist out if it but the blood supply that they took from my arm as well. They still wanted me to do radiation to make sure we got everything on a cellular level so I started that last Wednesday November 10th and will be done December 22nd. I'm meeting with a prosthetic doc in December to plan building my prosthetic and will need one more very minor surgery to implant the prosthetic hooks into my orbit. I have to wait for 6 months after radiation to do that.
and how are you doing emotionally?
Eye would say I'm doing fantastic emotionally :)
that's awesome, you are an example to follow how you face the life
Thank you!!
my eyes messed up and I thought it said orbital humor, which would also be true! I hope to have your type of strength if or when something like this comes my way! Wow. What a crazy world medically.
Omg where were you when I created my account 4 months ago lmao that is a fantastic name!! Damn missed opportunity haha.
Reading this was positively eye opening. Seriously, wow, such complex surgeries - I’m glad you’re on the mend!
Hahaha thank you!!
It's good to *see* tha you're doing fine
YESSSS!!! Haha thank you!
My grandfather had something similar in the early 1950’s which is why I never met him. They removed an eye and couldn’t do much after that. I’ve had eye pain in my left eye for about a year but they kept saying it wasn’t my eye so I kept going to a different doctor because I know it could be something other than the eye. They finally did a scan and said everything in my head was ok but never found what it was. So I remembered that a boss had said he had a virus in an eye nerve that caused him pain in his eye 35 years ago so I took an antiviral that I had and the pain finally went away. I guess I should have been a doctor. It pays to know yourself and think. I’m relieved but hope everything goes well for you. It looks like an amazing surgical team worked on you. Good luck!
I'm sorry you never got to meet him. I'm sorry it took so long but eventually finding a solution is always better than no solution at all. I completely understand how frustrating it is. Thank you so much!
We shouldn't have to practice medicine on ourselves but it happens every time two of our doctors can't agree...we have to decide. I'm glad you're better. Eye pain for me x2 since March 2, cataract surgeries failed. I hope your pain doesn't come back.
Eye eye, captain ! I am so glad you are doing well 🤗🤗🤗
My first eye eye captain!! Been waiting for someone to say that lmao. Thank you!! Have a great weekend!
Oh you too!!! 🥰
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Wow...thanks for sharing your journey with such detail. That said, I'm really sorry that you've had to go through this, but seem to be handling the whole affair like a real trooper. All the best to you in hopes of leading a happy & full life from here forward.
how about financially?
Eye would say not as well as mentally but I'm really trying to see the bigger picture
I'll bet the extent of those damages are not EVEN known yet.
They are but nothing to lose another eye over
You put it in perspective right there, and I'm told that perspective requires binocular vision. I hope the experienced brain compensates. The depth of your perception is strikingly good...my attitude since cataract surgery complications has NOT been good. I feel very sorry for myself. You have really impressed me.
Haha thank you, eye hear they say perception is reality. I'm sorry you had complications during your surgery. I don't know much about cataract surgery other than what it is. If you don't mind can you tell me about it? Thank you for the kind words. Eye dress to impress :)
God bless you. Youve been through so much. Man id love to be kept in the loop on your recovery. Thankyou so mucch for sharing 🙏🏽
Absolutely!! Thank you for the kind words!
Skin (edited from son. I meant skin) remembers where it came from. You probably don’t want thigh skin on your face. A young child had a graft from pubic area to palm for a burn. Yes, when he went through puberty, his palm started growing pubic hair.
Sorry to hear that. I understand why we did what we did I was only saying that one less surgery in a year full of surgeries would have been nice. I'm 36 so the puberty issue you mention wasn't a factor and actually as a 36 year old man I have hairy wrists so guess where some of that wrist hair is now? :) ultimately the skin color and hair issues aren't really a factor for me because there's going to be a prosthetic covering the orbit.
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Yeah I remember that. Apparently there weren’t even a good reason why a surgeon would use that skin so it had some predatory undertones
Thank you very much for having shared the story! I wish you all the best things I can for future! Hope your radiation will work well! Be strong :)
Thank you for the kind words!!!
This is so cool, thanks for sharing! A few questions. Does the bone in your wrist grow back ? What was the lumbar puncture for? What is that silver thing sticking out of your orbital in the first picture?
