My First Eylea Injection

Yesterday as I was sitting in the waiting room at my retina specialist’s office, anxiously awaiting my turn for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) pictures, I kept thinking, hoping that this would be the start of a better outcome for my wet left eye.

Time for a change

I knew I shouldn’t be getting my hopes up and should be happy for the almost 6 years of decent vision the Avastin injections have given me, but I can’t help but hope. I am an eternal optimist and miracles do happen.

Progression

At my appointment a month ago, we discussed the results of the OCT pictures, which showed there was no increase in the size of the fluid we were trying to affect, but also no decrease. It looks like a mountain or at least a large hill. But it is getting too close, almost directly under the macula.

The neovascularization is not responding as it had for those 6 years, and the little grey smudges I see seem to be a bit larger. My retina specialist kept reducing the time between shots until I was back on a 5-week schedule. But without success.

Taking a new path

The next step is to try a different anti-VEGF medication. Now after 35 Avastin injections, I was going to have my first Eylea shot.

My thoughts kept going to the hope that the Eylea therapy will not only reduce that spot of fluid and preserve my sight but also give me a chance to get back on a longer schedule. Perhaps even take a break from the shots completely for a time as some of our community members have mentioned they have been able to do. Change is good.

How is the new treatment different?

As I was sitting in the waiting room, one of the staff brought another four-page document for me to sign, giving consent to the procedure with Eylea. Similar to the one I had done before with Avastin. It explains the possible complications, required care and patient responsibilities.

No swimming for 3 days, no heavy lifting for 48 hours, when to contact them, etc. Also, the one most of us don’t think about: the need to inform a surgeon or dentist that we are on a medication that needs to be stopped before surgery. I had forgotten about that one, so it was a good reminder.

The procedure

The injection procedure itself was the same. I could see the medication swirling around, but there were no floaters this time as there normally were with Avastin. The blurriness lasted till the next morning. Previously with Avastin, it was usually gone in just a few hours.

Looking to the future

While waiting for the injection, to keep my mind off what may or may not happen, I started to write down my thoughts for this article. Thank goodness for dictation on my iPhone! I couldn’t hope to write anything without it.

Although autocorrect made for some very unusual and occasionally hilarious phrases which took some time to figure out later. I’m sure many of you can relate to that.

Waiting game

I’m anxiously waiting for next month’s appointment, to see if there is any improvement. I think it’s the unknown that gets me. Especially as we can’t see how it’s doing as we could with a visible wound.

Now I wait.