The Best Breast

John Tebbetts, M.D.

First, our most sincere thanks to all who have been so incredibly supportive and caring.  Your thoughts and prayers have helped immensely.

Terrye is progressing slowly, but steadily.  On Saturday, October  3, the day after the injury, surgeons performed a partial vitrectomy (removed some of the gelatinous material from the rear chamber of the eye) and repaired the puncture in the front portion of the eye.  Blood in both the front and rear chambers of the eye persists, but is slowly clearing—enough that her surgeons were able to identify a puncture and tear of the retina at the rear of the eye, indicating that the dart penetrated completely through the front and back of the eye.  On Tuesday, October 6 and again on Friday, October 9, T’s surgeons performed a series of laser procedures to the retina to try to limit further bleeding and retinal detachment.

Going forward, Terrye’s surgeons advise us that recovery will be prolonged over several months, and that other challenges can arise, including retinal detachment, increased pressure in the eye due to scarring of the filtration mechanism injured by the puncture, and scarring and clouding of the lens (traumatic cataract) that would require lens replacement.  Further clearing of the blood in the eye that is continuing to affect Terrye’s vision will be a slow process over many weeks.

Throughout, Terrye, Kas and I have tried to focus on the positives.  This injury could have happened to Kas or another of the many children standing near Terrye; the puncture on the rear of the eyeball missed the optic disc and nerve by only a few millimeters that almost certainly would have resulted in loss of vision; so far with big time antibiotics on board, T has not developed infection in the eye; and though her vision remains impaired, she is able to see light, motion, and discern some objects.

Last bit of good news is that Saturday, a week and and a day after the injury, we were able to take Terrye to our place in East Texas to see her horses and her favorite mule, Pepe.  Hugging a horse is one of T’s great pleasures.  With special girls like Terrye and Kas, life moves on, despite the challenges.