{"id":9140,"date":"2026-10-29T17:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/?p=9140"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:13:45","slug":"retinal-detachment-recovery-six-surgeries-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/retinal-detachment-recovery-six-surgeries-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Retinal Detachment Recovery After Six Surgeries: A Run For My Money, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

By Emilee Schultz<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, we did not stop at five surgeries this year.<\/b><\/h3>\n

Shortly after my original story posted, my retina detached again. Surgery number six came at the beginning of August 2026, back with the same amazing doctors at the Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Emilee

Surgery number six. August 2026, Kellogg Eye Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Sixth Surgery: Silicone Oil Instead of a Gas Bubble<\/b><\/h3>\n

We hit the tenth week of recovery after my May surgery and \u2014 bam. Another vitrectomy. But this time, my doctors used silicone oil in my eye instead of a gas bubble.<\/span><\/p>\n

After my first experience with oil in my eye, I was not thrilled about this prospect. I\u2019m happy to report it\u2019s actually going well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten Weeks, No Detachment<\/b><\/h3>\n

Last week marked ten weeks of recovery, and guess what? <\/span>No retinal detachment.<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to lie \u2014 I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Again. But we did it. I think the extra lasering in my eye is helping keep it attached. And at my last checkup, everything looked \u201cperfect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That is not a word I had heard this year in reference to my right eye. I was amazed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cleared \u201cBack To Life\u201d But Also Overwhelmed<\/b><\/h3>\n

As of this writing, I\u2019ve been cleared to go back to life, as I call it. I\u2019m allowed to travel, fly, work, exercise, lift weights (nothing super heavy), and just get back to living.<\/span><\/p>\n

And as exciting as that sounded, I\u2019ve found it overwhelming.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, I have never gotten this far in recovery before. Every other time, we were already looking at the next surgery and the next round of healing. I never actually got back to life as I thought I knew it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where my current struggle is. <\/span>Living.<\/b><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t only the physical differences. It\u2019s the mental and sensory differences, and they are enormous. My whole way of doing things is different now. I have to take my time with simple things \u2014 walking, visiting a new environment like an unfamiliar store, going up or down steps.<\/span><\/p>\n

When One Sense Goes, The Others Turn Up The Volume<\/b><\/h3>\n

I was out of town on a business trip with my husband and discovered that I cannot work in wide open spaces. We were in a convention center, and the noise and the bright lights left me in tears. I honestly thought I was having a mental breakdown in Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until we got home that I understood what was happening. When you lose one sense, your other senses become heightened. For me, that creates an incredible amount of what I call <\/span>\u201cbrain anxiety.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

What \u201cBrain Anxiety\u201d Feels Like<\/b><\/h3>\n

Brain anxiety isn\u2019t the anxiety you might feel in your chest or your body. It\u2019s a tornado of emotions roaring in my head, and it causes deep dysregulation in my body. I can\u2019t concentrate. I can\u2019t make decisions. I can\u2019t function.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is very debilitating and very disruptive. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a medical term for what I\u2019m experiencing, but I sort of like calling it a tornado.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning A New Way Of Living At 42<\/b><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m having to make some very tough decisions this week \u2014 some of the toughest of my life. I\u2019ve lived the same way for 42 years, and learning a new way of living has been so hard.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m taking it one hour at a time. Each new day brings another day of experience in how I need to live now.<\/span><\/p>\n

My new goal is simple: <\/span>keep things simple.<\/b><\/p>\n

Ten weeks ago, I was counting down to the next detachment. Today I\u2019m learning to live in a life that finally stopped being interrupted \u2014 and that, as overwhelming as it is, is the kind of problem I fought six surgeries to have.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div> <\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

Frequently Asked Questions\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>

<\/i>What is silicone oil in the eye after a vitrectomy?<\/a><\/h3>
\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

Silicone oil is one option surgeons use to hold the retina in place after a vitrectomy, in place of a gas bubble. Unlike gas, it doesn\u2019t dissolve on its own and is typically removed in a later procedure. Your surgeon decides which is appropriate for your eye.<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/i>How long does retinal detachment recovery take?<\/a><\/h3>
\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

It varies widely. Recovery milestones are often measured in weeks to months, and repeat detachments can restart the process \u2014 which is why activity restrictions and follow-up appointments matter so much. Can losing vision in one eye cause sensory overload? Many people report that when one sense is diminished, the remaining senses feel heightened, which can make busy, bright, or loud environments genuinely difficult. If you\u2019re experiencing this, it\u2019s worth raising with your care team \u2014 there are specialists in low-vision rehabilitation who work on exactly this.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/i>Can losing vision in one eye cause sensory overload?<\/a><\/h3>
\n
\n\t
\n\t\t

Many people report that when one sense is diminished, the remaining senses feel heightened, which can make busy, bright, or loud environments genuinely difficult. If you\u2019re experiencing this, it\u2019s worth raising with your care team \u2014 there are specialists in low-vision rehabilitation who work on exactly this.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t

Read Part 1 of Emilee's Story Here<\/span>\n \n <\/svg> <\/span> <\/a><\/span><\/h4><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We did not stop at five surgeries this year. After a sixth vitrectomy \u2014 this time with silicone oil instead of a gas bubble \u2014 I finally hit ten weeks with no detachment and got cleared to go back to life. I did not expect that to be the hard part.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":9146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[36,45],"tags":[126,124,128,127,110,79,125,122,123,121],"class_list":["post-9140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-blog","category-personal-stories","tag-chronic-illness","tag-eye-surgery-recovery","tag-kellogg-eye-center","tag-patient-story","tag-retinal-detachment","tag-retinopathy-of-prematurity","tag-sensory-overload","tag-silicone-oil","tag-vision-loss","tag-vitrectomy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9140"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9148,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140\/revisions\/9148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prrf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}