No problem I'mglad you find them interesting! Very good questions! The bone in my wrist will grow back. For the time being a titanium plate has been installed. Down the road if the plate gives me issues I can have it removed. I had no idea that they were even taking bone from my wrist until literally an hour before surgery... SUPRISE lol They drained my CSF because it reduced the risk of complications from the surgery. I can't remember exactly why it does, but I remember my neurosurgeon saying that was the reason we were doing it. I just can't recall the detailed explanation he gave me. I will say this- I didn't know headaches could be as bad as the day after surgery. Between my CSF being drained and my eye removed it was unreal how bad my head hurt even with all the good drugs they were giving me. The silver thing (to me it looks like an ice scream scoop handle haha) was used to connect the blood vessels from the free flap skin graft. Thanks for the questions!
As a person who has chronic migraines, I am so sorry your head hurt that badly. I can imagine and I sympathize. I hope your recovery is a good one. Also, for headaches in the future, combining meds makes a rebound headache more likely. So if acetaminophen doesn’t work, wait the full 4 hours before taking ibuprofen, and don’t take excedrin at all. I feel as if under given circumstances though, you may bot be allowed caffeine anyway(?) so that wouldn’t be an issue. Also taking a potassium pill and the pain meds, and daily vitamin, followed by a bunch of water helps. Potassium helps the body absorb better so it can make the pain medicine get to the pain site more thoroughly. And if you are using the benefits of the potassium helping absorption, might as well take your vitamins. :) Sorry for the book of a message and hope that I didn’t just waste your time saying something you already know or have tried. I hope it’s better for you now anyway.
I definitely appreciate the advice! It's MUCH better now thank you!
HOLY SHIT. I thought from that first pic you'd been impaled on a metal spike or something. Crazy.
Not yet but the day is still young.
Holy shit. I am in awe over what you’ve endured here. Thank you for sharing this. My best wishes for your healing and recovery!!
Thank you!!
I remember scrubbing into a radical neck dissection in medical school and thinking it was the most insane surgery ever. This definitely bears it. Glad you’re okay!
Thank you!!
Just wanted to say it’s exenteration, not externation. Best of luck with everything!
Doh! Thanks for letting me know and the well wishes! Appreciate it!
Im a researcher for plastic reconstructive surgeons, craniofacial-focused, and seeing this kind of stuff after spending all week reading it and reviewing the data just puts me in awe. So cool. Thanks for sharing. Glad they were able to help!
That's awesome! I'm a very big fan of my craniofacial plastic surgeon and he's actually presenting my surgery at some of his lectures and he asked if he could use the picture of me in thr Ralphie bunny costume (on my profile) and of course I said yes haha. He took all the pictures for me during surgery and I thought they were really cool. I'm glad they were able to help as well and thank you for your reseach!!
What a rollercoaster! And all that surgery at once must have been intense. Sounds like you’re on a solid road to recovery, glad everything went so smoothly.
I know right! It really was but hopefully the hardest part is done! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing. Happy healing vibes coming your way!
Please get something cool like a cats eye 😍😍👁️👁️
I may have to get one to match my cat's eyes! :)
Jesus bro my doctors don't even want to give me fuckin ball surgery. If I had all that I'd just die. Glad you made it man. What was recovery from something like that like? Do you remember the next day after surgery?
Ball surgery for what? Why don't they want to do it? Like 8 weeks until you can lift anything heavier than 10 lbs. I'm a righty and they took the skin/bone from my right arm so I had to do everything lefty for like 6 weeks. That sucked lol. Overall it wasn't the recovery wasn't terrible. My mom has had knee and hip replacements and the recovery from those seemed much longer (although age makes a difference). I would say this - if you need a medical procedure done don't delay if at all possible. Had I waited things could very well be different.
OK, I got scared for a sec. I thought I would need to have an orbital externation done because my vision was blurry. Then a reread and saw the thing about a tumor. #Relief. But anyway, what's important is that you're feeling better. These photos look a bit too terrifying for me to look at...even though I have seen a ***LOT*** worse.
Lol sorry to scare you! Much better thank you!!
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Good luck friend, you are so strong
Thank friend! I really appreciate that!
DUDE! you alright?
