Saturday, June 28, 2014

Given my paucity of posting, you'd think I put an eye out

Well, my gentle reader, the answer is not that far removed from reality. I have had a Central Retinal Vein Occlusion in my right eye for in excess of six years. I'll abbreviate that to "CRVO." My retinal specialist is keeping my eye pressures in the normal range, but--and this is huge and really sucks--I am now having symptoms of a Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion in my left eye, formerly "the good one."

It is still the less troubled eye, as my central vision is almost unaffected. However, the prognosis is not great.

My retinal specialist is going over my flourescein angiographs this weekend and we are going to explore treatment options on 06.30.2014..yep, Monday.

I had the new eye issue come to the fore exactly one week ago.

I was totally asymptomatic prior to both eyes becoming afflicted. I urge everyone over 50 Y/O to get their IOP(Intraocular Pressure) checked at least annually. If there is glaucoma in your family at least twice per year is recommended.

Lest you think that my condition is due to elevated blood pressure, it is not. My typical readings are 116/68. My retinal specialist confirmed this for me years ago. I can almost throw quotation marks around his remarks. He said that IOP hypertension, and arterial hypertension are some rimes linked, but not in all cases. I have great BP, but pretty lousy IOP--unless treated with prescription eyedrops that either reduce aqueous humor, or facilitate outflow through the retinal system.

There are specific groups that are genetically and/or hormonally predispoed to elevated IOP, and subsequent development of glaucoma. Then there are people that do not present elevated IOP, but develop common open-angle glaucoma. This is what I have, with comorbidity of Retinal Vein Occlusions. I'm not a medical professional, just a patient that is simply not satisfied until he has all the known facts about his condition. Thank nature I have zero other physiological issues.

That's all I have today. This post was very cathartic for me. I really need to find a way to get all Zen around these issues. More data is usually the key that unlocks the path to reasoned contentedness for me. Way down on my list of things to be concerned about is the fact that July is my birth month, and I'm due for a motor vehicle license renewal this year. There are times when the blind, pitiless universe really shows itself to be rife with just those attributes.

This post was generated with much help from Nuance's "Dragon Naturally Speaking" Premium Edition v12.

It has been a pretty lousy week.

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