more on my eye ( warning...long post)

ok...I know that I would write more about my eye, and for those of you that are interested here are the details from the beginning so everyone can understand what it the big deal. I only bring this up because yesterday I spoke with another patient that has similar problems with his eyes and it was really great to talk to someone with the same condition...a bit scary though, as he has been unable to drive a car for 4 years, and can no longer read either. But, here is my story

A little over 7 years ago I was a RT student & I am not really sure what was going on, but I remember standing outside of room 391, during ICU rounds and all of the sudden the center of my vision field went black in my right eye. It was very dramatic, just like that...however I was not extremely concerned just due to the fact that I had been having tons of issues with ear infections, and constantly sick, just due to the fact that I was being exposed to new germs and working what I thought at the time were "crazy" hours. So I didn't go in right away, but the blind spot stuck with me, so eventually I went in. I was immediately referred to a retinal specialist. I was pretty stubborn, so I insisted on going by myself...even though I know my mom wanted to go with me. I don't remember a lot about my exam, but I remember clearly that we sat down in his office afterwards. He looked at me and asked me if I took note of how old the other people in the waiting room were...he then proceeded to tell me that I was much younger than his average patient. & he was pretty sure that I had optic neuritis...which he told me was usually the 1st sign of Multiple Sclerosis. Now, I had just been to my friends mom's nursing home and she had been in a wheelchair for a good portion of her adult life, and was living in a nursing home (she now has passed away). So of course I was devastated!

I had an exam with a neurologist and an MRI, and that all came out perfect and I had no sign of MS, so eventually my eye got sort of back to normal...after a few months I could see out of it again, but everything was wavy...even with my glasses.

So I went on my merry way...then just over 2 years ago, I went to a new eye doc...just to follow up on stuff, and I was having some floaters/flashers. This guy was nicer (in fact, he golfs with my dad occasionally). He told me the floaters/flashers were nothing to be too worried about, but he did want to see me again.

The next time I saw him, the only complaint I had was that when I was driving, I could see a slight "bend" in things..you know, like the bend at the edge of your windshield, but I could see it more in the center...I was convinced that it was my car.

Well he got on the phone and called his buddy the director of vitreo-retinal services at the UofM, and told him he thought my retina was detaching and I needed to get there tomorrow. Well, that scared the crap out of me. That doctor seemed to think it would be ok to wait for a week...but I went home with strict instructions to not lift anything heavy etc. I went down there and finally a doctor that seemed to know what was going on...he immediately recognized what I had as Chorodial Osteoma...a very rare eye disorder...the choroid layer behind the retina that is the vascular supply layer, had ossifying bony tumors (non-cancerous). So we did all kinds of tests that day, and I had a treatment with laser surgery on my right eye. Turns out that "bend" in my windshield was really a "sub-retinal" bleed. So the laser burns the bleeding blood vessel.
So I was sold on this doctor...he was great, he knew what was going on, and he was really nice too. But he wanted me to go to the doctor in Fargo...the golfer...to just have someone in Fargo that knew what was going on, in case I had an emergency.

So I went back to the golfer, and he told me the "great" news that Meritcare had hired a new retina doc...I am thinking some 30 year old, brand new grad that won't have any idea what was going on. Turns out that I was wrong...Dr. jordan is not 30, and he is not a new grad...but he is very kind, and he actually listens to me. He started treating me about 14 months ago with this drug called lucentis...it is working, it is great. It also is very painful (injections right into my eye), and very expensive...the drug alone is $5,000 (thank goodness for insurance).

so that is the history...next post will be current issues