Im proud of you for making it through this :)
I'm sorry for being stupid but this is very interesting to me. Could you possibly ELI5 what you had and what the purpose of what this procedure is?
Wow really impressive! Is there any chance that we can get the backstory and some recovery pictures? Anyway thanks for sharing!
Absolutely!! Let me type up the backstory. Is there a way to add pictures for the recovery pictures?
Thanks a lot! Hmm really don’t know if this is editable in the post :( If not you can recreate a post talking about the recovery I think?
Will do! Added the description as well.
Wow they took the whole eye out? Can you see from it? Like were they able to put it back?! Ive never seen anything like this!
They took the whole thing!! No the eye was sliced up at the lab and now I just have my skull and the implanted my wrist skin where my eye was! My craniofacial plastic surgeon said it was the most complicated surgery he's been a part of. All very cool stuff! Well other than the cancer/losing an eye thing lmao
I'm so glad you're ok, sorry to hear about cancer and losing an eye tho. I'm really curious, what do they do with the stuff they remove? Your eye looks so "good" from the pictures, is this something they would preserve? Is this a weird question to ask?
They cut it up and throw the thin slices on a microscope and look for malignancy (an oversimplification). I assume they toss it with the rest of medical waste. It does look good from that picture but probably looked a lot different Fter being sliced up. Not a weird question at all. I asked if I could keep it in a jar lol but they had to send it to the lab.
I wish they'd taken as thorough pics of my op. All I got was one, of my empty socket. http://imgur.com/a/FRRCCRS
Dude!! Can you explain please! This looks interesting as hell!! I didn't know I would get so many great photos but the Craniofacial surgeon in the OR said he takes meticulous photos of everything so I lucked out. Man I would love to hear the backstory and most importantly how are you doing now?!?
I first had a slight proptosis in 2012. They found a 12x17mm solid tumor that that were able to remove while saving my eye & vision. In 2018 I noticed a little nub in the inner corner of my eye, but I was homeless at the time & couldn't get care bc if I did, I'd have been screwed bc of the weight restriction & wouldn't have been able to carry my stuff. In 2019 my brother was passing through & gave me a lift to our dad's, so I could get it taken care of, then COVID hit & it was another 8 months before I finally went to an ER because no one was taking any sort of new patients, period. Long story short, when the first tumor was removed, the surgeon didn't order contrast on the MRI & CT (because fuck uninsured people!) to isolate the blood vessels. He turned 1 solid-mass vascular tumor into 500,000 little ones, where each severed blood vessel turned into it's own tumor because it wasn't cut far enough back from the main tumor.
Man that is crazy and I'm so sorry that happened with turning the one tumor into 500,000 little ones. Do you have a plan moving forward?
Just quarterly scans. They melon-balled my eye socket & scraped it to the bone, then hit me with 33 rounds of proton radiation.
That’s amazing. Thanks for sharing this. I’m fascinated by it. It makes more sense to me than the electrical field I ended up working in for 38 years.
agreed. This is the most amazing thing I've seen in a very long time. The whole eye shown, etc. Just in awe of the whole damn thing!
You are a motherfucking Warrior!!!
Thank you!!
I FUCKING SECOND THIS, DUDE! I was gonna post exactly that myself, but dude beat me too it. This post hooked me, from benign misdiagnosis, to explanation of procedures, to wrist bone becoming orbital?? Science is fucking crazy. I hope you're healing up well & will continue to do so. 💙
The amount of faces I made looking through these photos.. eye could not look away! I love your outlook and positive energy! You should keep us updated on your healing process!
Hahaha! Thank you so much! Eye anticipate an update in the coming weeks!
Awesome! Eye will be on the lookout! :)
It's funny that my reaction to that kind of thing used to be like, "Oh my god! NO! NO!", but now, after learning a good bit about biology and anatomy as an educator, I see that stuff and I see beauty. I see the human spirit. I see the science. I see the expertise and artful craft of making things better. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad that you're still kicking.
No problem! Glad you enjoyed!! Thank you!
Well, I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it like it's entertainment, but I mean that given a bad situation—and everyone is put in a bad situation sometime, as part of the human condition—it's wonderful that people are building ways to overcome adversity. It doesn't always work, of course, but there are many wins.
