So you see – or not

Some of you may remember I ended up in the ER a week after I came back from Ireland with a weeklong headache and double vision. I was sent to see an opthamologist after that who sent me to an ophthalmic neurologist. I saw her last week.

They dilated my eyes again but with all the snow, driving home from Rochester was agonizing. Even with sunglasses on.

So after being there for three and a half hours and a battery of tests and measurements, it turns out I have several problems which may or may not have one cause but possibly more.

I have thinning of the retina – her face when I commented you mean I have anorexic eyeballs?! was funny! Poor lady, she didn’t know what to make of me. At least she found it funny!

My eyes are seated too deeply and they’ve dropped in their sockets. I’ve been saying that I thought my eyes looked sunken for the last three years or so. I was right. They need to find out why.

My eyes are also uneven, the muscles holding them are droopy. There aren’t many women who can say their balls have dropped. That’s an affliction more usually associated with the chromosomally challenged members of society! Yes, you can bet your sweet kazoo I’ll be telling people I have saggy balls!

My eyes refract at significantly different rates. I also have problems holding focus and focusing in the first place. The harder I look the less I see.

She did comment that she was surprised I wasn’t taking more headache meds. I kind of always have a low level headache, I don’t take pills until I get ‘spikes’ that are too bad to manage. Then there’s migraines too so it’s all fun in my noggin.

So now I have to have both an MRI and an MRA. They need to check for tumors, clots and aneurysms.

She said she also wants me tested for Myasthenia Gravis. The MRI and MRA are both going to be under sedation because apparently they’re going to take 3-4 hours to complete. The idea of coping with that is upsetting me more than potential diagnosis. The machines  terrify me. I’m also crap with sedation and had a bad reaction to the contrast dye last time I had a CT scan so the whole thing is just flipping wonderful. I thought they might do an MRI but the rest was a rude surprise. She said the vision problems I’m having can be corrected with a combination of surgery and prismatic lenses dependant on what the underlying cause is.

I have to wait until next month for the scans because they have to schedule a time with an mri tech, an anaesthetist and the neurologist to all be present – what a palaver. The headache neurologist is up next and she’s writing to them to coordinate an attack as it were. Hopefully all this will be sorted soon! I have to continue with eye drops 4 times a day and eye patches to try and strengthen the muscles. So that’s it for now, the neuro said she’d send me a copy of her report but big words are scary so I probably will ignore it!

72 thoughts on “So you see – or not

  1. Jeeees, so greedy to have more than one thing wrong with your peepers!

    Anorexic eyes and saggy balls, though. That’ll make a great dating profile.

    3-4hrs to MRI and MRA? That’s insane. I’ve had an MRI that lasted about 45 minutes and nearly fell asleep inside it, but I’ve never had bad reactions to sedation or the dyes for CT scans, so I can understand your concerns. They will take good care of you though, and it’ll get you to the point of knowing exactly what’s going on and what can be done to make things better.

    Does this mean you’ll be an eye-patch wearing pirate with saggy balls for Christmas?
    xx

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  2. Bless your heart! I am so sorry you are going through all this. Prayers for quick healing and recovery, whenever they get around to doing anything. Oddly enough, we make a product for an eye company to provide muscle strength under the eye. Crazy! Best of luck, and hang in there. Thank God for your sense of humor!

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  3. Thinking of you and hoping they get this sorted soon. It’s hard not to worry when you don’t know the exact diagnosis and have to wait so long to find out. Now I’m going to the mirror to study my dark sunken deep set eyes which I brushed off as symptoms of hypothyroidism…..

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      1. Try not to worry about the worst that could happen. I once worried for 7 months before an eye specialist appointment and it turned out to be NOTHING but they had scared me half to death with their it could be this, it could be that opinions! It’s always easier to cope with facts than speculation. Is it likely you will have your test before Christmas?

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  4. Dang Britchy, thanks for keeping up with your Blog and readers. I certainly appreciate the support, I just hope you’re not spending too much time in front of the computer screen. Good luck girl.

    On another note, now Mr. Britchy can’t get mad when you gets handsy with other men! Just sayin, blind people feel each other up!

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  5. You will just do anything for attention, huh. I hope your roundtable of docs coordinate to smooth out the process and provide you with some answers.

    I guess this takes precedence over the shoulder issue? Lawd…

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    1. Yes, I can’t schedule that until the head stuff is sorted. It’s painful but at least I know it’s just ‘mechanical’ – I don’t know what’s going on in my head apart from devilment!

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  6. Oh wow Britchy not good news, you are up to your eyeballs, or is it that your eyeballs are down to you, or mebbe, your eyeballs are back a bit, either way so not good. My Dad was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis and his voice turned into a Dalek , so you’re going to have sunken eyeballs and a speak like a machine – great 🙂

    Hopefully you’ll het some satisfaction, sorry about my cornea humour, sorry that they are an eyeroll but if anyone would be able to make a spectacle of themselves …, so l’ll stop now and simply iris my case 🙂

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