he's baaack. Just a little

JohnEd · December 29, 2010, 01:26:43 AM

I had the surgery on my "good eye" on 30 Nov. They screwed it up when they punched a "tool" through the back of the membrane that separates the cataract-ed lens from that viscus jell that fills the inside of your (and my) eyeball. That dumped a "ton" of trash and drilling fluid and chunks of the old lens, etc. INTO MY EYEBALL. I can't see where getting mad will do any good. "Can't see" is the operative word there. The day after the surgery I drove home to Eugene from the VA med center in Portland. At 75 mph, I might add and Doc said it would be OK. Better vision than I had in my 20's except for all these chunks floating around in front of me. By looking from left to right every couple seconds I could maintain a good and accurate view of the road. Sorta like looking through one of those "snow globes". Things have gone down hill from there till last week. I haven't been able to read or drive or watch TV and I am not quite my chipper self. Carolee is reading the book/tome "the Gun" to me. She is not a gun person and the book is about the AK 47 history and it is a real stretch for her. She said it is getting more interesting to me and she lies.

Carolee suggested I "give up" some of my internet and BB load when things started to go really quickly down hill. This is my greatest involvement and workload of love. I managed to stay minimally involved in my firearms BB and some of the Yahoo groups. Only to a min and Carolee had to type almost all of that after reading the posts to me. She worked up until 30 Nov, by coincidence, and then she retired. She has since had more time to pamper me. That may all change as she wants me to teach her to drive my 5 speed 4X4 Ranger STX tomorrow and that my be the straw....

I have it on good authority from Richard of Newell that my experience isn't all that rare. They are projecting I will have full vision back in two more months. I still can't read worth a crap and gave up before I got to the end of the first page here. I can still transmit, evidence this, but my receiver is feeble. Sorta like always, I guess.

Thank you for all the good wishes you posted and sent email. This is a wonderful place and you are all great people. And, I have proof. Carolee sends her warm regards and best wishes for the New Year. I don't have that much class.

Be well and happy Y'all,

John

John316 · December 29, 2010, 05:17:29 AM

John,

I am sorry to hear about that happening. That can be so rough, I have heard. Thanks for sharing with us, and I will be praying.

Now let that eye heal completely, and don't sue the docs for too much

God bless,

John

zubzub · December 29, 2010, 08:56:22 AM

Sorry to hear you are having it rough. Sounds like you have a good woman helping you, so things will be ok. My health beat the hell out of me this fall, I'm finally getting better and it feels good. Hoping the best for you in the near future.

happycamperbrat · December 29, 2010, 09:08:28 AM

wtf? He dropped stuff in YOUR EYEBALL??? Holy Cow!! Unbelievable!! I hope you have a good attorney, that is CRAZY!!! I will be praying for you and Carole, but if it were me or one of my family I would be plenty angry at the doc!

fe2_o3 · December 29, 2010, 09:31:57 AM

Glad to see you're back. Hope things get better for Carolee. Gun mags can get boring. Not much bang for the buck. Too many adds.
Why can't she drive the truck? My wife drives my 4x4 Ranger and she has macular degeneration. (If I keep my eyes closed, it doesn't bother me at all.) She spent the last few months getting shots in her eye but it hasn't helped.
Keep that sense of humor fresh. It'll eat away at the stress...Cable

JohnEd · January 04, 2011, 12:34:26 PM

Carolee is 5 feet tall (or maybe short) and when we last checked her feet didn't quite reach the pedals. Since then I found the seatbelt slide thingy got a wart and wouldn't let the seat go fully forward. We will try again soon.

Saw the Dr. on thurs. My new eye exam, catching glimpses between the globs and rocks, now shows 20/25. Now that is through the membrane that is clouded and that will be cut away in a couple months. I may end up with 20/20. That is what I started out with some 68 years ago. Still can't see worth a crap and Carolee still reads to me but I think I will come out the other end OK. This has been a scary ride and I wish I could have not "horriblized" so much. The second and third weeks were really the pits. He is still telling me I cannot possible focus from 8 inches from my nose out to infinity. He cannot be convinced. All 4 of my multiple visions are gone. They told me it was not possible to have more than 2 unless I had a neuro problem.

Tuesday...today
I drove home after the last exam and I had driven at night for a few days prior. Since that day it all went to poop. Badly blurred vision due to floaters. Haven't driven since last Sat. Never ending saga. I would feel better about this if I had gotten warnings about any of it. I can see to get this typed so I guess that is a improvement over some of it. Prior to the surgery I couldn't see to type more than a few words and that was getting much worse by the day so I guess the surgery has gotten me this far. I expect this to resolve eventually, I really do, but the process is aggravating.

bevans6 · January 04, 2011, 12:42:33 PM

Sure hope you get better fast, I miss reading your stuff!

I have astigmatism, for some reason I have double vision (very mild, kind of like shadow lines) with each eye. In other words, each eye has it's own uncorrected double vision, I think that counts as double double!

Brian

JohnEd · January 04, 2011, 02:35:33 PM

Brian,.

Thank you for the complement. I'll do my best.

Had the surgeon not punched that hole I would have had maybe the best vision in my life and I once had 20/20. I would have been singing his praises. You situation is similar to mine in that your overall vision is affected. Boooo! You can get the astigmatism from other things that are in your line of vision such as the cornea surface or whatever. I was told that there was a slight chance that some of my astig might persist even after the lens was replaced. It has not!

Seems to be more than one up side to having the lens replaced. Correct astig, replace stiffened lens(from age) with a stiff one that is mfr ed., get a UV filter in the new lens, replace the old "less transparent" lens with one that is crystal clear. It is the risk that fouls the brew. Richard pointed out that the surgeon that I should be looking for was one that has been doing this for years and also that does many operations every week AND has a good percentage of complete success. Being the VA I had no control of who did the surgery. I was told that mine was the senior resident and a senior staff surgeon would be sitting on his shoulder for the entire time. Both seemed sterling.

Good luck with your vision and I hope it doesn't deteriorate on you.

John

ruthi · January 04, 2011, 02:40:56 PM

JohnEd, sorry about your eye problems, but it is good to have you back. Take care, and hope to see you more on here.

Lin · January 04, 2011, 06:32:37 PM

Welcome back John. Here is a test for your vision. Which finger am I holding up?

white-eagle · January 04, 2011, 06:52:48 PM

sorry about the mess up on the eye surgury. you seem in good spirits considering. Your attitude is correct, no point complaining about what can't be changed, but if there is a fix, then it certainly should be soon and free to you, more so than the usual va free, even if a non-va specialist is required.

glad you are back.