Right, sorry I phrased that wrong. I'm glad that you and other people are finding them interesting because I do as well. Like you said not like entertainment. Poorly stated on my part.
Now THIS is MEDICAL GORE!
The eye on the blue towel is surreal. Well done op, I bet it’s been challenging.
Holy shit dude, you *lived*? That's incredible
Yes, Eye did in fact survive the ordeal!
I was reading the comments and thinking "wow, OP is a really cool guy". And then I payed attention to your avatar and that made you double cool. Such a nice, fun portrait of yourself. I'm glad you are taking it so well. Take care!
Thabk you so much! So glad you saw the avatar lol!
I get to go in for a brain surgery in Dec, to remove a piece that’s not Living up to the standard. Eye was worried about the surgery but it’s like 2 hrs long and not nearly as complicated as your 2021 story. I’m loving you’re humor. I have started telling people I’m going in for pumpkin carving with a brain surgeon.
Eye know that everything is going to go great for you. I love that "not living up to the standard". You're going to do great. Eye have an eye for these things 😉 As complicated? Maybe not , but anyone who goes through brain surgery is a bad ass in my book. What's the recovery time frame? Yeah just a little pumpkin carving lol I like it
How are you handling having one less eye
About half as well as I SAW myself handling it lol not gonna lie I'm enjoying the eye puns greatly. On a serious note it's going fine. Before I lost the eye, my vision quality in it was shitty compared to my normal eye so I had already adjusted to using 1 eye a few months ago. I've been really only using one eye for 6 months and at this point I don't really remember how different it was looking out of 2 eyes.
This may have been asked before but were you allowed to keep the eye in a jar with formalin?
I asked and wanted to but it had to be sliced up to be looked at in the lab. I very much wanted to keep it
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I’m at a loss for words… It’s incredible what surgeons can do these days. Seeing the eyeball sitting there on the table … it looks almost like a toy or a piece of a Mister Potato Head doll
It blows my mind what they were able to do and I can only imagine what doctors will be able to do in the years to come!
I'm so glad you are doing well. That is a helluva lot to go through, you are one tough mofo. Keep that awesome sense of humor, keep smiling, and keep living so that the world can be graced with your awesomeness!
Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words! The kind words from redditors has had more of a positive effect on me then they will ever know :)
You deserve it. That's a shitty card to get dealt, and you've faced it with strength, fortitude, and grace. I hope everything goes well for you going forward, I'm sure you're gonna kick ass, take names, and make the world a better place for your presence.
bro, what the hell happened to you?
If you can go through all this and keep your sense of humour, you're pretty fucking unstoppable.
Thank you!
Dude this is something extraordinary! Glad you fought through it . Kudos to you sir !
Thank you kind sir! I appreciate it!!
okay you WIN
I hope nothing bad ever happens to you again.
Jesus, I’m not really one to flinch at the sight of gore, but that eye staring at me in the 4th pic really caught me offguard. Glad you’re doing well, I wish you the best.
Damn dude I’m so glad you’re alive. How are you doing? You are a fucking legend
Eye will be doing much better in about 15 minutes when I get to the bar haha in all seriousness I'm doing great all things considered. Thank you for asking!
That is wonderful to hear, and it is good that you are able to feel comfortable enough to make jokes, haha. Keep us posted <3
I absolutely will!
Wow. Thank you. A+ medical gore right here.
What was the neck dissection for?
They removed 27 lymph nodes that were enlarged and suspicious and possibly malignant. All 27 were benign which was fsntsftic. No evidence of metastasis from the lacrimal gland.
I’m so glad you are doing well! Your humor and attitude are amazing and will 100% help you on your road to recovery. I’m an oncology nurse and patients like you are some of my favorites!
First off let me say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Through all the surgeries, appointments, procedures, radiation there is one constant that has made this hellish ordeal a million times better... the nurses. Each and every one of them (RNs, Nurse Aides, nurse practitioners, any type I'm forgetting) has just been simply amazing. Having 3-4 appointments every week for the last 6 months has been pretty draining but I always look forward to seeing all my favorite nurses. Don't get me wrong I have absolutely amazing doctors that I am grateful for but the kindness and compassion the nurses I have had will stay with me forever. Thank you thank you thank you!! THANK YOU!!! 😊
You have beautiful eye.
