the eyes have it

Have you ever had one of those moments when you are waiting for some news, and you realized, “Wow. This could either by just a normal blip on the radar or it could be the first moment of a major turn in my life”?

That’s the thought that was running through my mind Monday night at the beginning of a crazy and unexpected week. The end result fell somewhere in the middle — thank God! But it was eventful enough to at least get me to update my blog after a couple months of silence.

It all started Sunday evening when Capable Dad was complaining about his vision being kind of wonky. He woke up late Monday, battling a headache and complaining of double vision, blurred vision and some dizziness. I guess he thought it was just a Monday morning fog, so he headed for the train.

By the time he got downtown, he was struggling to keep up with the commuters on his walk from the train to the office. His vision was significantly impaired, and he was miserable with a headache and trouble focusing.

He got in to see his doctor that afternoon. The doctor was too concerned to just do blood work and send him home. Instead, he sent him to the ER.

He was there for about five hours, going through tests and blood work. By this time, he had lost a lot of vision in his right eye. I was trying to remain calm, telling myself it was probably just the result of stress and a busy weekend. But after they took him back for a CAT scan of his brain, my mind starting racing in a million directions.

It’s in those moments that you realize how quickly your life could possibly change!

We went home late that night with the reassurance the CAT scan was clear, but no other answers.

We went to see an eye doctor first thing Wednesday morning. I fully expected the hubs to wake up and say his vision was all better, but that didn’t happen. The reaction of the ophthalmologist could best be described as “confused.”

“If you were 20 years older, I would say you have macular degeneration,” the doctor told my husband. He said he could see blood and fluid building up behind the eye. He didn’t give us a diagnosis, but looked quite concerned.

Our next step was to see a retina specialist. We found a great doctor who was willing to squeeze us in that afternoon.

His reaction was the same as the other eye doctor. Capable Dad’s eye looked as though he had macular degeneration, a condition that is common among older people and often leads to blindness. This made my heart sink because my grandmother and great aunt both had macular degeneration and eventually were almost completely blind.

The final diagnosis was actually retinal neovascularization. Like macular degeneration, it’s a condition that the doctor said he rarely sees in a patient in his 40s, with no health problems and normal vision. The doctor said this would be common if my husband was 70 or 80 or if he had diabetes, but it’s extremely rare to see someone his age with this condition. A short explanation is that blood was leaking into his retina, causing him to lose vision in the center of his eye.

The treatment is to give him a shot directly in the eye once a month for at least six months. They gave him his first shot right away, which was good because who wants to come in for a later appointment knowing someone is going to give you a shot in the eye!?

The doctor said it could take several treatments to see improvement in his vision. This morning, the hubs is feeling like someone stuck a needle in his eye. Oh, wait!
Seriously, though… he has a very sore eye and knows it could be a while before his eyes are able to focus correctly. But we are super thankful to know what was happening and how to move forward!