Savannah Guthrie didn’t expect any of the complications that happened when her son Charley, 3, hit her in the eye with a toy train this November. But after having eye surgery to reattach her retina, the Today show host is opening up about how “really scared” she’s been amongst the difficult recovery.
Savannah, 48, was originally hoping to avoid surgery altogether. For two weeks, it seemed like she would be able to keep hosting Today while heading to the doctor daily for laser surgery that would reattach her retina in a less invasive way. Traditional retina reattachment surgery is simple, but the recovery can be exhausting. Patients have to sit “facedown” for up to three weeks, unable to raise their heads or risk jeopardizing their recovery.
But on December 11, it became clear that she was going to need to have the surgery when her vision went from blurry to dark.
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“The retinal tear had deteriorated sharply, and I lost my vision,” she told
People. “And that’s what happens if you don’t fix this: You lose your sight.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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“That was the first time I felt freaked out,” the anchor admitted. “I was hoping that they weren’t going to get in there and say, ‘Oh, it’s worse than we thought. We can’t fix it.’ That was probably the lowest I felt, because I was just really scared.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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But the surgery turned out fine and Savannah said everything looks “solid.” But now she’s stuck with the tricky facedown recovery period. She had to sit that way for a whole day after surgery, but now she can switch every hour between sitting up and holding her head down.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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“It’s uniquely challenging, this recovery,” Savannah explained. “Your body starts hurting in different places, lying down like that.” It’s even harder, she said with Charley and daughter Vale, 5.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
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But Vale is trying her hardest to help her mom out. She hung up signs around the house that say, “Nobody can bother Mommy,” though Savannah admitted her daughter is the first one to ignore them.
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She also explained that she wanted to make sure Charley doesn’t feel bad about what happened or blame himself. “He’s a little boy. He didn’t mean to do that,” she said. “He got a two-minute time out and that’s it. I would never want him to feel responsible.”
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Savannah is hoping to return to Today before Christmas but she has to wait for the bruising and swelling on her face to go down first. “If this eye looks anything like it does right now, I would not do that to America,” she said. “It’s pretty ghastly. I look like a prizefighter…who lost.”
“The retinal tear had deteriorated sharply, and I lost my vision,” she told
People. “And that’s what happens if you don’t fix this: You lose your sight.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“That was the first time I felt freaked out,” the anchor admitted. “I was hoping that they weren’t going to get in there and say, ‘Oh, it’s worse than we thought. We can’t fix it.’ That was probably the lowest I felt, because I was just really scared.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
But the surgery turned out fine and Savannah said everything looks “solid.” But now she’s stuck with the tricky facedown recovery period. She had to sit that way for a whole day after surgery, but now she can switch every hour between sitting up and holding her head down.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“It’s uniquely challenging, this recovery,” Savannah explained. “Your body starts hurting in different places, lying down like that.” It’s even harder, she said with Charley and daughter Vale, 5.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
But Vale is trying her hardest to help her mom out. She hung up signs around the house that say, “Nobody can bother Mommy,” though Savannah admitted her daughter is the first one to ignore them.
She also explained that she wanted to make sure Charley doesn’t feel bad about what happened or blame himself. “He’s a little boy. He didn’t mean to do that,” she said. “He got a two-minute time out and that’s it. I would never want him to feel responsible.”
Savannah is hoping to return to Today before Christmas but she has to wait for the bruising and swelling on her face to go down first. “If this eye looks anything like it does right now, I would not do that to America,” she said. “It’s pretty ghastly. I look like a prizefighter…who lost.”
