Where have Eye Been?

Did you miss me?  I haven't blogged all week.  That's because on Monday, May 16th at 1 pm while checking an email, my retina decided it should detach itself.

Say what you will about the Canadian medical system... within hours I was under a doctor's care. I was directed immediately to St. Michael's hospital in Toronto, and was in emergency surgery before I could even pronounce the technical term for this condition.

The likely cause is from fluid sneaking behind the retina, following a spontaneous bleed into my eye about 6 weeks ago. That was interesting... and scary.  It is one of the rare medical conditions you get to watch happen.  As if someone had dropped ink into a glass, long tendrils of black drifted down through my eye, soon spreading into a net-like pattern. That was followed by dimming vision, as if looking through thick vaseline, and within two minutes,  I could see nothing at all with my left eye. Yes, it's scary.  Off to the doctors...  Much gratitude to my family who downed tools to drive me...

There was no apparent reason for this initial injury. The specialist, rather alarmingly, shrugged and said, sometimes it just happens.  That`s not as reassuring as you might think.  It is, boiled down to the simplest comparison, a bruise within the eye, and there is little to be done until the body has had time to move out the blood that doesn`t belong there.  Which, poor little eye, it was doing steadily. I was able to make out shapes and colours, and this, dearly beloved, was great progress. 

May 13, it was off to a specialist in Mississauga, because the concern was that there was retinal involvement.  He peered deep into my eye, and decided the retina at that time looked fine. See you in two weeks, he said. Carry on.

Monday, May 16, the retina had other ideas. In case you`re curious, it begins as a curtain, or block, in the bottom corner of your vision. Dark purple, rather than black, but with a black edge and no, you can see nothing at all in the affected area.  That`s the initial tear in the retina. It happens at the top of the retina, but since we actually see the image reversed, we notice it at the bottom of the vision field.  I walked to the office, and told the gang that someone had to drive me to the eye specialist. From there, it was all commotion, and off to Toronto.

Because there was still blood from the retinal bleed in the eye, Dr. Muni opted to go directly to surgery... which is best described in construction terms.  The eye is drained, the retina flattened back into place, and spot welded there with lasers. Fluid is reintroduced into the eye, and then... the reason I`ve been out of commission all week, a large bubble of inert gas is inserted in the eye.  It`s job is to help hold the retina in place along the curved back of the eye.  And to do that, the patient (or in this instance, impatient) must spend the next week lying about, face down.  Computers, books, tv are all pretty much frowned on, unless you can get them down on the floor... but following surgery, I didn`t feel much up to coping. The eye hurt. Lying flat -- I looked like I was planking -- hurts the lower back.  The recommendation is to listen to audio books, which I`ve been doing.

I am waiting for a call from Mike Holmes, since I figure I could have a career as a builder`s level... just prop me against the wall, and check my eye to see if the bubble is centered...

I go back to St. Michael`s tomorrow, for a follow up, and hope to be told I can become an upright citizen again.  Eyes are so very precious, there is so much beauty to be seen...

I will keep you posted. Right now, for those who want to know, in that eye I look at the world through this bubble of gas. It looks a little like being underwater... very strange.  Time will tell how good it gets, but when you consider that not all that long ago, a detached retina usually signalled the end of vision as you knew it, I am very blessed to be living in Canada, in 2011, near a major medical centre.