The Eyes Have It

Tyler has been struggling a bit over this weekend because his eyes have been acting up. It really started getting bad on Friday and increased over the weekend. Tyler actually cancelled several of his weekend activities because his eyes were hurting and he didn't want to make them worse.

His right eye was even more red than normal and seemed to be oozing a little bit on Saturday. On Sunday and Monday, his eyes actually crusted shut as he slept overnight and continued to ooze all day long. We were worried because he has had eye sensitivity from the lack of tears (which is most likely mild Graft vs Host Disease) and this new symptom seemed to coincide with a new reduction in his tacrolimus (the immunosuppressant drug). He's been reducing one of his two daily doses every couple of weeks or so. He is on .5 mg in the morning and evening this week, then .5 mg in the morning and 0 in the evening next week, and then he is DONE!!! This means we are rapidly approaching our important 6 month mark.

If Tyler can get completely off of the immunosuppressant, he is able to increase the number of activities that he can participate in. He can go swimming again, have plants in the home, go golfing, and attend sporting events again. He still can't do any gardening or pet exotic animals, but it is exciting that he is able to take the next step back towards health.

We called the doctor's office first thing on Monday morning and they prescribed antibiotic eye drops, which seem to be helping. We see Dr McGee on Wednesday afternoon and will hopefully get more information then.