Hmmm. . .

[rolanni]

Came home from the eye doctor's to find a battered blue pick-up truck with "Wholesale Steak to the Public" fading into the doors. One young man was on the phone in the passenger's seat; the other was on our deck, having just closed the screen door. He came down stairs, and backed the truck out, waiting 'til Steve parked and got out, then cockily offered him steak. Steve declined. They offered chicken; he declined that, too. They then went up the drive to our neighbor's house, apparently tried the door their, and zipped down the road.

I would have been happier about this if we'd found a flier in the door, but -- no.

In health news, the verdict from the eye doctor is posterior vitreous detachment. Apparently the fifty-five year extended warranty expired.

My eyes are still dilated, and computer screens are bright. Maybe I'll call the town cop shop with a description of the truck, and, I dunno, start the laundry or something.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Ya get a license number on that pair?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I didn't, -- eyes dilated and bright sun. I just talked to Officer Josh down in town, though and he says the same guys have been around town and the cops are aware. If I see them again, I'm to call.

Don't Mess around with the eyes

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

PVD seems scary as hell to me. Did they laser you? (My stomach is clenching just reading about it.) Hmm, knees, eyes... haven't you been getting your oil changed regularly or something? Saying a prayer for you, (and knocking on wood).

Hope everything is better (as well as can be) in time so you can enjoy yourself in Montreal.

Oh, the meat guys sound very suspicious. Around here door-to-door people always leave fliers, and the back-of-the-truck meat guys always sell from vacant lots or the corner of a gas station.

Re: Don't Mess around with the eyes

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, no. . . No lasers, because -- no tear. I'm not thrilled with the information that it can, and very likely will, happen again, but take courage from the data that the majority of people who have PVD won't have a tear. I'll just have to work hard to stay in the majority...

[mardott.livejournal.com]

My husband had floaters and Kaiser's idea of treatment is, "you're just getting old. Learn to live with it."

Which I guess is sort of what your linked article said...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

And is sorta what my doctor said: "We all get PVD if we live long enough."

Who knew getting old was so complicated?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

>Who knew getting old was so complicated?

Learning it . . .

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

random light flashes, floaters, the works? Good for catching it. Did it tear the retina, or did you get to avoid that? (It can, as the gel pulls away.)

It's the reason I can't get Lasik. The studies are showing that Lasik speeds up the liquification, and I'm pretty sure it's genetic. My brother had his first symptom at 40 and my mother in her early 50s. My grandmother (at 72) and my father (61) have also had a fun time. My eye doc says once it happens it will probably happen again, and that's also been our experience. So keep vigilant.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

random light flashes, floaters, the works? Good for catching it. Did it tear the retina, or did you get to avoid that?

Managed to avoid a tear (phew).

My eye doc says once it happens it will probably happen again, and that's also been our experience. So keep vigilant.

My doctor said the same, and also that tears are...not rare, but not inevitable, either, so that's something...

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

and the tears, depending on the treatment needed/used, are scary to scary-then-boring. Mom had to lie on her left side, not read or watch tv, and wait for the retina to start re-attatching when they used a gas bubble to hold the edges of the tear together. Those three days sucked, for her and for me. My mother is easily bored.

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

my sister has this. she goes to kaiser in southern california. she got an injection of a new med that the doctor said was also being used to tread macular degeneration. it worked miracle wonders. want i should find out the name?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

want i should find out the name?

Yes, please. Good to be prepared if it happens again.

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

Mom was doing that for the wet macular degen. She has ceased treatment because it hasn't improved anything. And getting a shot IN the eye ain't fun! But it has been known to work REALLY well for many people. Mom just wasn't one of them.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I've had a detached retina. Lucky me, it was (a) a complex one, and (b) misdiagnosed twice in a row before they got it right, which meant (c) no laser: instead Mr Serious Surgeon had at my left eyeball with a knife and a staple gun.

It's stayed fixed for the subsequent 20 years, so I can be philosophical about it now, but it really made me paranoid about driving and blind spots.

Hopefully you're about to have an annoying few sessions staring into a laser cavity and then they'll give you a new 55 year warranty. Right?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Mr Serious Surgeon had at my left eyeball with a knife and a staple gun.

*hides under the desk*

Hopefully you're about to have an annoying few sessions staring into a laser cavity and then they'll give you a new 55 year warranty. Right?

Actually, no, because it hasn't come all the way unstuck; the glue's just drying out unevenly. So I get to obsess about my sight, and was that a flash?, and fidget about whether or not I'm going to Montreal, which of course I am, but I hate having a time bomb in my head, and I'm really twitchy about my eyes in general (as are most people, after all). Sigh. Need a couple days to settle down, but. . .still.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I will try to remember not to punch you repeatedly in the side of the head, then :-)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I will try to remember not to punch you repeatedly in the side of the head, then :-)

That's gently said.

