Finished Oral Voraconazole

August 15, Tuesday. We went to the 'big city' and saw the specialists. Both specialists were happy because Ed's eye was calm; no inflammation. However, now that the oral Voriconazole is ended, we will wait and see if the fungus returns or not. Return of the fungus? We believe it is gone.
Just in case, the one specialist asked Ed to stay on the Voriconazole eye drops for another 2 weeks. The specialist is away for a week. We see him again on Aug.28 to check Ed's eye. The specialist says that Ed will feel pain and his eye will get red if the fungus starts to return. The second specialist said that he thinks Ed's immune system will take care of any few spores which may be left. The second specialist (retinal specialist) was reading the surgical report and he said that Ed was fortunate to have kept his eye. There was diseased tissue even close to the retinal wall. We want to have a copy of the surgical report and will ask next time.
The second specialist said the eye is saved but the vision may be blurry for always. The first specialist (who did the surgery) said that after several months, after the stitches come out, there are options to improve the vision such as glasses, contacts, perhaps even a total corneal transplant.
Cross that bridge when we come to it.
So, Ed is still on Voraconazole eye drops, Prednisolone eye drops and Combigan eye drops (stabilize eye pressure).
And that's our update. Ed's energy is increasing all the time. He now can drive and he feels free again!! We are going to buy him a really good eye shield (face shield) for any outdoor or wood work.
He can go swimming now, too, so there will be a swim before summer is over.

Eye Check is Good

On August 1st, the specialist says that Ed's eye is 'calm' ; meaning no sign of fungus growth. Which is good. However, the big test comes when he goes off of the anti fungal oral pill and eyedrops after August 15th. Then, he will have weekly eye exams to check for 'blurriness' in the anterior chamber of the eye for 6 weeks.

Increase in blurriness in the Slit Lamp exam would probably mean that the fungus is growing again. The Infection Control doctor was great in explaining all of this to us. Ed's blood tests show that, so far, the anti fungal 'super drug' is not harming his liver function. He still needs a blood test every week to monitor that for two more weeks.

Then, we will know for sure that the fungus will not take hold again and no more treatment for it will be needed. Personally, I think it is a very dead fungus already!!!

Ed has slight improvements in vision each day but still can only see to count fingers at about 2 feet distance. This should improve more over time.

So, we will be going for weekly check-ups after the week of August 15th (Aug. 15th we are back at the Eye Care Centre to see 2 specialists to check both the front and back sections of the eye). The other good news is that the Voriconazole eye drops are now reduced to every 2 hours. Ed still gets two other drops, anti-glaucoma drop (Combigan) one twice a day, and the Prednisilone drop still at four times a day. The antibiotic drop was stopped.

The 'every 2 hour' Voriconazole eye drops will be over on Aug. 15th. It has been 2 1/2 weeks of hourly eye drops!! Ed will be able to put drops in his own eye soon, once he is healed more.

All the specialists are kind, helpful and informative. This has really helped on this journey!