Where to start?

I am typing this out with one eye that is presently seeing 20/20 while the other I see nothing through my centre vision, it’s a hazy veil, and my peripheral vision, is webs of blood, etc.  

Once again, cataract surgery that I had last summer has reared its ugly head.  It is most likely due to the 2^nd surgery done last October, to correct a problem in one of the lenses that the ophthalmologist had not been able to insert properly in the beginning (previous blogs explain it all).  Monday comes around (Family Day here in Ontario where everything is closed), with less than a week before seeing him, for follow up, I started to see a lot of floaters, which are blood bits which originally I thought were tiny flies due to a new rose plant I’d been given for Valentine's Day.  Along with these dots, webs, flashes of light in the peripheral vision of that eye ... I thought "fruitcake" what's happening now (if I could turn back time is playing through my head alot over these past 6 months).

Of course, things go through your noggin as you search Dr. Google.  Is it retinopathy finally rearing it’s ugly head after 50+ years of having Type 1 diabetes?  Am I having a stroke (my Mum, had one back in December that caused her to lose her eyesight in one eye)?  Am I developing perhaps a 3^rd eye?

Joking aside, after making a call to see my ophthalmologist here, I’ve found what I figured it was via Dr. Google.  Posterior Vitreous Detachment or PVD. It’s common as we age, doesn’t cause blindness, yadda, yadda, yadda.  The 2^nd cataract surgery, where I felt very uncomfortable to the point of puking, which I didn’t get with the original surgery, was due to the surgeon giving the eyeball a good workout as he placed the another lens into the eye.  My personal opinion, not that the surgeon will probably admit it, is that 2^nd surgery most likely put a lot of strain on the vitreous which surrounds your eyeball.  You can read more about it if you wish from the link above that explains it all very well.

“ PVD itself is not a sign of a disease or eye health problem “

I like that above statement, since I am now looking out of one good eye, and trying my best to wait for the blobs, haziness to disappear, which they say can take up to 6 months and sometimes longer.  I am trying to make myself feel better by saying that at least the retina hasn’t detached, things could be worse.  The things we folks do with various health problems say to ourselves to stay sane.  What me sane???

Again, as my previous blogs have stated with my saga of cataract surgery … 

DO NOT HAVE IT DONE IF IT IS NOT NECESSARY!! 

Also, don't have both eyes done at the same time as a precaution against possible problems.  I would not have to be dealing with this if I’d just listened to my inner gut saying not to do it and my Mum too.

Rosina Kiff - 1935 - 2018 and me, Ann(a) Kiff >^,,<

Cranky one eyed cat

Yuppers, that's been me pretty well since my cataract surgery (see the original post HERE) - that has left one eye slightly buggered up for seeing properly. 

I am hoping I am doing the right thing here, since tomorrow, I am going back under the knife - to remove the original lens ... and have a new one put in place (with or without stitches - it all depends according to my surgeon Dr. Tarkek Youssef ... and yes ... I'm bloody scared!!! 

Like all of us with diabetes, our fear is always having diabetic complications with our eyes.  So far, touch wood, I've been blessed, but since the surgery back in July, it's been non stop problems that have left me drained emotionally, since I depend highly on my eyesight for the work I do.  I have finally, after 4 months, learned to accept my limited vision which varies daily, but it's put a lot of stress on everyone around me, since I can get a wee bit impatient sometimes!

I think my biggest fear tomorrow is ... the surgeon is performing surgery at the local hospital here in Cornwall rather than in his office (where my original surgery was done privately).  In the past (see my post of how my blood sugars over a 6 hour surgery caused DKA HERE), staff do not have much knowledge of Type 1 diabetics or the devices we use to stay healthy and out of overcrowded ER's!  It'll be interesting to see how things go with my wearing the Omnipod, and whether the PDM device also will be allowed in the OR ... along with the Dexcom CGMS.  If I was able to have my DH in the OR, or someone who has knowledge of what to do incase of alarms ... I would be more at ease. 

So, hopefully the next time you see a blog post or post on Facebook ...  I'll be more perky ... and I'll be able to perform my job that has been sadly sacrificed due to limited vision (my work requires good eyesight).  Though if I have to only have vision in one eye - I'm sure I'd be rocking a eyepatch that is out of sight!

Handmade eye patch from https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/iPatching

I've Got My Eyes On You

Before I go on ... all I can say is #prayersforlasvegas ... words cannot describe my feelings of what happened in Las Vegas Sunday night. 

