General Chat

Remember, I bite. Anyhow, whining is fun, so feel free to join in.

Daff and others have inquired after my eye. Such a little thing, an eye. How it can take up so much of one's life ...

Four years ago this month, I had a first cataract surgery. (Yes, you're right, *far* too young for such things.) Had gone suddenly blind in that eye over 6 weeks, most unusual. The surgery went well, except that I had not nearly enough sedative, and afterward I had several hours of complete agony in my head. Apparently, a spasm of the iris, an unusual reaction to the local anaesthetic.

So a year later, they didn't use that anaesthetic, and gave me more sedative. Unfortunately, things went horribly wrong from there. My eye was left full of debris, which caused swelling (pseudophakic cystoid macular edema, no less) on the back of my eye. This caused a mauvy blotch in the middle of my vision. Not that I could see much through the sea of gunk floating in my eye anyhow.

The steroids for the swelling caused glaucoma. I understood this had been temporary. Stopped going to the opthalmologist, being unable to drive and it being a $50 return cab ride each time, and just resigned myself to the situation. The mauvy blotch (the swelling) went away after 9 months, the gunk remained.

Went to an optometrist a year ago just to get some glasses made up for my new vision. (No longer horribly nearsighted as I'd had that adjusted when the first cataract was done, but kept the second eye more nearsighted so I could read w/o glasses in a pinch, as the idea of not being able to do that horrified me.)

She did the glaucoma test, and after picking herself up off the floor, sent me off to an ophthalmologist. The steroids had caused permanent glaucoma. He wasn't too eager to pursue the gunk problem, but said he'd refer me to a retinal surgeon if I wanted. I did. The retinal surgeon, a rude sort of person not at all interested in explaining things (I am told his partner is twice as rude), immediately scheduled me for surgery: removal of scar tissue from my retina, vitrectomy to replace the gunky crud in my eye, new lens implant because the one done two years before had been completely botched and it was all out of place (explaining the frequent irritation).

Surgery was in mid-September. Gunk gone all right, but can't see. At second post-op appointment, ask why this is. Can't see close, can't see far. Just can't see. He barks, "astigmatism!" And allows: the size of the incision in the cornea to replace the lens had to be larger than the first time, and the cornea is now distorted.

I know vaguely what astigmatism is about: in my case, draw an X with an upright cross through it, like a snowflake, and the only line I can really see is this one: \

So now the retinal surgeon is done with me and I'm back at the opthalmologist this past week. No matter how he plays with the lenses in his machine, I can't make out any but the 3rd row on the eye chart, and that not well.

Oh, and the neat part: the glaucoma drugs have contributed to another round of cystoid macular edema - the swelling on the back of the eye. I'd asked the retinal surgeon about this, because I was pretty sure I was seeing a mauvy blotch again, but he said nah. Yes, said the opthalmologist. Oh, and the reason my eye had been bloodshot and sore for two week: a stitch that needed to come out. Here, let me aim these pointy tweezers at your eyeball. Well, that took two tries and some deep breathing. He did the local anaesthetic drops, but it &%$ing hurt. I seem to be immune to drugs.

So, now I'm off the glaucoma drug that causes edema, and on the steroids that cause glaucoma. For this month.

Who knows what the new year will bring?!


Meanwhile, the blood pressure is back to good on drugs, but the new doc has decided that because my blood sugar was 7.1 I'm diabetic. Give me a break. But I do have an "official" diagnosis now of the trendy ailment of this decade: Syndrome X, metabolic syndrome. What we genetically apple-shaped people get from our daddies (in my case). High BP, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high blood sugar (insulin resistance, connected with the bad brown belly fat). But then, they say 1 in 5 of us has it! - more, over 50.


Anybody else want to whine? I promise to say Awww, and Awww again. And you can tell me to stop whining and get off my bum and get rid of at least a little of that bad brown belly fat. ;)

(((hugs))) cause I am in such a giving mood and you sound like you have had a real rough time :¬( I can't whine I am to drunk pmsl
Rachx

Good heavens, being drunk is the perfect time to whine!

Here you go now: ^^^bite^^^

;)

OWWW! blimey you got sharp teeth *runs of thread shouting HELLLLLLLPPPPPP* lol

Janey, I'm not going to whine ...I am just going to send unsolicited (((((hugs)))) .

I am not sure how you're keeping your sense of humour ( 'eyes and teeth ' are my Black-winged monster ..... the very thought of what you've had done make me physically cringe ).

I will have a whinge actually, I am an 'apple' so you ain't cheered me up telling me I might inherit from my dad (deceased at 44 I'm on borrowed time!) I was hoping I would be like my mum and nan and make it to 79 :(

xx

Oh Janey

I do hope that you don't mind me leaving you a hug, you sound like such a very brave lady who has been through so much. (((hug)))

Thinking of you

xxx Shimms xxx

Now now, I ain't been through nought, really, compared to what others get to go through. Would I rather have my sister's colorectal cancer? I don't think so!

I'm peevish and grumpy about all this though, I can tell ya.


Rose, you are doomed. Not meaning to be cruel, of course. ;)

If you've got the body shape, that's it. And you do have to watch things.

My dad was convinced he would die at 65, like his father did, of the heart problems. He made it to 73. In fact, my dad's was never diagnosed until the post mortem - he was dying of metastasized melanoma, but it was the quadruple coronary artery blockage he didn't know he had that did kill him. His younger brother had a stroke at 45, and spent the next 20 years in a nursing home, before dying two years after my dad.

