Andy’s Story

On December 4, 2018, I awoke with a watery eye and the feeling that something was in it. My eye doctor evaluated it that morning and said it appeared to be scratched. I returned to their office later that day as I sensed it was getting worse. The eye doctor agreed and conferred with a colleague. Antiviral eye drops were prescribed for a herpes simplex infection, but I continued to experience pain and blurriness. At a follow-up visit two weeks later, I was told I had a bacterial infection, and more eye drops were prescribed. I needed to place them in my eye every hour, while taking an oral antibiotic. I felt lousy!

I had always been a healthy individual, but the concern regarding my eye was mounting. My co-workers encouraged me to contact ConnectCare3, and the nurse navigator assigned to me was a great sounding board. She encouraged me to be proactive and gather my medical records and told me about a 24/7 eye hospital located about 1½ hours from my home.

The holidays were fast approaching, and I was fatigued from getting up every hour to instill eye drops. The pain and sensitivity in my eye were non-stop, and I couldn’t even think about shopping for Christmas gifts as my deteriorating eye continued to be of great concern. On December 21, when my local eye doctor and his colleague had differing opinions on further treatment, I decided to travel to the Emergency Room at the eye hospital my ConnectCare3 nurse informed me of a few days earlier. In a dire attempt to save my eye, I underwent a cornea transplant on Christmas Eve.

January 2019 came with multiple physician visits and procedures to my eye. I saw many different specialists for those procedures and went through pain, stress, weight loss and not knowing what the ultimate outcome would be. It was during this time I learned my eye issues stemmed from a fungal infection, not a bacterial infection as previously thought. In spite of the hospital being considered the #2 eye hospital in the U.S., these physicians with multiple years of experience remarked they had never encountered an infection quite like mine. My ConnectCare3 nurse navigator continued to offer support and prepared questions for my physician appointments. I told her how my physicians were very collegiate and cooperative in their approach at this specialized hospital, and I felt fortunate to be under their care.

I suffered another setback after multiple procedures during the month of January. A retinal detachment was found via ultrasound on January 31. I went through surgery on February 1 which involved both cornea and retina specialists. The core of my cornea was removed to allow the retina specialists to see the back of my eye. The retina specialists repaired the retina and cleaned out my eye followed by the cornea specialist, who completed the surgery.

On February 4, I met with my cornea surgeon and the two retina physicians as a follow-up to my surgery. I had a bad feeling I would not be hearing positive news. Although my surgical team had successfully reattached my retina, the damage done by the infection became more obvious. The iris and pupil were severely damaged, and the infection had continued to fester behind the cornea. After a lengthy discussion, we all agreed it was time to consult with a specialist to remove the eye. This was obviously a very difficult decision but one I had been pondering for quite some time.

Given the condition of my eye, coupled with the infection that refused to go away, I had my eye removed on February 6 by an oculoplastic surgeon. At my one-week follow-up, I was told it appeared to be healing well with no sign of infection. I then made an appointment with an ocularist to discuss a prosthetic eye.

I spent most of April 18th with an ocularist to construct my new eye. It was a surreal experience but also a  fascinating one as well. She began building the eye starting first with a wax template and after many fittings and adjustments, ended with the actual eye. She then hand-painted the iris to match my other eye, and at the end of the day her creation was completed. She was a talented artist and did an outstanding job making the prosthetic eye appear as natural looking as possible. My eyelids were sore at first, but things got a little easier with each new day, and I eventually adapted to the prosthetic eye.

Losing my eye was devastating, but I tried to use this unfortunate life event as an example for my kids as to how to handle adverse situations. In life we will all face challenges and how we react to them and how we move forward is important and speaks to our character.

Five years later, I learned I needed Moh’s surgery to remove basal cell carcinoma from under my nose above my lip. My local dermatologist office was slow in getting me scheduled with a Moh’s specialist, so I contacted ConnectCare3 again to explore other physician options. I was fortunate to be assisted by the same nurse navigator who helped me with my eye issue in 2018-19. As expected, she provided me with several well-qualified options to consider for this surgery. I chose one from her list who had been doing Moh’s surgery almost exclusively since 2009 and was able to arrange an appointment in a timely manner and ultimately had a successful surgery.

If you have access to ConnectCare3 through your employer, I strongly encourage you to utilize their services and take advantage of all the medical knowledge available there. They excel at helping people find the resources they need and will provide guidance and support every step of your medical journey to better health.