Friday, May 18, 2007

Russian Roulette

Every time I step into a doctor's office these days-- whether it's about me or one of my kids -- it feels like I'm stuck playing this horrible game yet again.


A six-chambered cylinder -- loaded with one deadly (or potentially maiming) round -- is spun.

And the damn thing doesn't stop spinning for hours, days, weeks-- sometimes months.

Thankfully, the chamber has always been empty.

So, yes-- I win again.

Still have narrow angles.

Am still gonna need laser surgery at some point.

But-- there's no sign of any damage.

Visual field test-- perfect.

Corneal thickness test-- better than perfect.

People, I got me some mighty thick corneas -- which bodes extremely well for anyone at risk for any form of glaucoma.

What this all means is that we can rule out those scary, low-level narrow-angle attacks the doc was concerned I might be having.

(Thank. God.)

In the meantime -- though narrow -- I've still got a good amount of space:

On a scale of 1-4 (with 4 being "wide open" and 1 "needing surgery now") -- my angles are a whopping 2.

I wasn't exactly thrilled when the doc shared this rating with me-- but then she went on to describe the rather nasty sounding, four-tiered 0 to 1 scale...

So what's next?

We monitor it.

I go in at least once a year-- or if I experience any symptoms of an angle-closure attack.

Of course, I didn't leave this all sit without asking a boatload of questions-- ending my barrage with this one:

"If these were your eyes, and you got these test results-- would you just have the surgery?"

"Sandra, I'd wait. Though it's a pretty benign procedure, you likely won't need it for quite some time. Of course, as you get older and develop cateracts, your angles will certainly become more narrow, regardless-- simply because of the aging process."

"Cataracts? Wait-- I'm gonna get cataracts."

Eyes roll, a hint of a smile, and then:

"Sandra, everyone gets cataracts."

"Oh."


7 comments:

Val said...

Well, it's a relief that you keep "winning" - but no fun to keep pulling that trigger. {{hugs}}

Hoping for more good news for you guys - and I am relieved Joseph won't be going to that middle school - the principal seemed like an idiot in your post.

BTW that ballerina pic was adorable!

Bernard said...

Sandra

That's great.

And he's right. If we're blessed to live long enough, we all get cataracts.

Paige said...

Glad to hear your good news!

Shannon said...

What??!! We all get cataracts???? Great.

Good to hear things are good with you though :)

Minnesota Nice said...

Sandra, the only thing I can say is thank goodness this was caught early. Yes, you will constantly be preoccupied with symptoms, but you can live (and see well) with that.

art-sweet said...

Whew. I'm glad to hear this, and hope that the bullets will stop flying by your head. And yes, the ballerina picture was ADORABLE.

Chris said...

Perfect. I wonder when i am scheduled to get my cataracts. I can hardly wait.