I can lecture all I want, and you can tell me I'm being a hypocrite. ;) Yes, it is the belly fat that is problem #1. Reduce that, and the other problems associated with the syndrome do decline.

I'm pretty sure smoking doesn't help either ... and then of course that's also probably why I have Reynaud's disease, I've now been told. Those fun numb white-blue-purple fingers in winter ...

Lol Janey, we are all doomed we all die of something ...toss up between heart at 44 or stroke at 79 ...of the two( and in fact any others) I would just be grateful of the option of the quickest :)

xx

Hi Janey, l've had lots of hugs lately from the lovely people on here and so l would like to leave you one ..........from me to you {{{{{hugs}}}}} x

Such brave folk, hugging a peevish grumpy person. ;)

(Then there are the less brave, doing it by PM!)

Doesn't anybody have anything they want to whine about??

We could start on teeth ... but I'd rather not ... I'm with Rose, teeth and eyes, stay away from 'em.

Rose: get your dentist to introduce you to Ativan. The intake nurse for my last surgery also instructed me to demand my Ativan when I walked in the door on the day of surgery. So I did. They insisted on taking my bp etc. first, but then they got on it. Since I was going to keep yapping about it until I got it. Staying up all night the night before works too. No sleep + Ativan leads to a nap in the surgery waiting room for the two hours you wait while they give you all the drops before eye surgery, and being much more receptive to the sedative during. ;)

I am sooooo not going to whine.... I still have my nose pressed to the ruddy medical dictionary trying to work out all the stuff you've been poked around with.... then I shall decide whether you have an *aw, bless (((hugs))))* or the full works.... aw bless, (((((hugs))))) ((((cwtches)))) (more powerful than hugs... ancient Welsh Witchery) and half a dozen candles lit for you and an all night vigil by yours truly (I will, of course, save that for a night when I can't sleep anyway... it will save time and energy)

What I will say is... I would rather have my Hickman line, and al the drugs and stuff going through that... and my sicky drug driver to stop the sickness... any day, than have people poking around with my eyes... one of my nasty drug reactions was neurological damage which affected my eyesight for a while.... they weren't sure how much would come back... but that is what I feared more than anything... I am, happily, ok now, with a new eye prescription...


So sod you, Janey ((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))) xxxxxxxx ((((((((cwtches)))))))))) and am off to light you a candle!! For you this time, not your mum and sister ((((((hugs to them, too)))))))

Love

Daff xxxx

You pay the £1000 insurance to get me over there.... and I'll hug you in person.... I can, of course, throw you to the ground in one swift movement (as long as my rheumatoid arthritis isn't playing up) if you should try to bite me... I did work with adults with very challenging behaviours, lol ;¬))

Love

Daff xxxx

Suspicious paranoid that I am ... you're sure that

((((cwtches))))

doesn't have something to do with that itching powder stuff being talked about over on General??

It's true, there is particular horror associated with eyes and eyesight. (I should have had a thought for the poor reader before carrying on about it all, shouldn't I?!)

That's why I was so concerned that the new lens in the bad eye not leave me unable to read w/o glasses. Being somewhere alone, not able to read the printed word - it would be like being illiterate, the unfortunate souls who say "I forgot my glasses" when they have never been taught to read. Isolated.

Even that doesn't seem to have worked, although when all you can see properly is
\
it's kinda hard to tell. ;)

Fortunately, the left eye, the one that was uneventful, is set at perfect distance for the computer monitor! Fortunately for whom, hmm ...

But it ain't life-threatening. Unless I stop being extra careful about figuring out how far away those cars are when I'm jaywalking. ;)

No.... I'll go and google it in a minute to prove it... cwtches are Welsh Granny Hugs........ the very best sort!!

See you in an hour or three... I always get sidetracked when I google, lol

Love

Daff xxxx

cwtches=welsh for hugs.

Which you will not get from me,
I am now looking for the sick bag after all this attention seeking,sympathy gushing slop you appear to be soliciting from all and sundry.

One eyed old witches such as yourself only deserve the rough end of peoples tongues,not tea and sympathy.

I can bite from a distance, you. ;)

Ah, the arrogance of the young.....er. They think it will not happen to them!

No cataracts, no teeth that break when you eat a nice soft milk choccie bar, no suddenly finding yourself faced with a GP named Kara or Kylie who must have been in kindergarten when you were ... well, wherever you spent your misspent 30s ...

It will! And that is our revenge. ;)

Well yer not getting a hug from me Janey.....I sure don't want to catch what you have....no way...no siree

You'd almost think I'd posted this so I'd get huggggs, wouldncha?

Truth, I truly do hate hugs. I used to share office space with some kinda alternative types (I was too, an alternative type lawyer, but they were like massage-y alternative types), and a couple of them would hug me on purpose every time they saw me just to watch me cringe.

Diane, how about a little nibble in return? not with the canines. ;)

Susan with etc. - you're right, I don't (finally) get my H1N1 shot until Tuesday. Didn't have time when I was there on Thurs, because I have to lurk around for a half hour, just in case I actually am allergic to the egg in the serum ... and decide to swell up and die ...


Whining really does have therapeutic value, you know! I'm a firm believer. ;)

Even one eyed witches are entitled to a hug from time to time Vivienne.

Leaves a big ((((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))))) for Janey & her one eye.

oﮅ●

Steve
xx

Awww, that was just Viv giving me a hug.

She practising for her public speaking engagement in the new year!
"How to win friends and influence people through genealogy". ;)

Now, which eye is it that has to dodge that last one ...