50 minutes ago
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Not so good news...
So, I've been seeing the eye doctor fairly regularly since the incident. All the visits have been fairly perfunctory, with the Doc saying that things are healing, and that it will keep getting better. Say, 95+% chance of full recovery of my normal eyesight with just the drops. Until yesterday that is.
I went in yesterday, and apparently, almost all of the swelling is gone. This, apparently, allowed the Doc to see something that wasn't visible while everything was swollen. There is some sort of flat spot, or divot, in my cornea, in the dead center of the pupil. This is why I'm still seeing everything blurry through my right eye. Now, all of the sudden, the Doc doesn't want to talk numbers when estimating my chance of full recovery. Now, we're talking a month or two of healing, as opposed to the week or two that had been on the table previously. Now, we're discussing things like the possibility of surgery, and the probability of my having to wear a corrective lens for my right eye.
It's become kind of scary for me. I don't know who would understand better, those who wear glasses, or those who don't, but fear having to. All of my life, I've had perfect vision. Better than perfect actually, being 20/10 and 20/12 respectively left and right. Now, all of the sudden, I can't see anymore. I can still see out of my left eye fine, but the right eye is all blurry, and nothing I do can bring it into focus. I discovered last night, that I can no longer remove a splinter from my children's hand. The splinter is so small, that I have to bring it close, with the fuzz in my right eye, I can't see what I'm doing, so I close it, and then discover that with just my good left eye, I don't have the depth perception needed to gauge the distance between the straight pin and the splinter, and just totally miss the thing.
For me, it's a painful realization that I may be like this permanently. I guess because vision is something I've always taken for granted, now that it's gone, I really miss it.
I also must admit, that I'm having trouble being a grown up about it. Meaning that I'm having trouble turning the corner from being upset/angry/scared, and asking "why me?", and getting to the point where I can be thankful that at least I still have my eye, and can still see out of it, if fuzzy/blurry.
I hope everyone out there is doing well, and be thankful for what you have, not angry over what you don't have. I know I'm sure trying.
Casey
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4 comments:
Wow. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Good luck. I know that when this sort of thing happened to me, it didn't make me stronger, it made me realize that I could handle more than I thought I could.
Email me if you want to talk.
I pray the issue will resolve itself without surgery. A part of the impact to you is the sudden change. My vision is 20-60 & 20-80. I don't need glasses to read but anything further than a yard or so is blurry.
Usually, changes in vision occur over a long period of time and is less noticeable until it reaches a point when we discover something has changed. You, on the other hand have had a sudden transition. I'm not surprised it's scary. Any normal person would be alarmed at such a sudden change in vision.
If glasses are eventually needed, rest assured, your vision will be restored. When I was flying, I had my prescription made to allow be to spot aircraft at a very far distance. Often I could determine aircraft type long before others who didn't need glasses.
There are compensations.
If you give me some time, I'll think of some.
I have been wearing eyeglasses for some 45 years now. Even at age 17 when I went into the Army my vision was too bad to be in the infantry. I hope that you don't need glasses but if you do it is not the end of the world. Adapt, improvise, overcome and get on with your life.
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