proliferative retinopathy I'M SO SCARED

[the_anticarb]

Yes best of luck leb. We will all be thinking of you. These things are almost always easier than you expect hope it is the same in your case.

Anticarb MrC was very insistent that I see him on a particular date and didn't see anyone else in the meanime. Thats why I have been keeping away from the hospital .

Not his first BTW,

No way! I thought he said it was his first baby (a girl btw) - does he have more then? A whole brood of mini mr.C's......

[leb]

Hi evertone
Well eent into hospital n wed for my op had it done thurs and came home this afternoon. It is very painful and swollen but i guess thays to be expected. The doc wad quite straight about how risky tjis ead before i went down and when i saw him today he said it didnt go as bad as e expected which i guess is a good thing. I have an air bubnle so have to lay face down untill sunday which is difficult. I also cant see anything out of that eye other than feint shaddows which is scary but he said thats bevause of the air bubble. he said its too early to tell if iys been successgul so im just praying it has. He dif laser in my other eye too and thats now very blurry so im feelung a bit sorry formyself niw.
Hope it starts to feel better soon i know i have just gotta be patient.
Hope u are all doing wrll x

[Robinredbreast]

Hi evertone
Well eent into hospital n wed for my op had it done thurs and came home this afternoon. It is very painful and swollen but i guess thays to be expected. The doc wad quite straight about how risky tjis ead before i went down and when i saw him today he said it didnt go as bad as e expected which i guess is a good thing. I have an air bubnle so have to lay face down untill sunday which is difficult. I also cant see anything out of that eye other than feint shaddows which is scary but he said thats bevause of the air bubble. he said its too early to tell if iys been successgul so im just praying it has. He dif laser in my other eye too and thats now very blurry so im feelung a bit sorry formyself niw.
Hope it starts to feel better soon i know i have just gotta be patient.
Hope u are all doing wrll x

Aaawww leb thank you for letting us know how it went. My prayers are with you as well and I hope it will be a good outcome for you and has been sucessful . You have been through so much, like a lot of the 'poorly eye' members on here. Please take good care of yourself and btw laying face down until Sunday, whoa, it does sound very difficult Thinking of you with lots and lots of very good wishes RRB XXX

[dazzer1975]

Just wanted to wish you all the very best leb for your treatment, retinopathy must be an horrendously frightening thing to go through.

[shop]

Just wanted to wish you all the very best leb for your treatment, retinopathy must be an horrendously frightening thing to go through.

Me too, wishing you a positive and speedy recovery.

Lucy xxx

[leb]

Thanks everyone.
Still feeling prwtty sire ans swollen and im told it looks pretty nasty but i guess all the bruising and blood ate still coming out. My vision is still non exustant but im guessing thats because the air bubble hasnt yet dispersed.
Only a few more hours of laying face down so that will be a relief when i can sit up agsin.
Thanks again for all your kind words

[Robinredbreast]

Thanks everyone.
Still feeling prwtty sire ans swollen and im told it looks pretty nasty but i guess all the bruising and blood ate still coming out. My vision is still non exustant but im guessing thats because the air bubble hasnt yet dispersed.
Only a few more hours of laying face down so that will be a relief when i can sit up agsin.
Thanks again for all your kind words

Hello leb, How are you feeling today, any improvement It must be a huge relief for you to be able to sit up again. I am crossing everything for you to have a postitive outcome Take care Best wishes RRB

[leb]

Hi rrb, yes a huge relief that i can be upright again. The eye still feels sore and looks pretty horrid but the pain isnt too bad. The sight still hasnt returned i just have about a 1cm sectuon across the top of my vision that looks like im looking tjrouhh very thick fog!! Im a little concerned but as i can still see the outline of thw air bubble im putting it down to the favt it hasnt yet dispersed. Th doc said it should go within a few days and also said i wouldnt see tjrougj.it so thats whst im hoping is the cade. I have researched and alot of people say their sir bubble took up to a week to go so am prsying im just one that it takes longwr to disperse and once it does hopefully ill get some sort of vision back! :-/
Thanks for the message its nuce to kniw people care x

[the_anticarb]

I found it really helped to speak to other sufferers. I know some people object to being called a 'sufferer' but if you have retinopathy to the degree Leb and I did, believe me, you suffer.
It was hard for 'normal' people to really get just how frightening it was to not be able to see properly, the 'picture' we all take for granted was suddenly damaged, the screen was cracked and I think it is natural for the body to go into some sort of panic mode when such an important part is no longer working properly. I know that I was losing my mind at times particulary as I was not getting good treatment from my local hospital in my hour of need, although I know Leb has been more fortunate.
It is lucky that we at least do have treatment today compared to the diabetics of yesteryear, I can only imagine how frightening it must have been for those diabetics of 50 years ago or more to be facing certain blindness and with nothing the doctors can do. Or those in other countries where medical treatment is inaccessible.
I know that my retinopathy experience has had a profound effect on me, I am no longer as carefree as I used to be, I am much more risk-averse and I dont' really feel safe or secure anymore in the way that I used to. Its like a shadow in the corner of my life.I also find myself getting insanely jealous of anyone who is healthy and does not have to worry about this (or the diabetes itslef)
I just hope that for Leb me or anyone else suffering from this horrible, horrible affliction that we all get through it with our sight and our driving licenses intact.
The good news is that many people find that once they have had the treatment their condition is 'burnt out' and this can be a permanent solution if bg's are kept nice and low.

[Unbeliever]

Have been away for a few days and alhough I did look at the forum when I returned I have only just seen leb's posts.
Hope it all continues to improve for you and that it has been successful.

