Sunday, October 17

In ten days I have another appointment and probably another inoculation into the eye.  The reason I have not added anything lately, is little or no change in the vision in my eye.  Looking at the chart with quarter inch squares, they still are blurred and not straight line. I notice a gray, darker area to the center and yet my glasses do make a bit of a difference, yet are worse for the ten foot chart I also have posted. If I were to guess I am about 20-50 right now, maybe 20-40 if I push it.

Following the docs orders I am washing my eyelashes twice a day to get rid of my “Eyelash dandruff” and it seems to be working, less grit when I wake up.   Don’t watch much TV, it is more for background noise, and have the radio or CD player on instead. Reading is a bit better, but need the magnifying glass for some of the smaller print.  If you ever read a government contract or bid, you understand.

Life goes on, and we will cope.  

TEN DAYS

TEN DAYS FROM THE SECOND INJECTION

Today is ten days from the date of the second or normally prescribed drug injection.  Perhaps I was expecting too much, considering the rapid progress after the insertion of the trial dosage. My wife tells me my eye is still showing signs of the hemorrhage and is red in the lower right hand side.  Yesterday I woke up to see the black blob, the trial drug; which has remained hidden, appear and float around the right side of the eye, discerning to say the least. But a few blinks and it stays hidden which is good.  My vision is much better in bright lights or sunlit areas.  The straight lines now only have one hic-cup, but the acuity is still fuzzy.  If I were to read an eye chart I would probably fail, yet the overall peripheral vision seems better.  Today I noticed an anomaly, I was looking out our front window through the screen and for some reason the vision was sharper with the screen in the way. Maybe the screen was bending the light rays?  Vision is still blurry when I try to read something unless I am very close, at ten feet it is all fuzzy with no sharp edges, if I were to guess it is between 20-50 and 20-70 or more today as I write this. 

As a right eyed photographer , it is frustrating to pick up a camera and see the gray area in the center, have to use the left eye for focus and find I am stpping back a bit to make sure everything is in the image I want to capture.   We will beat this, I trust the doctors and that attitude is half the battle.

Wait and See Atitude.

It is now five days since my second inoculation which was the normally prescribed drug for my condition.  I still have redness in the lower quadrant of the eye, and while the vision is better than the day of the shot, it is far worse than it was, in my opinion before the shot. The vertical or horizontal lines now have two hiccups instead of the one previously, and the vision overall is still blurry, like an acute case of stigmatism.  Last night I tried an on line eye chart just for grins, and I was about 20-20 in my left eye and 20-100 in the right eye.  Just used an on line test and am almost correct in my thinking. Using the test with lines and the center dot, left is ok, right has a lot of wavy lines.

I will reach out or the doctor tomorrow and tell her of what I am experiencing.  Perhaps I was hoping for the change to be more rapid than it has been, pardon the pun, but I’ll just wait and see. Or, am I using it too much, with driving, work and using the computer?

My Second Shot

Day Twelve, Wednesday.  Here we go again.  Checked in on the red phone and then stopped in at the assistants’ office who got all my paperwork together. She reminded me that today’s injection was normal treatment and my insurance would be billed for the service rendered. A short wait in the Marseilles  Lions room then off for the eye chart tests with different lenses being put before my eyes to get the sharpest vision for me.  Went from 20-100 to 20-50 in one week! Eye pressure was normal and then off for pictures of the eye.  Camera was down so we went upstairs  to use a different camera.  Note the elevator worked fine but the doors closed with a bang.  This camera uses a laser and I could watch the straight red line as it scanned my eyeball and where the imperfection was I could see the wave in the line. Then back downstairs to the Westchester Lions room for the treatment. 

My doctor was very pleased with my improvement and the laser photos showed affected area had reduced by 30 microns which she and the Fellow working with her today were very pleased to see.

Then after looking at the eye, the Fellow remarked the drug installed last week looked like a tiny moon in my eye. To them it is white, to me when I can see it is a black blob. More drops, outer area antiseptic and then the doctor held a swab on the spot she had targeted to numb it even more, then the new drug was injected.  I could see it as it swirled around inside the eye, it reminded me of when I would mix chemicals in my darkroom how the two fluids would mix together to become one.  Just a little sting this time, but I could still feel it.