Travel safe, Charlie; see you next week.

[elbales]

Mr Serious Surgeon had at my left eyeball with a knife and a staple gun

NARRRGGGHHH DNW.

Congratulations, you've succeeded at giving me a thorough case of the heebie-jeebies.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

It gave me a thorough case of the heebie-jeebies, I can tell you.

All hail general anesthesia and morphine! I slept right through it.

[psw456.livejournal.com]

Flashes and floaters - had in left eye about 5 years ago, right eye about 3 years ago - retinal specialist said once it happened in one eye, likely to happen in the other; in neither case was anything more serious wrong.... Flashes went away in a month or so ... still have the occasional floater.

Keeping my best wishes flowing your way that the same is true for you.

Floaters

[(Anonymous)]

Had the same thing a couple of years ago...lots of sudden floaters and a fast trip to the local retina specialist. It was on the weekend, of course, but the on-call doctor came into the office immediately to see me. Those retina guys don't mess around. You got a problem, they don't tell you the earliest appointment available is 3 weeks away. No rips or tears, thankfully. but got told the same thing you did, if it happens in one eye it will probably happen in the other...welcome to the aging process. But considering the alternative to aging, I figure we've just gotta tell the doctors to keep on stapling and patching and hope they can manage to put us back together faster than we fall apart. The floaters did go away eventually although they were annoying while they lasted. The doctor said they don't dissolve, they just drop to the bottom. Makes me think of a snow-globe. If I stand on my head...not gonna happen...would they swirl around again for a while like when you shake the snow globe?

Anne

This usually doesn't hurt

[(Anonymous)]

Ok, some background - I've had 5 glaucoma procedures and my uncle (related by blood) has macular degeneration. I also know 2-3 people who have had retinas re-attached. I kid around that I know everyone in Baltimore's Bad Eye Club.

The shots in the eye do not hurt. I've never heard anyone complain - and one or two folks said point blank that - while they were squicked out to see the needle - they didn't feel it. Probably because there's all kinds of numbing drops and nerve blocks. For me, it took yoga breathing to stay calm so my eyes would stay still - but I didn't feel it.

I've only ever experienced the laser treatments but you recover faster from those.

Oh - Uncle Bob says the macular degeneration shots are like magic. (I am so sorry to that person for whom they don't work. Yikes.)

What else? Oh, the paranoia doesn't go away - with one good eye, I watch for flashes and grot (what astronomers call floaters) religiously. Paranoia
can be a good thing sometimes.

I sometimes think getting more water and general fluids into my system help the vitreous but I may be fooling myself. I do know when I take in too much caffiene or antihistimines, I feel like the floaters are multitudinous. YMMV.

Hang in there, it's scary stuff,
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

Re: This usually doesn't hurt

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

I think the 'whites' part of the eye doesn't have much in the way of nerve endings (the iris does) which is why people who wear contacts usually place it on the white part first and then shift their eye to move it across the iris. Also why irritants in the eye only hurt when your iris moves across it.

[ingrid44.livejournal.com]

Make sure the doors are securely locked, for at least the rest of the week! Hope the neighbors didn't buy anything from these characters. Aside from tainted meat, they could be canvassing all the homes. (do we read to many mystery novels?)

[sonyaotto.livejournal.com]

At age 24 I was diagnosed with PVD because of the many floaters I have. I am 41 now and haven't had to have any surgery yet- thank goodness. I have become so used to the flashes and ghostly specs that I never even think about them any more. I hope that everything turns out well for you- it certainly frightened me to be diagnosed.

PVD

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Sharon,

Had PVD diagnosed (right eye) in ... '97 or so. Doc said, "Just live with it. Floaters'll go away in six or eight months." Finally they either vanished or I quit noticing about 2008. Meantime, same drill in left eye, but of shorter duration. During interim had cataract surgery on right eye, followed by laser to reglue torn retina. Sigh. All part of the Golden Years, but the good news, none seems permanent. (Nor are the Golden Years!)

Cheers, Jack

cheapo sunglasses at eye doctor for next time

[(Anonymous)]

Sharon -

I had to visit an eye doctor in december and had the same problem. My caregiver companion mentioned some sunglasses when I complained about the glare as soon as we got back out to the car and bounced back inside and got a pair from the receptionist; they were cheaper than cheap, made out of cardboard and plastic, but worked VERY efffectively. You might gently chide the office people for not offering them last time. call and ask if they're available for next time, or go with a pair in hand . . .

Craig in kent,wa