Last Friday night, one of my neighbours commented that my inner eyeball looked red.  It felt abit hot and itchy (I'm still not sure if I maybe had scratched it earlier, but since being told women are the worst out of the sexes to have eye irritations due to rubbing their eyes, I now am vigilant to NOT rub) .  If you think this is all poppy cock ... go check out this link to learn how dangerous it can be!

When I was washing my face later at night as I prepared for zzzzz time I saw how the blood vessels had broken in the corner of my eye.  Pretty ugly to say the least, but it was when I opened my eye up wide, I discovered what looked like a clump of cottage cheese.  Of course, I freaked out, when after washing my hands carefully, I couldn't dislodge it.  When my DH eventually heard me, he tried with a Q-tip.  No luck.  So, off to ER at Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) we went.

Three hours later ... it was mutually decided to not remove it (the on call doctor said he could but to me that's like having a dentist do plastic surgery).  My ophthalmologist luckily was on call that weekend so he would be contacted the next day.  Main thing, they determined it was nothing serious and to use lubricating drops every hour.  I felt abit stupid going to ER, but they've told me that I did the right thing, especially being a Type 1 diabetic.  The fear of losing my our sight is always in the back of our minds, or it is for me!

So fast forward to Monday, which is today.  Took a cool stroll into downtown, and discovered that what the white clump is all to do with is the "Dropless/No Drops Long Acting Meds" that you see in the bill below when I had double cataract surgery performed at the end of July.  It will dissolve in time, and as the surgeon said, it lasts a long time.  I went this route rather than drops due to already having enough to remember about with diabetes and other meds I take.  This way, bing ... it's done ... though as he explained ... he thinks he should now maybe warn his patients about what may occur.

If you notice below, in the bill ... I went private due to feeling unsure about how I'd be treated at the CCH as a Type 1 diabetic wearing an insulin pump and CGM.  Also, any laser correction required for follow up to lens implant, is covered with this charge (this is where I'm abit puzzled, if I'd gone public, then I'd be paying for this???).  Laser has been performed once to remove cloudiness on the implanted lenses, called posterior capsule opacification (PCO) and is often more common in younger cataract patients - so that must mean I'm not an old fart <lol>.  Laser will probably be performed again to hopefully correct my other eye that surgeon had difficulty placing lens into the vitreous so it's sitting more securely (that eye had the bigger cataract .. my buggered up eye in this blog had just a itsy bitsy one starting).  Today, he also talked of removing that lens and suturing a new one in place rather than compromising my thinning vitreous.  The things I learned today when he was open and honest with both myself and my husband.

From a personal point of view, which is why I haven't written in awhile ... I wish I had never had the cataract surgery and saved the $3K for something else (wine, holiday, yadda, yadda).  I also wish I had not gone with having BOTH eyes done.  I only had a small cataract starting in the other eye (the eye that you see here in this post) ... the other one was supposedly larger.  I miss my glasses (have been wearing them since Grade 5), and during this process of recovery, miss having good vision.  My vision was never that bad even with needing extra light once in awhile due to the larger cataract, plus I only wore glasses for driving since my eyesight had been improving over the years believe it or not.  Now, both distance and close up ... are buggered up - I have my good days of seeing semi-clear ... and bad days where I frustrate myself and my husband to no end when I'm trying to read a recipe or magazine (I do not read as much or watch TV now that often - which I miss so much).  Again, I keep on telling myself it's still early days as other cataract patients (thanks Dad) have told me as well as my surgeon.

The only thing I can leave you with, if you are like myself, having doubts about going for cataract surgery along with the promise from your ophthalmologist of having perfect vision (which most times does happen ... along with not wearing glasses if you dislike wearing them).  DO YOUR RESEARCH ... this is coming from someone who researches diligently when creating a blog like this and didn't for her own health. I sadly, did not, and only saw afterwards a statement at the RNIB (see below) that if your vision is NOT helped by changing your lenses, then having cataract surgery is probably your best option.

If you need more help in understanding about cataracts, I highly recommend the Royal Institute of Blind People based in the UK ... it has amazing information ... written in easy to understand terms ... you can find a downloadable .pdf file at this website link.  If you're wondering about complications like I've just had with this surgery, check out All About Vision at this website link.

NB: the wait time for cataract surgery varies from province to province in Canada.  I was told if I'd not gone private that it would not be performed until 6 months later.  If you're Canadian and reading this, you maybe able to find a similar link like this one for Ontario wait times. 

Update to blog 2023-10-21  - with another link  below to a post that was written a few months later - when surgeon removed lens that they'd had problems with - and my fear of hospitals that don't understand Type 1 Diabetic patients - entitled Cranky One Eyed Cat .