Why did I make the video in the first place? Well, I made it for people like Claire in Ireland. She is a young lady with 2 young boys and a nice husband who happens to have Thyroid Eye Disease like me. I had been having a very hard time dealing with my Graves' Disease and then here comes TED to top it off. I was so scared and just did not know what was happening to me. One eye saw up and one eye saw down. My eyes watered and burned and itched. A bright light hurt much less the sunshine. I could not be near a fan much less be out in a slight breeze. I ended up wearing prisim glass's till my eyes got to what is called the cold stage. I had to have these expensive glass's changed at least 3 times before I could have surgery. I wore sun glass's constantly. I actually had a pair in every room in my house and two in the car for years. Still do in fact.
When it was time to have my first decompression surgery I was scared to death. I did not know what to expect. Would I go blind? Well that was a possibility if I did not have the surgery. Would it make my eyes stop bulging out? Would my headach stop? Could I go out in the sunshine again? Would my eyes stop burning and tearing? So many questions and no answers that I could relate to. I had been surfing the web for answers. There was alot out there and I did get good info. But, I wanted more I guess. At that time I did not find very many pictures of actual people after the surgery.
Like the GD Coffee Break my video was not a planned thing for me to do for anyone but myself. I wanted to know what I would look like every step of the way. Even though I did like my picture taken my husband took them of me. They were only meant for me and him. So then After all nine surgery's I put them all together, crying the whole time. It took some time as I had to stop and get away from it for awhile. Finely it was done. And we watched it together. I saw the change the way my husband saw it. Was that really me? I was a monster. Then my husband told me "You just look different...your are still the women I married". He also told me maybe it could help somebody else if they knew what to expect. If they knew what they would look like right after a surgery. Claire was one of the people I sent a DVD copy to. The other went to Pat. A young man who also took pictures of himself before and after. He put my DVD on his website http://thyroideyedisease.weebly.com/
His DVD is also on it. He also put it on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHrdupCTWMo
I am part way down under TEDsurgery
Today it is on my Face book