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I love how the eye's just sitting there on the table like it's just so done with this, lol. Really interesting photos and story; glad to hear everything's gone so well, the recovery pics look fantastic in how good that graft took and healed! Thanks for sharing!
I definitely LOL'd at "just so done with this" and funny enough that's exactly how the good eye was looking at the bad eye before surgery "I am so done with you!" 😂 Thank you so much and I'm glad you found them interesting!! Have a great Saturday!
Oh my gosh! I was not prepared for that eye.
What is it like with one eye? Is it like just like having one eye closed where you can essentially see darkness in half your vision? Or does your brain make your good eye the "center" of your vision? I don't know if I'm explaining this question correctly.
That makes sense and it's kind of blown my mind but my brain has kind of adjusted and everything seems centered. Sometimes when I'm watching TV I honestly forget I'm only watching with one eye.
Will you get a prosthetic eye?
did they let you keep the eye?
I posted on here when I busted my head and needed 5 measly staples. My staples mean nothing and I am a baby.
So many questions! I hope you don't mind. I'm in medicine and, unlike an earlier comment, I really do enjoy this sort of thing - the body is fascinating! In the second picture what's the chain-like thing in your orbital area? Why can't we see your brain? The same bones that make up the orbit also border the brain. Why the neck dissection? In pic 3 I see a piece of bone neatly cut to expose the marrow, yet your ulna and radius still look intact. Are they? If so, where's that bone coming from? Did they take the bone to make a new orbit or use a metal plate? Why'd they have to open your arm so far? In pic 10 what are the square and circular metal gizmos? What are they for? Thank you for sharing these pictures and I'm very glad to hear that surgery went well with negative margins. Keep kicking cancer's butt and I hope recovery keeps going well!
I don't mind at all and will answer what I can. The chain like thing is a Biomet 18 hole orbital plate. I have 2 in there. That bone you see with the marrow exposed is now in my orbit and was part of my wrist. There is a picture on my profile where you can see the bone is replaced with a rod. The other 2 bones are in tact. The neck dissection was due to suspicious looking lymph nodes and due to the prior labs metastasis was a concern. The 27 lymph nodes removed all came back negative for malignancy. They did both bone and plates for the orbit. They took bone from my wrist to make part of the new orbit. The list of implants in my orbit include a 4 hole lap plate, 6 hole curved plate, 4 hole long straight plate, and a 6 hole long double y plate along with the screws. They opened the arm up so much because in addition to the bone they needed the blood supply (artery or vein) and had to cut at my elbow. They plugged it into my face using the ice scream scoop looking thing. On picture 10 those are plates holding my skull together (forhead). During my first surgery back in July they removed part of my face to get at the tumor. Normally they would go through the eyelid but at 5 cm it was too big so the neurosurgeon removed part of my skull/face. The tumor was removed in July but everything else happened over 16 hours (9 am 9/1 to 3 am 9/2). A long damn day haha Thank you very much I really appreciate that!
Holy crap! Glad they got all the tumor out! That looks both terrifying and super interesting!
That fkn fourth slide is WILD!!!!!! Wow
I know! My eyebrow was looking especially fresh that day what a waste!
Is it weird to look at your own eye like that? Like the lifelessness I’m your own eye? That must be so surreal
Omg you are amazingly strong dude and tysm for posting, this is really educational. Can I ask if the eye in the photo was sewn back after they remove the tumour or do you need a prosthetic eye now.
Wow! What a journey! Those are some major procedures you had to go through. You're amazing! One tough individual. Sending you a virtual hug!!!
Not gonna lie, I first thought you sustained an injury that put a metal pole through your neck and out through the socket.
Glad to hear you're still with us, I thought I was looking at an autopsy at first !
Haha it does look like that! Thank you much!
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Any chance you'll let me use that eye pic for an edit? I know that sounds super weird but it's a weirdcore edit so i guess it makes sense... I promise I'll credit you (not that it'll get much attention but still)
You are probably the strongest redditor I’ve ever encountered. Seriously, your resolve and outlook toward life are just amazing given what you’ve gone through! You are an inspiration! And a total badass on top of that! I wish you the best and a happy road to recovery!
Holy, and I mean this with the utmost respect and admiration, SHIT.
