Nutrition and Preparation for Eye Surgery, Part 4

In mid-August, I found out that the Salzmann’s Nodular Degeneration on my eyes had progressed to the point of requiring surgery. Salzmann’s is a rare eye condition that causes lesions to grow on the surface of the eye. They remove them by doing a superficial keratectomy, sometimes called a SuperK. I’ve been telling people that I’m getting my eyeballs scraped. Essentially, that is what they are doing. They scrape off the lesions, and then the surface of the eyeball has to heal pretty much on its own. It hurts. The good news is that the eye heals fast.

Since I found out I needed surgery, I’ve been working on a series of posts detailing how I planned to prepare in advance and what I planned to do after my surgery to facilitate healing. Most of my research was around nutrition, but mitigating stress showed up as an important factor as well.

As before, let me start out by saying that I am not a licensed medical professional. My notes in this series are from my own research for my own use. Do your own research and consult with a qualified medical professional for advice specific to your own needs. Every person is different and what worked for me may not work for you.

What I Did Well to Prepare and What I Will Do Different

I took the approach to surgery month in a similar mindset as I would a Whole 30 or a 21-Day Sugar Detox. It is even more important when under stress or experiencing a health crisis to know your food boundaries and stick to them. When you go off plan during a stressful time, you only make your symptoms and recovery worse.

Protein, collagen, and gelatin are important to recovery after any surgery. I also was cognizant that people tend to lose their appetite after surgery. I’ve experienced this after each of my surgeries, with my tonsillectomy being the worst experience, so I built that into my plan. I included smoothies with extra collagen powder, gummies made with fruit juice and gelatin, Epic meat sticks, and lots of bone broth. I had plenty of things to nibble when a full meal wasn’t going to happen.

I am so glad that I made several batches of bone broth for the freezer in the weeks leading up to my surgery. I also bought several boxes of Kettle & Fire broth from the store for backup. My two surgeries were expected to be rather close together so I suspect I’ll be run down most of the month.

Mitigating stress is also important to recovery so I’m giving myself grace where personal expectations are concerned. I’m doing laundry and chores in advance where I can, but I’m not stressing about it in the days after. I prepped plenty of food and will stock up on the things that worked for me after the first surgery for the next one. I’m not planning to do a lot of cooking, recipe testing, etc. just after my surgeries – unless I want to and feel up for it. I told a friend that I was building in time for active resting. That sounds like a contradiction, but the body is doing a lot of hard work to heal itself after surgery or injury. Resting allows the body to do that work. It may feel unproductive, but it’s not.

There were a lot of things I would have liked to do with my time after the first surgery. I have plenty of crafts, books to read, several quilts that could use some attention, etc. Only I didn’t realize how vital the eyes are to doing some of those things. My eyes were very light sensitive. I had trouble looking at my devices long enough to even dim them. Plus, I was tired. So freaking tired. With eye #2, I’ll keep that in mind. I plan to pick a few audio books ahead of time that I can listen to. And who knows, I may feel better after the second surgery than I did after the first. If I want to work on crafts or read, I will.

References

www.balancedbites.com, Podcast episodes 9, 36, 57 and 255

Eat the Yolks by Liz Wolfe

www.eatright.org/resource/health/wellness/preventing-illness/5-top-foods-for-eye-health

www.eatright.org/resource/fitness/training-and-recovery/endurance-and-cardio/eating-for-strength-and-recovery

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15018479

Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo

www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/011315p10.shtml

#surgery