Doctor Visit

[Donziweasel]

I went to the doc yesterday. good news and bad newss. doc said eye looked good and if everything keeps healing as it has been, i should get a good bit of vision back. i will probably not get the top 10%-20% of the eye back, but might get everything else back. the bad news is i have to stay looking down when standing or sitting oor on my stomach laying down on my right side until the 28th. on the 28th i will have an mri on theye. it will tell what amount of vision i am likely to get back and if i will need additional surgerys. i dont have to wear eye patches except at night now. my eye is still filled with silicone oil so everything is blurry. they wont remove ths for a while until the retina is completely healed. so, i am glad at the optimism and progress and bummed i will be down and out for another two and a half weeks. i think i might go insane. sittingg around the house looking down SUCKS! plus, margi is wearing out. takig care of me and the twins is alot for anyone. she has been great though. dont know how i woukd do this without her.

[Offset]

Great news at least on the prognosis for the return of your sight. Two weeks more face down will be tough but it will pass quickly enough, just hope it is not too rough on your back and neck.

I wish you and your family all the best to get through this difficult time. It will get better. :thumbsup:

[CHACHI]

John, I have been traveling lately and out of the loop.

I just found out of your surgery today.

As Offset has said, the prognosis is good, but it is up to you do DO WHAT THE DOCTOR SAYS for the best outcome.

The time will fly by faster than you think and you can thank Boo-Boo later.

Prayer said and candles will be lit.

It still will be a Merry Christmas.

Ken

[Morgan's Cloud]

That sounds very encouraging !
The recovery procedure sounds like a nightmare for an active person with twins but ya gotta do what the experts say and stay the course.

Just remember , it could be a whole lot worse if it was something else that there was no recovery for.

You're still young so just do what they tell you and it will increase the odds in your favour immensely.

BTW , my respect for the plight of the seeing/visually impaired was brought home when in the late 80's , early 90's I suffered a bout with Central Serous Retinopathy .

Few things suddenly bring home how much we take our sight for granted and how fragile it is until you suddenly see an out of focus/blind spot in your vision . Very scary stuff.

Hang in there John. I'm sure that in the end you'll be almost as good as new.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

John,
This all sounds relatively good. A friend of mine recently had retina surgery and told me the reason she had to lie with her head down is that they introduce an air bubble that helps with the healing by pushing up against the retina. Is that what you were told? Best wishes, Bill

[Donziweasel]

Thanks guys. Bill, yes the3 AIR bubble is part of it. by keeping your head down you are also using gravity to aid in the healign. it keeps the retina off the eye so it can heal. thye injected silicone oil behind it with an air bubble for the same reason.

[Jraysray]

What caused all of this? Why did this happen?

[Donziweasel]

There is no reason as to why it happens Scott. You can be sitting in a chair doing nothing. of course, blunt head trama can make it happen, but i really didn't do anything. my biggest mistake was not going to the doc when i first noticed it. plus, i have been lifting wiehts 5 days a week for 6 months. that probably made it worse in the 4 weeks i didn't go see the doc. most people never do anything to make this happen. pretty frickin scary that it just happens, huh? anyway, everything i have read says the sooner you get it diagnosed, the easier it is to repair. that is why mine is going to take so long, i was stubborn and stupid. didn't go to the doc when i should have.

since the other thread got deleted, my symptoms were pretty simple. i couldn't out of the top 35% OF MY LEFT EYE. it was a shadow. no discomfort or anything. i might not have noticed it all if i hadn;'t of been hunting. i was looking through my binoculars and for some reason couldn't see very well. thought my binoculars were messed up. a few days later, i was thinking about it and started closing each eye and looking through the open one. then i figureed it out. TTther was no pain or discomfort. i hade some broken bklood vessles in my damaged eye and thought when they healed it would get better, so i didn't go to the doc. finally, i had enough and went. i got real lucky. i went from his office astriaght to surgery. he said i would havw gone permanently blind in a metter of a couple of days if not hours.

the basic issue is that over time the fluid behind your retina shrinks, which is normal. in some cases, it also sticks to the retina. as is continues to shrink, it pulls until the retina either detaches or tears, or in my case both. my doc has seen 15 year old to 90 year old with it happen

the4 moral is, if you have vision problems, dont be stubborn and stupid like me, immediatly go to the doc. sorry about the typos, still havent gotten the one fingr typing while computer on floor and my head resting on desk quite down yet. i am working on it though! :)

[Ghost]

Glad to hear your spirits are so good--we're thinking about you out here. Just an idea, but was wondering if you had or could rent a massage table. You know, the ones where you can lie on your stomach and put your head in the middle of a round pillow at one end? I'd think that'd let you watch TV, use your laptop, even drink with a straw, all in the right position and without moving hardly at all. Just an idea, you've probably thought of it and/or done it already.

[Morgan's Cloud]

There is no reason as to why it happens Scott. You can be sitting in a chair doing nothing. of course, blunt head trama can make it happen, but i really didn't do anything. my biggest mistake was not going to the doc when i first noticed it. plus, i have been lifting wiehts 5 days a week for 6 months. that probably made it worse

I couldn't help but pick up on this . For the sake of all members and guests here who may be a bit 'slack' in their understanding in the importance of vision care.

When my (previously mentioned) case of CSR surfaced the specialist said that it was not uncommon in 'active' young people.
Well , I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when my eye went 'poof' .
I was sitting by the shoreline in a remote , peaceful area enjoying a brewskie. Not exactly high stress or lifting weights , etc. And I didn't exactly consider myself very ' young ' at that point either .
When I had my yearly eye exam 2 weeks ago the specialist showed me the photos where I could still see the area that was affected by the CSR all those years ago.

