Bad eye days

Well, I've had eye problems for the past several days, so it's time to describe what's up with me.

On 04 Nov 2002 I came down with Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (also known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome) as a result of taking Zithromax (an anitbiotic). This was the second time I'd taken this medicine - it seems that the first time sets you up and the second time gives you the syndrome :(

I went to the Army hospital the day before complaining of an allergic reaction - they gave me drugs and sent me home. The next morning I was talking with my wife (then my girlfriend) with the webcam and she said that I needed to go back to the ER. I went back just to humor her (leaving my TV and computer on).

All that I remember is waiting in the ER, my wife calling me there, her calling me at the burn unit, and a couple of hallucinations. I woke up a couple of weeks later in tne Burn Unit at the Army hospital in San Antonio, TX.

It turns out that I was admitted to the hospital in El Paso and then the next day was flown to the hospital in San Antonio. There I was intubated for 8 days, and unconcious for several more. I spent about a week recovering (my time sense was skewed) and was discharged.

This syndrome is like a burn, but it involves all skin tissue. It invaded my mouth, lungs, and eyes. I was scrubbed by the nurses several times a day and had to wear a silver nitrate jacket to help the burns heal. I lost about 50% of my skin and found out later that I was lucky that I had survived. The burns involved the surface of my eyeballs and the inside of my eyelids. While in the hospital my eyes were kept lubricated all the time, so I had no clue about the depth of damage to my eyes. I was on multiple heavy duty narcotics at the time, so I felt virtually no pain. My rapid recovery was attributed to my physical fitness.

As it turns out, the scarring of my eyes was pretty severe. The surface of my eyeballs looked like it had been sandblasted. And the scarring of my lids completed the damage. So, I have no tears - it's like facing into the wind 24 hours a day. Tears are composed of 3 layers (basically) - the mucin, aqueous, and lipid layers. All of these are generated by structures near the surface - and were affected by the scarring. Also, the scarring made my eyelids no meet correctly - so I'm gonna have to have surgery to fix that. My opthalmologist in Miami is doing research to start the tears again - he's the world's expert on TENs/SJS. Oh, and my fingernails are still scarred from it also - none have grown back completely and those that did grow back are ragged and thin.

Well enough for today, the eyes hurt and I'm gonna rest them. See ya later!