Hi
@Amberleigh7 , went through almost same disease pathway as you described here above, though my retinopathy bleedings, laser treatments and ultimately one vitrectomy happened a couple of years earlier when I was around 26yo.
First thing to be clear is though that every single person is different and all experiences are personal and may or may not appear alike for other persons despite the root cause of the misery is the same. That darn diabetes disease...
As the bleedings appeared on both eyes within very short intervals I also had 6- months over the next two years where I were virtually blind on either one of both eyes. Reading was not possible for more than a year, as too many floaters swimming around even in my most clear eye. So that put a shocking hard stop on my studies. And its not until such episode where one really appreciate how magic it is to see anything in this world.
My diabetes therapy had until that time just been one daily shot of long-acting insulin. And then the idea was that you should eat a fixed diet every single day to 'feed the insulin'. That was back then...
Gadgets for home monitoring bg levels had just come out to clinical trials and it became possible to switch onto intensive insulin therapy with 4+ shots per day using fast acting insulin for each of your main meals. I switched on to that. My bg control improved dramatically and I probably also matured with regards to taking care of my body and set better priorities on what I did in life. Over the next 2 years I went through many laser sessions to get both eyes fixed. I also had to go through some corrective surgery as some scar tissue from the bleedings had started to pull in my retina on one eye, with risk of tearing it off completely. That was the time it was decided I needed robot surgery on the retina and then do a vitrectomy at the same time, as that eye did not really clear well up after the last bleedings.
The next 6-8 weeks were really bad, but then suddenly the operated eye cleared fully up. Not a single floater anymore due to the replaced vitreous body. My vision on that eye was back to 20/20. But what the doctors had not told me was that during the surgery procedure they also took the opportunity to really hammer it bad with laser around all the peripheral vision area. Afterwards I totally understand why. But it took some time to get used to what appeared then as sudden 'tunnel vision'. But after a short while your brain gets used to it and you don't really notice it anymore. 25 years later I had a cataract surgery on that same eye to replace a blurred lens. Apparently a frequent 'long-term complication' when having had previous surgery on an eye, as that can disturb the vascularization and nutrition of the lens.
But after getting much better diabetes control back then, I have not had any further changes on my retinas. I go to eye control once every year, and still has a great vision on both eyes. Most important is to maintain your focus area (the macula) in healthy condition, as that ensure you can still read and function in most circumstances. Loss of some spots in the peripheral areas are less important, especially if you still have two functioning eyes as they can compensate for each other to give you 'the full picture'.
Again, this was just my story. We are all different and I am certain we have several fellow diabetics on this forum with other or similar stories to share with you. Number one priority is though in any case to get the bg levels in as good control as possible.
Best wishes and fingers crossed!
