Retinal Detachment Recovery After Six Surgeries: A Run For My Money, Part 2

By Emilee Schultz

Well, we did not stop at five surgeries this year.

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.

Surgery number six. August 2026, Kellogg Eye Center.

The Sixth Surgery: Silicone Oil Instead of a Gas Bubble

We hit the tenth week of recovery after my May surgery and — bam. Another vitrectomy. But this time, my doctors used silicone oil in my eye instead of a gas bubble.

After my first experience with oil in my eye, I was not thrilled about this prospect. I’m happy to report it’s actually going well.

Ten Weeks, No Detachment

Last week marked ten weeks of recovery, and guess what? No retinal detachment.

I’m not going to lie — 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 “perfect.”

That is not a word I had heard this year in reference to my right eye. I was amazed.

Cleared “Back To Life” But Also Overwhelmed

As of this writing, I’ve been cleared to go back to life, as I call it. I’m allowed to travel, fly, work, exercise, lift weights (nothing super heavy), and just get back to living.

And as exciting as that sounded, I’ve found it overwhelming.

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.

That’s where my current struggle is. Living.

It isn’t only the physical differences. It’s 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 — walking, visiting a new environment like an unfamiliar store, going up or down steps.

When One Sense Goes, The Others Turn Up The Volume

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.

It wasn’t 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 “brain anxiety.”

What “Brain Anxiety” Feels Like

Brain anxiety isn’t the anxiety you might feel in your chest or your body. It’s a tornado of emotions roaring in my head, and it causes deep dysregulation in my body. I can’t concentrate. I can’t make decisions. I can’t function.

It is very debilitating and very disruptive. I’m sure there’s a medical term for what I’m experiencing, but I sort of like calling it a tornado.

Learning A New Way Of Living At 42

I’m having to make some very tough decisions this week — some of the toughest of my life. I’ve lived the same way for 42 years, and learning a new way of living has been so hard.

I’m taking it one hour at a time. Each new day brings another day of experience in how I need to live now.

My new goal is simple: keep things simple.

Ten weeks ago, I was counting down to the next detachment. Today I’m learning to live in a life that finally stopped being interrupted — and that, as overwhelming as it is, is the kind of problem I fought six surgeries to have.