StemCell Therapy

TORONTO Marcus Smart had a simple word to express how things have been as hes dealt with a serious eye infection the last few weeks:

Hell.

The Celtic guard missed his seventh straight game Christmas Day, but hes appreciative that he wont be losing the gift of eyesight. That frightening possibility existed for a time during this process, and Smart and his doctors are still being cautious.

Just really, really painful and really not knowing, Smart said of his condition during these recent weeks. I thought I was going to go blind for a while. The doctors said it was the worst case of viral conjunctivitis that theyve seen, so basically I was a guinea pig to see how to handle this if it ever happens again with anybody else.

But it was the worst pain that Ive been through in a very long time, and I dont wish it on anybody. But Im here. The eyes feel better. Im still trying to adjust to some lights, light sensitivity. But everything, the contagious part is gone. They cleared me. They said from here on everything should be OK. I still have to see them kind of on a daily basis. They say its so my cornea doesnt get white spotted behind it and mess up my eyesight. So its definitely a process. Its an annoying process, but Im just blessed to be able to come back and get through this.

Smart went through a workout here and was set to go through another session when the Celtics get back to Boston later in the day. He is hoping to play in Saturdays game at the Garden against these same Raptors, but nothing can be certain.

Especially considering the scare that he might suffer some form of blindness.

The way it was going, they were so worried about it affecting my cornea and my vision, so it was a little scary, Smart said before the holiday game. At first we thought it was an allergic reaction, because I broke out in hives like the day before my eyes started having allergic reaction. But we caught it so early that the same symptoms came off, and then about three days later it transferred from my left eye to my right eye, and thats when we ruled out that an allergic reaction was the cause. They said it was a virus called the (adenovirus), and it was caused by having a cold already and being sick, so it makes sense because right before that, those two days after the Denver game, Dec. 6th, the 7th and 8th, I came down with an allergic reaction and a really bad cold.

The Celtics actually sent me home, because I was feeling really bad, and it just kind of broke my immune system down and opened it up for everything else. Everything else in my body went haywire. It was just some unfortunate events that happened, but on the good side, I got to rest and heal up the injuries that I had and just let my body do what it does.

But, Smart noted, it was difficult going through these last weeks.

It was painful, it was burning, it was really hard. I couldnt see, he said. I had outdoor sunglasses everywhere I went. Even in the darkI was wearing sunglasses. It was that bad. Just every morning I would wake up (and) just having this sticky discharge coming out of my eyes that was sealing my eyes shut. It was really just gross. It got so bad that my eyes, my eye lids started forming these mucus membranes, and they literally had to go in and pry the mucus membranes out. I actually have a picture that I showed the guys. It was prettygross. I was bleeding tears every time they did it for like a day. They did that for about four days straight.

The first day was probably the worst, just because it built up so much that it started to scab under my eyelids, and they had to open the scab and then pull it out. It felt like they were putting needles in my eyes. They were using the tweezers and vice grips to hold my eyes and actually get into my eyelids, both the bottom and top. So it was definitely some pain, and I never want to go through it again and, like I said, I never want anybody else to go through it.

Smart remains under care to prevent further issues or any type of relapse.

Every day they were checking my corneas, theyre checking my eyesight and just making sure that my corneas werent being affected by it, he said. I have to go back pretty much every day for a while now just to monitor it. Because they say that even though Im healthy and everything is cleared up, my corneas could still be affected and get like white spots behind it and really affect my vision, so theyre trying to make sure that doesnt happen. Theyve got me on these special eye drops that I have to take four times a day. Im on two different sets of eye drops. I was on three, so thats I guess progress. But definitely yes, its scary, and Im glad that it hasnt (come back), and I hope it doesnt.

As for his readiness to play, Smart put himself at about 80%. I was able to get the last two days, workouts in and just was really getting my body back to playing shape and adjust and making sure Ive got my strength back and my conditioning and wind back. If it was up to me, obviously I would try to play (Wednesday). But just with everything happening, being more cautious than ever, and just giving myself and my body extra time to recuperate and get back into shape.

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Marcus Smart had to deal with a blindness scare from eye infection - Boston Herald

This entry was posted on December 30, 2019 at 4:08 am and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |