Don Denton is Monocular

July 3, 2009 | Filed Under Uncategorized 

A week and a day after my second eye operation the vision in my right eye is like looking up from the bottom of a pool. That’s an improvement from the blackness of last week.

Nearly three weeks ago I was in a meeting when I started to see large black objects floating through my line of sight. I was disconcerted at the suddenness of the event and the realization that I could see the objects but the person I was talking to was totally unaware of what was going on. As soon as she left I called my eye doctor.

He detected bleeding in the eye and had me to a retina specialist first thing the following morning and I was in surgery at 2pm – day surgery – a few days off work but nothing too alarming aside from the fact it was my eye. The retina had detached at the top and with the application of extreme cold to the afflicted area and a small gas bubble injected in the eye to hold everything in place, all looked good. Sure I had to stay erect for three days to keep the bubble in the proper place but a small price to pay for proper healing.

A week later I was in for a post surgery followup and all looked great at 8AM. At 1PM I noticed a black shape moving into my field of vision. A hurried call to the doctor and I was back to see him at 3:30 following his surgeries.  This time the retina had torn badly and was continuimg to tear. I now had blackness over almost half my vision.

Major surgery was needed and no one could do it in Victoria so we hurried for the ferry  (a drawback of Island living). Made the ferry and I got to sit during the crossing watching the blackness move to 3/4.

At Vancouver General, an examination showed that my right eye was no longer and emergency as the damage as done but surgery was needed and would be done in two days. The exam also showed tiny tears in my left eye so immediate laser surgery was needed. The pain wasn’t so bad but the intense light was beyond anything I’d experienced.

Another exam the next morning and more laser surgery.

The next day after waiting  and pre surgery preparation I was finally knocked out for a couple of hours and and woke up with an eye buckled back together and filled with gas (no flying/no high passes for at least 6 weeks).

Four days of lying face down – amazing how you notice all the tiny details in the table top or bedsheet and now 2-3 weeks at home of taking it easy.

The eye currently looks like a bad sci fi experiment but appears to be healing properly. Even the new extreme redness caused by tiny blood vessels that keep bursting is apparently okay  as my doctor reasssured me after a panicked visit yesterday.

Lots of time to think about eyes, vision, seeing, photography, art and life.

I am currently monocular but hope to be soon binocular again.

A note  to mention – we complain a lot about our medical system but when they need to step up to the plate, certainly in this case, everything happens fast. Thanks. There is/was no reason reason for this health event. It can just happen.

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