Guys (and gals) go to your optician once a year like you (should) do your annual physical. You can't mess around with your vision and wait 'till it's too late.

Besides , it's hard to enjoy your Donzi or do a decent resto if you can't clearly see what you're doing !

[Donziweasel]

Guys (and gals) go to your optician once a year like you (should) do your annual physical. You can't mess around with your vision and wait 'till it's too late.


Amen brother! :) How is your vision now?

Funny thing is that i actually went to the local eye doctor 3 weeks prior to this happening. there can be a telltale. if you get "floaters" in your eyes, which are tiny dots that float around, it can be a precurser to a detached retina or tear. i had them in my good eye. doc said they would go away and not to worry abotu them. They did go away a few weeks ago.

[CHACHI]

John, I have never heard about the "floaters" being a precursor to a retina tear. I have had one in my right eye since I bailed 6 years ago.

I have been to the eye doc 3 times since for annual visits and with a visit in the near future, this will be a question I will ask. Unfortunately, I still have my floater and more than once I swat in the general direction of it as I think it is a bug.

Thanks for the info.

Ken

[Morgan's Cloud]

The vision has been fine since it cleared up by itself . The specialist was correct in that it would probably repair itself after a month or two. I didn't need glasses for another 10 years after that incident.

As for the issue of floaters and flashing lights , etc . Get them checked out if they persist.
12 years ago one of the best people I've ever had the fortune to know was having eye problems . The visit to the optometrist led to other things and he was eventually diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumour. He passed away a year later :(

[Donziweasel]

Ken, floaters dont necessarily mean a detachment or tear is going to happen. here is what my literature said-

New Floaters: The presence of some floaters is common because the vitreous is not
completely transparent or uniform in consistency. However, a sudden increase in the
number and size of floaters perceived in your vision is a warning sign that a retinal tear
could be in progress.

here is what happened to me-

The back cavity of the inner eye is filled with clear jelly called vitreous . When the vitreous
jelly undergoes the natural aging process it deteriorates and becomes liquid. As the
eyeball moves, small pockets of liquid vitreous can move around as well inside the
vitreous cavity. This movement causes the vitreous to pull on the retina, causing flashing
(photopsia)

Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD) . Normally the jelly is only loosely adherent to the retina and easily peels away
from the retina during vitreous degeneration
(syneresis). This event is called a posterior vitreous
detachment (PVD) and again is a normal event
occurring in most people sometime between 50 and
70 years of age.

However, occasionally, the vitreous jelly is so
adherent to the retina and pulls so hard on it that it
creates a tear. If this tear is along a blood vessel of
the retina this may cause bleeding into the vitreous
(called a vitreous hemorrhage) which could lead to a
shower of floaters which cloud the vision. Acute
retinal tears with or without flashes and floaters pose
a risk because fluid can enter through the tear under
the retina and lift the retina off, causing a retinal
detachment, much like damp wallpaper peeling from the wall. Since PVDs are usually the
initiating event of most retinal detachments, this is why PVDs are such a concern.

So, my vitreous fluid attached and tore the retina. then it got under the retina and "delaminated" in boating terms, or detached it.

and finally-
Retinal detachments do not happen as a result of straining your eyes, bending
or heavy lifting.

basically, they just haoppen. just like morgans cloud said, he was just sitting on the beach haqve a beer. i am just glad i looked through my binoculars one day or I may have gone blind before i noticed it

i do have a 10% chance of it happening in the other eye. luckily, i am gun shy right now. any change in vision and i immediatly go to the doc. also, now i know what to look out for.

[BUIZILLA]

As for the issue of floaters and flashing lights , etc . Get them checked out if they persist.
12 years ago one of the best people I've ever had the fortune to know was having eye problems . The visit to the optometrist led to other things and he was eventually diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumour. He passed away a year later :frown: thats exactly what happened to my father in Sept 2010.... he had a stroke a couple days after the eye doc visit, and died 4 months later in Feb 2011...

[Morgan's Cloud]

thats exactly what happened to my father in Sept 2010.... he had a stroke a couple days after the eye doc visit, and died 4 months later in Feb 2011...


Sorry to hear that Jim, I hope he didn't suffer like our Mark did. The surgeons tried everything at their disposal including experimental treatments but the damn tumour was the most aggressive category they come in .

At least they packed in as much as they could before he was incapacitated and he passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family. As he had wished.

(sorry for any percieved OT or hijacking)

[yeller]

I missed a thread somehow and didn't even know you were having troubles. Really hope all works out. Prayers are with you.

[Donziweasel]

After laying in bed for 3 weeks, I went back to the doctor yesterday to see if I get to keep my eye and if I do, what kind of vision I might have. Doc said if things keep healing the way they are, I get to keep the eye and will probably get most of my vision back. I can now spend 4 hours out of bed and then 4 hours in bed for the next 3 weeks. I will have to have a second surgery in March which will put me back down for another three weeks. Still on light activity till the last week of February.

Getting a contact and some glasses next week so I can see better out of it till the surgery in March when they remove the silicone oil in my eye. Still not out of the woods as if the scarring creases the macula, I could go blind in it, but the doc is feeling really good about it right now.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Being in bed face down for three weeks was one of the hardest things I have done. The back and neck are trashed. I basically missed Christmas, but if I get to keep the eye, then it was worth it. :)

[CHACHI]

DW, I was thinking about you today wondering how you were doing.

Glad to hear things are getting better.

Ken

[Offset]

Please take care of yourself. I am sure there is lots you want to do but I think the next little while is an important time for you. Thoughts with you.

Keep the good news coming. :thumbsup: