A long day and low vision

kw: local events, musings

I saw a retina specialist today, about a spot in my left eye's visual field, but well off-center. I've had retinal hemorrhages in the past, so a couple months ago that was what I thought it was. They normally clear up in three weeks, but a month passed and I could still see it. So I had my regular ophthalmologist look at it. She could see it, and confirmed it is a hemorrhage, partly cleared. But she thought she also saw signs of retinal separation, so she sent me to the specialist.

Two more weeks had passed. Though I can still see the spot, the specialist had a hard time locating it. It is nearly cleared up. She could not see much that concerned her, and a special photograph doesn't show anything suspicious, but wants to wait another month and then do an angiogram. I agreed.

Today's visit took almost three hours. Afterward, the dilation of my eye lasted a further three hours, which I mostly slept off. So I've had a long nap today, but paradoxically, I'm pretty tired and will head for the sack soon after I finish this post.

I admit I had all kinds of worries about this spot. A friend lost her life to a brain tumor that started as an eye tumor, just a couple years ago. I was glad to find out nothing of the sort is involved here. I hope there's no retinal separation, but the specialist doesn't think so.

Had the spot been even more off center, I might never have seen it. It could have come and gone unnoticed. The first retinal hemorrhage I had was right over the fovea, and really messed up the vision in that eye until it dissolved. I'm told the best thing to do for this is to keep my blood pressure low. Guess I'll step up the exercise regimen!