5106 Medical update - eyes

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

As if surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, meds that make me ache, and three teeth pulled in one day weren't enough, I am now getting monthly injections in my eyeball.  Yeah.  In the eyeball.  Told ya it was icky.

I've had this eyeglass prescription for like five years now, so back in maybe early May when I noticed I was having difficulty reading street signs, I wasn't surprised.  It's about time.  Went to my optometrist.  Couldn't read anything on the screen with my right eye.  The big "E", but nothing else.  Left eye was fine.
She freaked and did a bunch of more tests, and informed me that she suspected macular degeneration, in both eyes, and recommended that I see an ophthalmologist ASAP.

Macular degeneration?  For many years I've had one of those grids, you know, all the little squares with the dot in the middle, on my refrigerator.  You're supposed to look at the dot with each eye, and check that the grid looks regular.  I really have been doing it occasionally.  Always looked just fine to me.



I called the optometrist's  first choice recommendation, and got an appointment several weeks out.  I gave them my insurance info, she assured me the accepted it, and my optometrist sent copies of my scans etc.

The DAY BEFORE the appointment, the ophthalmologist's office called to inform me that they didn't actually take my insurance.  Oops.  Appointment cancelled.  Three weeks plus down the drain.

I went online to my insurance company to find a doctor on their list of physicians, and there were no ophthalmologists listed.  The next Monday I called the insurance company, and got two recommendations.  I made an appointment with the first.  Two weeks later, that office called to ask what specifically I was calling about, because they noticed I was an adult, and their office handles mostly pediatric strabismus.  Another two weeks down.

So I called the second recommendation.  I actually made it into the office that time, and got examined.  When I told the ophthalmologist that the optometrist suspected macular degeneration, she shook her head. 
"Um, no, I don't do that.  You need a macular specialist."  Like, I'm supposed to know about the specialties, and who does what?  So I asked her to examine me anyway and see if she agrees with that preliminary diagnosis, and if so, can she recommend a macular specialist?

She said ok, and diagnosed wet macular degeneration in both eyes, the right more advanced, and gave me some names that she was sure took my insurance, one of whom she highly recommended.

Great.  After two months, we're making some headway.  In the meantime, the right eye has deteriorated.  It had gone from sometimes no noticeable problem on some days to now constant grayed-out blurred central vision every day, and the past couple of weeks I'm getting some roundish areas of sparkle.  Oh, and the grid on the refrigerator is now wavy - when the right eye is clear enough to see it.

Saw the finally right doctor on Friday, August 4th.  Exam.  I think it was last Thursday Daughter drove me in for the first treatment.  You know, I knew I was going to get a shot in the right eyeball, but for some reason I wasn't nervous at all, which surprised me!

The technician put several kinds of drops in my eyes, then several rounds of numbing drops, then a shot of Novocaine (!) very shallowly under the outer layer (I forget whether that was the doctor or the technician) which worried me at first because that crap hurts when you get it anywhere else, but I didn't feel anything at all.  At. All!

Then the doctor futzed around a bit, once for all of two seconds using a clampy thing to hold the eye open while telling me to look at the tip of my nose, then he announced all done.  I don't even know when I got the injection.

I said, "That's it?"  I asked him why we're treating only the right eye if both are degenerating, and he said that the right eye is wet, the left is dry.  The left may at some time go to wet, but for now we don't have to mess with it.  He also said that we can halt the progression, and with the least little luck we can probably even get regression and restore much of the right eye vision.

I'll get a shot in the eye of Avastin once a month now for I don't know how long.

When the numbing wore off, there was no pain.  That evening I had a small blood spot on the top, under the upper eyelid, but the next morning it was gone.

-----------------------------

I hate New Jersey.  I swear I didn't get old until I moved here.

Oh, and what bugs me the most is that no one will give me a new prescription for lenses, even just for the left eye, because "it will change as you go through treatment", so I STILL can't read street names until I'm almost on top of them.  No fair! 

Also, if you look up wet macular degeneration, you'll see examples of the vision loss.  I'm not that bad.  I can see big things with my right eye just fine.  I can't see detail.  I can see the microwave across the room, I can see the clock on it, I just can't read the time on it.  On good days I can read the time.
.