The outer antiseptic was rinsed off and then I sat up again.  Because of the new drug being installed my vision went back to a total blur, like looking thru a rain washed window.  My pressure was checked, it was 36, much higher than an hour ago.  After a ten minute wait it dropped to around 20 and we finished the paperwork   and then as long as I was there she gave me a drop of the Vigamox with instructions to continue for three days.  Again I felt like I had rocks in the eye as the week before, but hopefully that would subside as last time.

Some differences after this treatment.  My eye began to be very watery, my nose started to run and after waiting a half hour I got the car and drove the few miles to work.  The rocky feeling continued, as did the watery eye and the runny nose.  After 5 hours I went home, sunglasses a big help, but had to take them off to wipe the tears. After dinner I turned on the radio turned off the lights and just relaxed on the couch in the dark with my eyes closed which seemed to help. I noticed a higher level of anxiety or nervousness as I lay there, and this feeling continued thru the night and for most of the next morning.  Don’t know if my blood pressure was up but eventually the eyes stopped watering, the sniffle’s subsided and the rock turned to a grain of sand and was tolerable.

Now, about thirty-six hours after the injection the eye feels almost normal, the vision is starting to clear but still blurry,  and I still have wavy lines. Looking at the chart full of squares the center is still diffused by a gray area, and the outer lines are lacking contrast but coming into focus.

A Good Three Days

Sunday, Day Nine, a quiet day, vision seems better, keeping our fingers crossed.

Day Ten,  Monday , back to work, committee meeting tonight. Driving home at night did experience some  glare problems from oncoming headlights on Harlem Avenue.  Long day and tired.

Day Eleven, Tuesday, work again, got an email to bring my Vigamox to prevent infection with me for the next big test, the injection tomorrow of the other drug being used.  Again some trepidation about getting another shot.

High Contrast Eye

Day Six, Thursday; vision is improved, less distortion and almost able to read with the eye.  Came home from work and my wife and I went to a Lions club meeting of two clubs for the governors visit. Since I was the guiding Lion for one of the clubs, I was asked to say a few words.  My wife told me later that you could see jaws drop as described the events of the last few days. I reminded them that because of the Lions before them, we built LIERI and endowed the chair occupied by my doctor, so thanks to the Lions I was able to receive probably the best treatment available in the world.

Day Seven Friday was bright and sunny and the vision was even better! Double vision almost gone. Not annoyed by the distorted vertical lines, that too almost gone.  Tape off the glasses, can see the computer without depending on one eye, and I could again do the crossword puzzle. Hooray!

Day Eight, Saturday, went to the bank, bookstore and shopping with my wife. Bad rains yet the problems of the double or skewed vision of the headlights coming at me is gone. If I were to guess my vision is about 20-40 today. I write this with both eyes open and it’s almost normal.  My daughter came to the house and she had to hear the whole story and made the remark that the affected eye is brighter and shinier than the other eye. “You have a high contrast eye Dad!”

 She is also responsible for this start of this blog that you are reading, as she said, other Lions, doctors and people that share my problem would be interested.  I will continue writing this, I know it will get one page in a couple of the magazines I am involved with for others to read, and I hope perchance it will be of interest and benefit to you.

Lucky Number 11

Day Five, Wednesday, back at 10 for another eye test, more pictures and a quick look at the eye by the doctor and all of the members working with her.  She was happy, elated almost, everything looked good, no sign of infection or abrasions where the needle went in and she informed me that I was the Eleventh person in the world to have this procedure done!  And, of course everyone had to take a peek.  I think I will have to invent a different light source; the bright lights do make me tear up.  One of the young doctors had difficulty in seeing the placement of the drug inserted, so he stood on the footrest of the chair to see if it would be helpful.  As he said he, was Vertically Challenged, and we laughed at this remark.   Back to work afterwards and since I still had some double vision and curved lines, I spent the day working with my glasses taped over to see the computer screen.

After work I met my wife at church for the meeting of the Mayfair Lions Club, our club, told them of the events of the day, that I was number Eleven in the world to have this procedure and after the meeting one of our members said that she too was undergoing the normal  treatment and only received an injection every three months or so.  Maybe this study could reduce her sessions in the future, only time will tell. Our club has been committed to research for years, we donated Ten Thousand in the initial campaign for construction and try to send at least Two hundred a year for the programs at LIERI.