A few years ago when I was having an angiogram there were 6 people who were waiing in the clinic wih me who had just had vitrectomies. We had a long wait and all felt like friends when we left but I have never seen even one of hem again anywhere
in he deparment so i assumed all was well wih hem and hey had no need to return. I hope the same proves to be the case for you leb.

Its good that people are speaking of heir experiences here. I realise it might scare some but when they find that others have had hese procedures and hey have proved successful it must help.

Fingers crossed for you leb, keep on with the bulleins.!

[leb]

Ac i think your previous post us so true. I dont think anyone who hasnt been through it can really understand just how frightening it is. I guess thsts the same with all things in life but that doesnt make it any easier to deal with at the time. ub i can underdtand what you say about not wanting to frighten people but i too thi k this forum is invaluable to those who face problems espevially in the beginning. It was this forum that really helped me tjrough, learning about the dreaded eye problens and getting kind words form the likes of yourself , ac and rrb to name but a few
well its a week since my op and things seem ti be going ok. Its still very red and ive developed lots of flashing whuch really concerned me. I phoned the eye ward and they saw me the same day jyst to check it out. Thankfully the doc said he couldnt see any tears ir holes appearing and tjinks the flashing iswhere the air bubbke is shrinking and moving hence pushing on the retina at times. My vision us still foggy and i have a few floaters but apparently thus us quite normal fillowing such surgery.
I know it stIll early days and i wint kniw if its been succesdful fir a goid few weeks but so far so good. I was soo pleased the other day when i went to the eye unit as i could actually see 3 letters on the eye chart ( i kniw that might sound bad to some but considering i couldnt even see the chart begore the op i was made up)
Well i hope you are all feeling well, take care x

[Robinredbreast]

Ac i think your previous post us so true. I dont think anyone who hasnt been through it can really understand just how frightening it is. I guess thsts the same with all things in life but that doesnt make it any easier to deal with at the time. ub i can underdtand what you say about not wanting to frighten people but i too thi k this forum is invaluable to those who face problems espevially in the beginning. It was this forum that really helped me tjrough, learning about the dreaded eye problens and getting kind words form the likes of yourself , ac and rrb to name but a few
well its a week since my op and things seem ti be going ok. Its still very red and ive developed lots of flashing whuch really concerned me. I phoned the eye ward and they saw me the same day jyst to check it out. Thankfully the doc said he couldnt see any tears ir holes appearing and tjinks the flashing iswhere the air bubbke is shrinking and moving hence pushing on the retina at times. My vision us still foggy and i have a few floaters but apparently thus us quite normal fillowing such surgery.
I know it stIll early days and i wint kniw if its been succesdful fir a goid few weeks but so far so good. I was soo pleased the other day when i went to the eye unit as i could actually see 3 letters on the eye chart ( i kniw that might sound bad to some but considering i couldnt even see the chart begore the op i was made up)
Well i hope you are all feeling well, take care x

Hi leb I'm keeping my fingers crossed for youX I haven't been through what some of you have been through, mine is maybe in the very early stages and I have started taking I CAPS tablets for the eyes. I don't know if it will help with the eye problem, I wont know until the new year when I go back and see Mr K. The openess and courage from the people that have poated on this thread is absolutley wonderful and I'm sure a great comfort to others. Please keep us posted on your progress, onwards and upwards leb Take care with good wishes to all RRB

[leb]

Hi all just thought id update u all with my progress. I went back to the eye unit for my 2 week check and was told its still too early to say how succesful the op was. Apparently im still high risk of further retinal detatchment and will be for the next 6 weeks it was a bit of a shock as i wasnt tod it had actually detatched before i thought it was just beig pulled.
I guess now its just another waitin game but at least it wasnt bad news as such.
Hope you are all keeping well. All tge best x

[the_anticarb]

Sorry to hear that Leb. Still no news is good news I suppose.

I've had some semi-bad news, I saw another consultant to get a second opinion on the is it safe to get pregnant issue. The good news is that the doctor thinks I can get pregnant without too much risk, but thinks my right eye, which I thought had stabilised, will need more laser. He said this may affect my driving license. So it's back to worrying about the driving license which I was kind of ok with up to now as the field test revealed my right eye had no errors. So I was banking on that getting me through. Now I am back to sqare one it seems. I know I should be happy that the doctor has said I can have another baby but I'm confused, why is he saying this if my right eye is not stable? I thought I was not supposed to get pregnant until both eyes were stable. Its like he's giving me good news and bad news in the same breath and I can't handle it, couldn't sleep last night.

I really really don't want them to mess around with my eyes anymore, and have just had enough of all of this basically.
Although I don't want more laser if the right eye is going to go like the left did, then of course it will be worth it.rather than go though all that again.
The doctor did want me to have a dye test but it costs too much and I've already given them all my money, so I think I'll have to go back on the Nhs for tests. To make it worse it would be done at the NHS hospital anyway so I wouldn't even get the nice 5 star treatment for my money!
I'm going to go back to Mr. C for a second opinion on the right eye needing laser issue. If he thinks I need it I'll ask to get referred to his NHS clinic. I keep thinking that the other doctor wasn't 100% sure, as he wanted me to have the test to check my circulation, so I don't think it is really bad, but he said there are definitely new vessels there which is not good.

Feel so depressed today, every time I think I am coming to terms with the retinopathy and on an even keel I get knocked down again.

[leb]

Chin up ac. I pm'd u already but just wanted to send you a hug (((ac))))
It just feels like a constant battle doesnt it

I had my dsn ring me today as she got results of my current hba1c and was so impressed she had to tell me. Since going on tje pump its come down again to 6.4 . I really wasnt ecpecting such a diffetence just hope the eyes dont react like they did b4.

Heres hoping for a better day 4 u tomorrow ac
Take care x