State of my vision
This week I had my yearly eye exam to keep track of the nerve damage I had 6 years ago that cost me some of the vision in my left eye.
One of the big parts of this is measuring my visual field, or if I have blank spots in my vision. When it first cropped up in the fall of 2016 about 30% of it was gone and my optic nerve was still swollen making it worse.
The eye drops they gave me (Brimonidine) reduced the swelling and the nerves did begin to heal.
The last few weekends doing the sword shows out in the sun I’ve been checking the field myself and believed that I’ve slipped back some. Not much, but it seemed like at bit in the lower left that I had recovered again had faded away.
I really wanted to see if the test agreed.
Getting them to take the measurement is difficult. Twice over those 6 years I’ve gotten there and been told that the person who runs that machine isn’t there and I have to come back another time.
After that happened last year the doctor said “Call first and if they can’t do that test, don’t come in. I won’t charge you.”
The day before the exam I called.
“You aren’t down for that test,” the receptionist said.
“I am 100% sure I should be. That test is the main reason I have this appointment each year,” I replied.
“I’ll have to check with the doctor.”
“Do that. I’ll wait.”
“He’s with someone else right now…”
“Talk to him afterwards and call me back. If I can get that test I cancel the appointment.”
“You have to cancel 24 hours or more in advance…”
“It is 24 hours, 57 minutes and 12 seconds until my appointment. I’m telling you now that if I can’t get that test I’m cancelling it. So, it is up to you to get that answer in the next 57 minutes and 4 seconds.”
“I’ll call you back.”
They called back and said everything was all set.
The next morning I got there and waited in their lobby where they have chairs that sound like very loud Whoopi cushions.
“Don’t worry, it’s the chair!” I said to the waiting room after the loud fart noise when I sat down. “This is their way to keep social distance between us.”
They all nodded, and no one sat near me.
When I was called in all the preliminary tests were done and the woman doing the exam started reaching for the eye drops.
“I need the visual field done first,” I said to her.
“That’s not on your paperwork.”
“I called about it yesterday and confirmed it with the doctor.”
“He didn’t write it down.”
“Please check with him, I’ll wait.”
“If he wanted you to have that, he’d have written it down.”
“I’ll wait while you check with him, or I’ll go home. Either way, no eye drops before that test.”
She walked off while I looked over the new equipment in the exam room.
Fifteen minutes ticked by.
A different tech came in and told me to follow him.
He brought me to the equipment for the test I needed and ran the test.
“See,” the doctor said pointing towards the screen once it was over. “You were worried it was getting worse, but it is very stable from year to year.”
He flipped through the images of the last few years.
“Last year it was 95%, this year it’s 91%,” I said, looking at his screen.
“And, the two years before that 88%,” he said. “It’s stable with a bit of fluctuation that could be testing variation or just a bit of day to day change.”
“There is no doubt there are good and bad days,” I said. “It just seems to me that it is leaning a bit more to the bad these days.”
“This is a good result. Leveling off at 90% or more is better than we hoped 6 years ago.”
You can look at it two ways, the change compared in over all percentage, or how much it has changed with respect to other years:
Of course it is all better than when it dropped to about 65% back in 2016. I don’t have the charts for that, but it was bad.
There was one part I consider funny when he was asking me if I remembered my results from a few years ago as we looked at his computer with all his equipment behind us.
“I noticed you had a new mount for your optical equipment,” I replied, without looking back at it. “It’s painted a slightly darker shade than the one here last year and uses a different drive mechanism to position it towards or away from the patient. I’m sure the rack and pinion gives you better control than that old cone drive system, and the replacement parts would be cheaper.”
“You didn’t mention the handles.”
“I thought them so obvious to not require mentioning. But, I will say that the padding on them almost certainly makes it easier for you to pull it out and push it back.”
“I bought it for the padded handles.”
“They’re very nice.”
“So, we’ve established you have a good memory and probably noticed the details of the report on my screen. You should be able to tell there is no significant difference over the last several years.”
“Yeah, but I was hoping for better.”
91% is good.
If we had tested my left eye first, it might have been higher. I’ve got trouble with the test as it goes on. It’s almost hypnotic and I’ve got to remember to keep pushing the button. So, I’m not worried about it being worse.
But, it would be nice if it was a little better…