I'm sorry about your younger brother, Thomas. I lost one of mine in Feb 2019. He was a good guy. It's nice to live in a community where they still do The Pledge. Pre-COVID, I was on the board of a few non-profits in this rural community. At one, we would say a prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance to kick off every board meeting, and to kick off community events we sponsored. My neighbor was the local Scoutmaster, and provided the Color Guard (2 Scouts, one carrying the U.S. flag and the other carrying the state flag) for those events.
No real peak today, but a hell of a "pit." I've been having flashes of light in the corner of my eye for a couple of weeks and went to the eye doctor this afternoon. She said I have a retinal detachment with a bleed in my right eye. I have to see a retinal specialist tomorrow at 9 a.m. and will probably have emergency surgery on my eye. I need to stop going to the doctor.
That sucks. A month ago I found out that I have a second detached vitreous sac (been seeing movement of stuff that's not there,) but that can somehow prevent a detached retina. My first one was diagnosed maybe 8 years ago and it still causes me to see things. Nothing is done about them...they "eventually" float to the bottom of the eye. So what happened? Did you fall or bang your head or something? That is not a good thing. I take you you have not had a detached vitreous sac in that eye.
So sorry to hear that you having problems with your eye, especially after all you've been through. I hope any surgery goes well, and is successful. You'll be in my prayers and thoughts hang in there.
The doctor said it appears to be a vitreous sac that is detaching, but it must have torn a blood vessel when pulling away and the blood/fluid is getting under the sac. She could not pinpoint where the bleed was originating. The good news is, it hasn't reached the macula so they should be able to save my vision. I'll know more after I see the specialist in the morning. And no, I haven't had any falls or anything. I'm wondering if the stress of the last year, chemo, etc. had anything to do with it but the doctor was non-committal and kept asking if I was diabetic.
Thanks, Tony. I'm beginning to get discouraged, haha. I told my husband in the car on the way home that "at least this won't kill me." Hope you and your wife are doing well.
We're doing good As you well know it's a day-by-day up and down ride. She has four more chemo treatments then surgery after that so far so good.
I'm glad it's not worse, but [of course] sorry that it's happened at all. As I said, the vitreous sacs in both of my eyes have detached--8 years apart--and I've not gone through any of the things you have...not that that really means anything regarding your specific circumstances. Now I understand what my doctor meant when she said that losing those sacs reduced the chances of retinal detachment...once they have cleanly detached without damage, then that retina risk is gone. She likely told me that before, but it got lost in the shuffle twixt my ears. I don't recall any conversations regarding diabetes, but I see her annually (past 7 years) and all that medical stuff is refreshed from scratch in her system every visit, so there's no need to be conversationally redundant. What a pain in the ass for you. I agree about staying away from doctors. I've got 3 appointments coming up soon (toe, cancer on nose, bladder/kidney test.) Only the nose cancer is worrisome. The rest are solely to help those lovely MDs make their BMW payments. PS-Getting old beats the alternative, but it still sucks. And I'm glad the technology exists so that we commoners can get such things remediated. But still...
It is good that you are having it checked out right away. I know it seems awful to have this just when you thought things were okay again, but better to find out now than after it got worse. Saying prayers for you that the doctor can find and fix the problem with no trouble, and you will be as good as new again.
I'm sorry to hear that. Eye problems are scary, or maybe it's just me who hates having someone poking around in them. My wife had a similar problem a few years back, and hers was related to diabetes. She was either braver than I am or better at pretending that she didn't mind all that stuff.
Thanks as always, Yvonne. I've been worrying about your tachycardia episodes and wondering if that has improved? This getting old stuff is for the birds.
Did Michelle have a surgery to correct hers, Ken? I hope she's doing OK now. Everyone in the eye doctor's office today asked me if I was diabetic. I've been reading about the surgeries; apparently there are three types of surgery and they all sound creepy. One of them is done under local anesthetic... I don't know if I can remain seated while needles and scalpels approach my eyeball. Jeeze.
I've mentioned before that my dad had macular degeneration which was my fear today. I was glad to hear that is not my problem but still cringed to hear "emergency surgery" and see them scrambling at 4:45 p.m. this afternoon to get an appointment with the specialist . I was shocked that they were able to get me set up for tomorrow. At least I don't have time to get worked up about it... much.
My cardiologist had me send in readings from the pacemaker, and next Monday, I have an appointment to go and see him. Both of my doctors have looked at the readings, and are working together to make a decision. Robin thought the spider bite from the brown recluse might be affecting my heart arrhythmia, so I sent in a picture of that for the doctor to look at, too.