My Eyes, Part 3

I don't know that I've been doing anything so important that I couldn't continue to write this blog. Let's start by saying that so far, we've found nothing that could be causing the diplopia (double vision). The brain scan was good. I have no hemoraghing, no mass, nothing that seems out of place.

So, I went for an echocardiogram. The echo showed something that concerned my cardiologist, so I went to the Methodist Hospital for a TEE, transesophageal echocardiogram, which showed nothing but some plaque forming. So far, so good. I went back to the lab for a sonogram of my carotid arteries. Nothing remarkable there either. There was some plaque, but nothing to be concerned about.

We are assuming I had a stroke. If so, it was so mild that there was really no side effects except a little memory problems and one night when my blood pressure spiked. Other than that, no symptoms, no aftereffects.

And that's a good thing. EXCEPT I still have double vision. I had a designer do a photo of a flower that shows what I see so I can show it to the doctor tomorrow for yet another appointment. This will be the third Ophthalmolgist to help me figure out what is going on. I'm guessing if he can't figure out what's going on, a neurologist is the next step.

My Eyes

You don't realize how precious something is until it's either broken or gone. I have a friend with Macular Degeneration who is seeing less well everyday. She's in her mid 80s and she's coping very well. I admire her for that. I also admire her because her sight isn't the only precious thing she's lost. She was transplanted when Katrina hit New Orleans. At 79, she came to San Antonio with the clothes on her back and not much else. Her sisters lived here, so she moved here. Since, her sisters have passed away, and she's staying in San Antonio. Believe me, she'd rather be in New Orleans, where she lived most of her life. She's going on with her life, living in a great retirement complex making friends and keeping busy with some of the activities they provide. She's funny and very intelligent.

I've been complaining about my eyesight for the past 15 months or so. My contacts weren't correcting my vision as well as they used to. Then by the end of the day, I couldn't stand wearing them. As a matter of fact, I carried my contact case with me so I could take them out at the first red light after work. Not very sanitary.

The Optometrist I was seeing wasn't helping although he's very nice, and he tried. So I decided it was time to see an Ophthalmologist. The Ophthalmologist took care of the chronic dry eye by inserting plugs in the lower tear ducts. They've taken care of the dry eye, but now I get crusty stuff around my eyes all day. I'm constantly wiping them.

Once the dry eye was taken care of, I had my prescription filled. The glasses didn't help any more than the ones I had last year. I have double vision. I wouldn't recognize my sister if she was walking toward me in the hall. And driving at night is a trip. The little yellow turtles in the middle of the road were standing up -- looking like they were stack 4 high.

I made an appointment for this past Tuesday to get my prescription corrected so I wouldn't have to pay for it again if it's wrong. The Dr. assured me that the prescription was right. That I have something wrong with the nerve in one of my eyes. He thinks it's atrophied like maybe from a stroke. He faxed the info to my Primary Care Physican, who wants a CT scan of my head and then is referring me to a neurologist. This is getting scary. I use my eyes at work. I'm an editor and I work on a computer all day. I haven't been able to read for the past year and a half. And I miss reading.

I'm sure everything is OK. I'm hoping they'll map my head and check for other possible maladies while they're at it. Maybe I can be assured that there actually is a functioning brain (although I'm wondering at times if it's still functioning) and that all the blood vessels and arteries are healthy. I've had high blood pressure (corrected) for several years. The Ophthalmolgist thinks my double vision is related to the high blood pressure. I go Monday to get the orders from the PCP so I can make an appointment for the CT scan and then the neurologist. I'll keep you posted.