Doctors are cool again

Note: I apologize this is completely off my normal political, military or life topics I normally write. It is of a medical issue, specifically related to diseases of the eye. I wanted to share my experiences and success with the sincerest hope should anyone experience any of the symptoms or problems with your eyes you seek medical help immediately. See your eye physician for further information and whatever you do, do not put it off; time can be of the essence.

As some of you are well aware, I have been undergoing treatment for advanced glaucoma the past year and quite honestly, it has been a rough road at times. There was a point that my eye pressure was 59, (normal is 16) I experienced a total loss of vision and the absolute worse headache of my life. The emergency room physician refused to believe the pressure reading the nurse had taken and personally redid the procedure three times before finally believing his own results.

The physician explained this would lead to complete and total vision loss without immediate follow up and treatment, I confess that I was not able to make peace with that proposition. I was fortunate to have excellent eye care with a physician who had been treating me for chronic Iritis flare-ups, (a painful problem that needs immediate treatment) between him and his partner they worked diligently to find a solution.

I have undergone two laser surgeries in an attempt to widen a canal under the iris, as I was diagnosed with open angle glaucoma. The laser surgeries worked as the Doctor had hoped and the vision improved quite a bit. However, my optic nerve is severely damaged which means whatever sight I have lost will not return and any further damage would mean complete loss of vision. The goal now is to control the pressure through a combination of drops without loosing any more eyesight and so far, it is working well.

After that, I awoke one morning and when I looked in the mirror, I could not believe what I saw. My eyes appeared to be actually recessed substantially into my head. I went immediately to the eye Doctor who explained it was yet another ailment, an infection that attacked the eyelids themselves known as Blepharitis. The problem, it will be with me the rest of my life, the goal again is to treat the symptoms, which besides excessive swelling of the lids is severe dry eyes. I never realized just how uncomfortable dry eyes could be until now and I must add they burn so badly at times it drives me insane. Multiple doses of liquid tears help a small bit, but not too much.

I am now the proud owner of Punctal Plugs, small plastic objects that is inserted into the lower tear duct; yes, we have two in each eye, one on top for emotional tears and one on the bottom for tears that cleanse the eye. (Look at the wealth of information I share with you) The concept being to block the flow of the tears allowing them to remain longer in the eye, which will alleviate the dry eye somewhat.

Now, contradictory to my complaints yesterday I am celebrating Doctors once more, I hate getting older, but the Doctors are cool.