December 02, 2016

Is No News Really Good News?

If so, have I got good news for you.  Because really, I don't have anything new to add here.

I am delighted to say that summer is finally over and the weather is terrific.  We finally closed on our land the Friday before Thanksgiving.  We had hoped to be able to get the building ball rolling immediately, but we've had delays here just as we had with both closings.

Even though I have more free time now, I have less internet time.  We couldn't use our last internet provider here and didn't want to sign a year or two contract for another one, so thought we'd just use the hotspot on our phones.  We burned through six gigs in just a few weeks.  We just bought a dedicated hotspot last week and started with six gigs.  I went to the library to read blogs and compose my answers and blog post and came home to post it.  Hopefully, that will work for me without using too much data.  It is a pain though.  I don't log into anything on the library internet.  It may be safe, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

Since we are living in such small quarters, I packed all my fabric and most of my quilting tools.  I did bring three sewing machines here because I didn't want anything to happen to them in storage.  I also brought my English paper piecing because it takes up so little room.  With my eye problems, I didn't think I'd be doing any kind of sewing though.  However, I found that the hand sewing is much easier to see than using the sewing machine because I can get it just the right distance from my eyes.  I can even thread a needle without too much effort.  I've been spending time every day working on my hexie project.



It is cat approved too.  Buddy has decided he likes being a house cat, and loves being a lap cat every evening.

I don't remember what I last said about my eyesight.  So a short review: I've had a retinal tear in each eye and now macular pucker in each eye which causes a blurry distortion even with glasses.  At my last visit, the doctor said the puckers were progressing rapidly and recommended surgery.  We left believing that without the surgery, my vision would continue to deteriorate until I couldn't see anything without this fairly risky surgery. His diagnosis seemed to prove correct as over the last month, I've noticed that it is harder to read signs while driving and even to identify things on the side of the road.

So today, I went to another doctor for a second opinion.  Another reason I wanted to see another doctor is because the first doctor doesn't explain anything and I wanted to know exactly what to expect.  This doctor not only explained what was going on, he showed me the pictures of my macula, and explained that, for me, this surgery is risky because it actually would be three separate surgeries.  Also, he said that the surgery probably wouldn't do anything for my right eye and only slightly improve the vision in my left eye.  One line up on the eye chart, he said.  Not enough improvement for three surgeries.  He didn't recommend surgery right now.  Good news though; he said even if the macular pucker continued to get worse, it wouldn't cause blindness, and if it did get a lot worse, then we could do the surgery.

In the meantime, he suggested an optometrist who might be able to tweak the refraction with glasses so I can continue to drive and read signs and maps.   I'm not putting a lot of hope in that, but it is encouraging.  We learned more in fifteen minutes with him than we had in ten months with the other doctor.

5 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your eye problems, but it's good you found a better doctor to guide you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you got the second opinion. Sounds like a wise choice and I think you'd have not been happy with the first doctor did the surgery. Sounds like it won't do much.

    You are in my thoughts and prayers for obtaining better eyesight.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  3. First, when I tried to get to your blog, twice, I was taken to another unknown site. Twice. This time, your blog stayed on my screen.

    just telling you. because how would you know, if no one told you? maybe i'm the only one, but.....

    Good that you got 2nd opinion and a doc you like better!

    Best of luck with your health issues. I need luck, with mine. ,-0

    Luna Crone

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry to hear that the eye problems have continued to get worse. Glad you found a good doctor, it's amazing what a difference that can make. Hopefully the work on your new place will get started before too much longer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, I am so sorry to hear of this progression. You know I have complete empathy for you. I am sure you are taking the eye vitamins - be sure to continue. It is hard to get older. We just seem to fall apart - piece by piece.

    Hope you get that building ball rolling very soon. I know you would love to be in your very own place. Glad Buddy has come so far!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make my day and I look forward to visiting your blog too! If you are a no-reply blogger and don't have your blog on your profile, could you write it in your comment so I can visit you? Thanks! Due to a recent spamming problem, comments with links and unidentified anonymous comments will be deleted.