#1
|
|||
|
|||
[Dixonary] OT: My right eye sucks
Hi all!
As promised in my other message, I'll give an explanation of why I didn't submit a def this round. I know I sit out more rounds than I play in and that usually has to do with being very busy, sometimes with lack of inspiration as well. This time is different. About a month ago I woke up with very blurry vision in my right eye. (For people wearing glasses - remember the time when there was a huge fatty stain on the glass, then imagine holding that glass above a frying pan in addition). I figured I had probably rubbed too hard in my sleep and went on with my life. When the problem did not go away during the day, and still persisted the next day, I started to worry. Normally I'd probably have waited at least another day, but it was Friday and I didn't want to sit out the whole weekend so I called and then visited the house doctor. He referred me to the local hospital where assistants, optometrists, and finally the ophthalmologist (before last month I never knew this wonderful word, we simply say "eye doctor" in Dutch) looked at my eye. Finally the verdict came in: a rupture in my retina, which when untreated can result in retinal detachment (which requires surgery to fix). The doctor also mentioned that he saw signs of a starting detachment, but it was probably early enough that laser treatment could suffice to fixate the retina and prevent further damage. (The laser deliberately damages the retina tissue just around the rupture, causing scars. The scar tissue effectively fixates the retina to the underlying layer and prevents detachment). My vision would then slowly improve, and after 6 weeks all would be fine again. Recovery went good at first. My sight slowly cleared up. And then (almost two weeks ago now) started to become more blurred again. In my scheduled checkup last week Monday I mentioned this, but the doctor said it was probably just an effect of my vitreous body (the fluid inside the eye) being more active. He also assured me that I did not need to cancel my visit to SQLBits (the biggest European SQL Server conference, where I was invited to speak that week). Over the week I noticed my vision getting slowly worse, but I figured that this was an effect of the fatigue that is an unavoidable side effect of a four-day conference. After Saturday night I expected it to settle down again. On Sunday morning I realized I was wrong. Aside from the blurry vision, I now also noticed that the vision in the lower left corner of my right eye was now completely gone - and that was one of the things I had been told to watch out for, and contact the hospital immediately. Of course, being in the UK and having a flight home at 10:40 made that impractical, so I decided to fly home first, then make the call from the car after my wife picked me up from the train station. At 4PM I was in the hospital where the eye doctor on weekend duty examined me. By that time the black spot in the lower left corner had already grown a bit. The doctor confirmed what I by then already knew: the laser treatment had not helped; the retina had started to detach. I needed eye surgery, for which he had to refer me to another hospital. He got them on the phone to see how fast he could get me an appointment, and as I was sitting there wondering whether it would be a few days or even weeks, I overheard the voice on the other side of the phone say, with some regret, that they could not fit me in anymore for that same evening. Ah, so THAT was the type of "fast" this was about. Swell. I got a 9AM appointment in a hospital that is almost an hour drive away, and strict instructions to remain in a flat position as much as possible. Lying flat went reasonably well while at home (with my loving wife taking care of me). But on Monday I spent early morning sitting in the car (with my wife driving, of course; no way I could do that myself with such limited vision in my right eye - in fact, Dutch driver laws even explicitly forbid driving with impaired vision), the rest of the morning sitting in waiting rooms as various assistants and students (this is an academic hospital) and finally the eye surgeon studied my eye. This resulted in a noticeable progress in the loss of vision. By the time the surgeon-assistant warned me that surgery always has a chance of failure and that, in this case, blindness could be the result, I laughed it off - by that time my right eye vision was reduced to just the upper right 1/4 and I was fully aware that not having surgery gave me a 100% chance of blindness within at most another day. The actual surgery (well, the preparation for it) started at 12:30, and by 2:15 I was back in the prep area and rejoined with my wife, after which we received some further information from the doctor. The procedure used for my operation is that first the vitreous body (the eye fluid) is completely removed, then the retina is readjusted in its proper spot. Laser treatment is then used to "stitch" the retina in position, and finally a gas is pumped in my eye to restore the proper eye pressure (which is needed to continue to press the retina to the back of my eye). Over the next 2-8 weeks, that gas will slowly dissipate, as it is replaced by eye fluid that my body automatically produces. I can now "sort of" see through my right eye. What I see would probably be the wet dream of any impressionist artist: when I look at large objects with contracting colours I see large coloured shapes with vague boundaries. Smaller objects or colours with little contrast disappear completely. This should clear up within 1-2 months. (I personally think that this is due to the gas affecting light rays in my eye differently than the normal eye fluid does). It is possible that the retina detaches again, in which case the procedure has to be repeated. If not, then I can expect recovery within 1-2 months, although it can take far longer (up to a year!) for the vision in my right eye to fully settle. And as a result of the procedure, my chance of getting cataracts has shot up immensely - but I have decided not to worry about that now; we'll see about that when it happens. Three days after surgery, and two days after the first check (luckily at my local hospital), it looks that recovery is going as it should. My idea of spending lots of times doing fun stuff now that I am not able to work but still have a fully functioning left eye was overly optimistic. It turns out that trying to focus my vision when my right eye is sending weird signals to my brain is quite strenuous, so I spend a lot of the day propped on the couch, with my right eye shut and my phone playing Netflix in front of my left eye. However, I do see slow improvements in what I see with my right eye, so who knows how this will evolve over time. And that's the full story. I normally don't share much personal details, and I hesitated to bother all of you with this, but after so many years in this game you all feel like a sort of extra family to me, and as my family you all deserve to know that this is happening to me right now. And now please excuse me as I return to my couch... Cheers, Hugo -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dixonary" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dixonary+unsubscribe (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|