See?

I'm back from the retinal surgery...this one sure didn't go as well as the one I had last year. Although the gas bubble is dissipating more quickly, the vision is not coming back as well. As I look out of my left eye, I see everything with a yellow cast, and the world resembles the House of Mirrors. I see straight lines as bent and broken, and everything seems to fall away from me and off to the right. (Hard to describe, but not good.) This is a consequence of the detachment crossing the center of my field of vision, and the possibility that there is some damage to the macula.

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice for you: if you suddenly see a bunch of floaters appearing out of nowhere, go see your ophthalmologist. And if you see a shadow - which could look like a bubble or a curtain - crossing your field of vision, seek immediate aid. I first noticed that something was amiss two weeks ago. Large floaters suddenly appeared in my eye, and I could also make out hundreds, if not thousands, of little specks floating around (which I learned later were droplets of blood). That was on a Sunday, and I called my ophthalmologist, who met me at his office 20 minutes after we spoke on the phone. He couldn't find anything, but sent me to Midwest Retina for another look.


Hey, get that thing out of my eye!


The doctor opened the Midwest Retina office for me, but he couldn't find anything either. He told me to come back Thursday for another look, but that if I saw a shadow form, I was to call immediately.

Wednesday morning, I noticed that something had changed in my eye. There were many more floaters, and things looked cloudy out of that eye. I spotted what I thought was a large floater in the lower left of my vision, but as time passed, I realized it was not a floater. It was late afternoon before I decided I had best call Midwest Retina. The office, of course, was closed by that hour, but they put me through to the emergency service, and I explained what was happening to the doctor on call. I asked if hours were crucial in a situation like this. He said, no, but don't wait for your 2 o'clock appointment to come in tomorrow, come in first thing in the morning.

By the time I went to bed Wednesday night, the bubble in the lower left of my eye had grown so that about 25% of my vision was obscured. When I arose on Thursday, it was more like 40%, and by the time I got to see the doctor at 8 o'clock, fully half of my vision was gone. He sent me to the hospital for surgery, and as I was rolled into the operating room around 1:30, I could see only a little sliver at the top of my field of vision. As the surgeon was completing the procedure, he remarked that the detachment was more severe than he had expected, and that it was possible that the macula might have been damaged.

That bubble turned out to be the retinal detachment, and had the operation taken place several hours before it did, I would probably not have any issues right now. Forgive me if I question the statement by the doctor who told me that hours don't matter.

At my appointment on Friday, the surgeon told me there was a lot of inflammation and swelling in the eye, and that things would improve, though I shouldn't expect to have perfect vision in that eye. I will see him again in 4 weeks, at which time they'll take a CT scan and we'll go from there.