My First Shot

Day Four, Tuesday, I was back for my shot!  The concept still sent chills down my spine, but my wife and I discussed the situation and the contribution to research I could make by agreeing to the trials. So it was a go!  I met first with a young lady who did all the paper work, asked a thousand questions to get the background info needed for the trial, then to the Hyde Park Lions room, another vision test somewhat different than the others, administered by a young lady that had a very beautiful voice.  I told her she should be on the radio if she ever decided to change jobs.  Then we went down to have more pictures and then next door to the Morris Lions Club room for the treatment.  Again the doctor was accompanied by her entourage, and we all crowded into the room, more drops to the eye, and the insertion of a device to keep my lids open, more drops and a yet another set of drops massaged upon the  exterior of the eye.  Then they were ready!

A sterile dressing was placed over my face with an opening for the affected eye. I think someone pressed on my eye for a second it felt like a finger, and then a bright light into the eye, and the doctor said here we go, I felt a sharp sting which lasted about 5 seconds and we were done. She asked if I could see the chemical injected, and I responded with” I see Mickey Mouse ears.” She had a look and the chemical had not joined together as one, in the 6 o’clock area of my eye.  We waited about ten minutes, they took my eye pressure again, it was a bit lower then before the procedure which was good, and of course everyone had to take a look.  Because of my Mickey Mouse remark, they wanted pictures again, but because of the great job by the doctor, it was so far down in my eyeball it was next to impossible.

Suddenly I was done, everyone gone to another patient, so walked over to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled for the drops I was to put in four times a day to prevent infection, and I sat outside in the shade with my sunglasses on, waiting for my eyes to un-dilate so I could drive home. Must have sat there about a half hour to 45 minutes before I felt enough comfortable to head home.

Sitting there, I thought about the building we worked so hard to build, the chair the Lions endowed now held by my retinal doctor and all the break through research done by so many inside those walls over the last 25 years. And, I will tell you that I took the time to talk to my God and thank him for being with me and guiding the hands of all that touched me today.

Visit to the Ophthalmologist

Day Three, Monday morning I called my Ophthalmologist, the head of the department, first thing to see if I could get in to see him,  he set me up with a 2PM appointment with the Fellow working with him this semester who met me and took me right in to have a look.  He was very thorough, did the vision and pressure test’s himself and then dilated my right eye even further and then walked with me next door to the Lions of Illinois Eye Research Institute, to see the head of the Retina department. She met me in the hallway and as we were talking my doctor came over and checked on me and they discussed what was suspected.

She requested another vision test, different type than before; photos of the eyes, then a dye inserted into the arm and more photos, and then she met with me, her Fellow and three students of the university, in the Westchester Lions room.  First she determined that I had “Eyelash Dandruff” which broke me up, told me she could prescribe something but told me a remedy to try first.   After she looked, and the rest of them all took a peek at my eye, she told me I had Wet type Macular degeneration (CNVM) and a blood vessel has broke on my retina and her goal was to get me back as close to normal as possible.  Then she described the course of treatment which is essentially injections into the eye of a chemical to shrink and stop the bleeding.  By then, she and the rest of the doctors in the room knew I was a member of the Lions and had actually worked to collect the funds to build the building we were in.

We talked a bit about her research, she holds the Lions Endowed Chair; and she was excited about some of the work she was doing.  She then mentioned that I was an ideal candidate to take part in a new trial she was about to conduct and explained what it entailed.  She mentioned the risks, the goals and the benefits to others if the concept proved successful.   I agreed to the concept and went home with another appointment for the next day where I would get an injection in the eye help my problem.

It all started with legs.

September 18, 2010

It all started with legs. Woke up, made coffee and as I enjoyed the first cup I looked across the room and saw something wrong with the legs on a chair.  They were not straight as they always were; they had a hic-up, a little curve or bump in the middle of the leg.  I blinked and looked at the TV and the bottom of the screen was rolling up to the right and I saw two of everything with my right eye. Closed it and everything was normal.  That was a week ago, today.

First thought, too much time on the computer, under the gun to finish the magazine.  Washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror, vision blurred in right eye, ok in left.  Something ain’t right.  Had one page to finish in the mag, so I taped my glasses over with black tape on the right lens and got the job finished, and saved to give to the printer.  Took it easy over the rest of the weekend, but driving was a stitch, sometimes the right eye would take over and cars would be skewed and headlights seemed to be on an angle instead of across.