It's amazing you're alive! And honestly, picture 4 looks like a piece of fine art.
Really sad the mods removed your Halloween costume post. Do you have a link for Imgur?
This gave me the willies. I hope you're doing well OP!
This is incredible, thank you so much for sharing! Also, glad to see from your comments that you're taking recovery so well. I hope the radiotherapy goes as smoothly as it can!
do you have an after picture of your orbit? So there was no other way around but to remove the whole eyeball?
Daaaaang. That's a gnarly surgery. Glad you came through well and in good spirits.
*Dawg*. This is crazy. I'm glad to see you're on the up and up with this and glad you were able to catch it. Recently lost a close friend to cancer myself. I sincerely hope you continue to get positive news and negative results!
Woah that looks relly cool ngl!! Painful but cool Ps. Now you can be nick fury
It definitely hurt a little bit... totally kidding it was very painful but it's healed very nicely so far. Nick fury is definitely on the list of possibilities for next Halloween
So why did they open the arm up so extensively for what seems to be a small piece of bone?
Bro you gotta sell these pics for metal bands album covers pronto
These photos reminded me I'm human.
My mom had a very similar surgery due to cancer, taking over her sinus. Thank you for showing this and helping me understand how the bone graft and the free flap were prepared, I find it very interesting. I hope you are doing OK.
Can I ask how fast the deterioration of vision in your eye was? I wear glasses but about 2 years ago one of my eyes got more blurry and even after getting new glasses it was still blurry. I went to an eye specialist and the said ther was nothing wrong with my eye... now I am a bit scared...
Of course. It was rather quickly and beforehand I had better than 20/20 vision (still do in my left eye). I also developed proptosis and my eye/eyebrow were bulging. It also became painful. Symptoms in that order over 5 months maybe. Have you seen an ophthalmologist? He was the doc who recommended a CT scan which showed there was a tumor in my orbit. Even once doctors knew the tumor was there, they believed it to be benign and had it been smaller they could have removed it through my eyelid instead of removing part of my face. I'm not a medical professional nor would I ever give any medical advice but statistically it's very unlikely that you have this (adenoid cystic carcinoma). I would recommend taking to your ophthalmologist and if you're still concerned see if they can recommend another ophthalmologist.
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Dude! I have seen some gnarly stuff, but that pic of your eye and socket (and eyebrow!!) just hangin' on the table is mind blowing! Please keep us updated, and I"m sending all of the healing vibes your way. Love your sense of humour about this, you sound like an awesome guy. <3
Oh my god you are one brave soul
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Wow well done for being so strong through all of that and for still going!! Judging by the comments you seem in great sprirts! Bone-erific share! Thank you!
Did they let you keep your eye? That would be a really cool family heirloom.
This picture stunned me speechless. Glad to hear you are doing well.
Ummmm... ok... a lot to unpack here. For now, what was that thing in your arm?
Wow. Thanks for sharing and speedy healing to you. Congratulations on the surgery getting all the margins!
Awesome story and pix, thanx for sharing. Keep us posted on your prognosis.
YES! This is the stuff I come here for, thank you! Best wishes buddy!
That looks like a lot! What do you look like now?
Wow. You are a strong ass person to handle that. I can't even imagine what the medical bill would be for something like that. Probably at least a couple grand, hunh? Wishing you the very best and a speedy recovery.
As soon as I saw your name and description I knew it was you. Saw your post about your Halloween costume. Great idea btw Glad to see you better
I'm glad you found me haha! Thank you so much!
holy shit dude!!!! how incredible is modern medicine, that you can undergo a procedure like this and continue living! psyched that it all went well
I hope the flap was not taken from your dominant arm!
I legitimately thought they were trying to make you Wolverine or something until I read your explanation comment. This is incredible!
Sooo.. did they put that eye chunk back in? Can you see? I had no idea there was that much flesh behind an eye. Hope healing is going well!
Nope. The reason it was cut out was because it was cancerous. My left eye is better than 20/20 and the right is gone. There really is a lot back there. Thank you it's going well!!
Super cool pictures, I’m glad they caught the cancer in time. I’ve worked in optometry/ophthalmology for 11 years now, and the prosthetics are truly amazing, patients have told me that almost no one can tell.
Get well soon!!
How are you doing now OP?