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Today
Start with the main news:
It looks like I don’t have tumors and my uncle is alive.
OK, the rest.
I got up about 3:30 this morning. Sent some reports to work that were due today and then drove to the Worcester train station for a train into Boston.
I was surprised that the parking lot there only takes credit cards for 5.5hours on 5 days a week. How do the machines take credit cards part of the time?
Don’t know.
Although I’m not big on getting up that early, I do actually love that time when it is still dark and very few people are around.
From the train platform I could see my car asking "why didn’t you take me to Boston?"
I stood by this sign.
The train did not board there.
But, I did get on.
I went to the address where I was told the Eye Center was, and found something I didn’t expect.
The good news is, there is a medical building above the Wang Theater. So, up on the 11th floor:
Pokemon go tried to convince me there were no Pokestops in Boston.
Once I rebooted the phone it was closer to what I expected.
I wasn’t there to see the Director Director. Just the regular Director.
I got there an hour early. But, without breakfast. So, I figured there must be some place to eat breakfast in Boston.
As I took the elevator towards the floor, and woman with an ID badge of the hospital got in, so I asked her.
She led me on a winding path through the hospital to the lobby 3 buildings away where there were a bunch of places to eat.
I got back in plenty of time to be ready for my appointment. They took me only 20 minutes late…
I went through almost all the tests again.
The doctor who saw me seemed very competent.
Sadly, he can’t say why my optic nerve has swelled. He said it is happening to a lot of people these days, but they do not yet know why. He says he sees about 2 new cases a day.
There are a lot of factors that could go into it.
High blood pressure, sleep apnea, high eye pressure, and maybe other factors.
He thinks my taking my high blood pressure before bed could be part of the problem. He says blood pressure normally is low when you’re asleep and I might be making it even lower so the blood can’t get into the tiny arteries of my eye.
Don’t know about that. Low pressure has never been my problem.
Good news:
He doesn’t think it is a tumor of the brain or optic nerve as was proposed yesterday.
He doesn’t think there is any reason to stop vacation plans for a month from now. Despite this happening just after a long trip, he doesn’t think a long plane flight would make a difference.
He prescribed some eye drops to drop my eye pressure.
He says they used to try operating on people to relieve pressure, but all that did was prove that there are complications to eye surgery, so he doesn’t do it any more.
The medium news:
He "feels" I might have reached the maximum loss, but there is no real way to tell.
I need to see my regular doctor tomorrow for medication adjustment.
I need to go back to see him in 2 weeks to see if it is better or worse.
I need to get 24 hour blood pressure monitoring to see how it cycles over a day.
I need to be tested for sleep apnea.
The bad news:
He doesn’t know if it will get worse. And, he says in most people he sees if it happens in one eye it will eventually happen in the other. But, he says that could be years later.
The nerve is damaged. While they no longer think they don’t regrow, they regrow very slowly. If the sight in my left eye is to improve, it is probably on the brain side processing the signals in a different way.
And, if it happens in the other eye it could be bad.
I got out of there about 11. The next train home was at 12, so I walked around some.
Backbay station has 2 Dunkin Donuts on site. I guess they get busy…
I still got to the tracks well before the train.
I’m not sure the station should have a man chopper at the end.
The platform ends, but the tunnel doesn’t. There are all sorts of food wrappers and other signs of people off in the dark. As I waited there looking down the track, I heard things moving back there.
So, I moved more into the light and put the big pillar at my back.
I’ve seen too many horror movies to keep my back to that dark…
And, soon the train got there.
The noon train to Worcester on a weekday is not crowded. I got a good seat and watched things roll past.
I talked with my wife and boss on the way. My boss assured me I didn’t need to come in after I got home. My wife told me where my aunt’s husband was hospitalized.
So, once I reached Worcester I drove over to the hospital to see him. (OK, I stopped and got our comics first…)
When I got there they were getting ready to move him to a rehabilitation nursing home that is only a block from where he lives.
As I understand it, he was taking a walk through the grounds of that nursing home when he passed out and fell on his face. He broke his nose and cheekbone doing so.
Keeping the luck of the family, a passing person happened to be there just when it happened and called for help. So, he didn’t spend my time lying in the rain soaked puddle on the side of the road.
It turns out that it was an arterial blockages in one of the main arteries on the heart.
They’ve cleaned it out and put in a stent. So, they think he should recover.
How long that will take, and what level of recover it will be is not yet known. Weeks if not months at the very least.
My aunt said this settles their retirement plans as where else will the find a rehab place in walking distance to their house. They’re going to stay put.
They are both still upset and scared about it. I do not blame them at all for that. Up until now, Jim has been healthy and my aunt has had the problems. So, he could always do things, set up things and take care of things. That may be changing.
I visited with them until they were getting ready to actually move him. I’ll probably see them again this weekend.
Then, I went off to the pharmacy to get my new eye drops. It had been 6 hours since they were called in so were "almost ready". I waited a bit for them and then came home.
At the end of the day I don’t know much more about my vision that I did yesterday.
But, I am now far less worried that it is something majorly wrong like tumors.
But, I’m also less optimistic it is going to get better any time soon.
I guess we’ll see.
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I am glad to hear it is not majorly serious. I hope (of course) your vision improves soon.
The Doctor said he's seeing more cases….Maybe cellphone-brain tumors aren't the problem, maybe it's cellphone-optic nerve problems.
I've noticed somewhat recently if I'm talking on my phone for a long time that I sometimes get slight headaches and sometimes with "eye aches", as if the backs of my eyes feel "stiff".
*shrug*
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Sucks that your vision went south though.
Glad your uncle had someone so close by when he fell. Hope he recovers quickly.
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We will wait. I'm glad your big concerns were addressed and minimized.
Take care.
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Which eye drops are you on?
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Even through the blur I got a 20/20 reading on both eyes...
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glad you can still go on vacation.
Hope your uncle heals well and as soon as possible.
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i hope they can give you more information about your eye soon and, hopefully, some positive news there too.
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It's good you know it's not a tumor but not knowing the reason why this is happening and how this will continue would worry me sick.
(((hugs)))
good to hear your uncle is okay
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Everything else you can get through.
Though, to be clear you could get through those too, but still. Better than it could be.
Yeah that sounds lame even to me. It would be better even if neither of these happened.
I'm glad you're ok-ish.
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But still sounds scary.
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It's good you don't have tumours. It took them years to decide that my eye issues were congenital
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Partly good news is still good news, right?
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I am glad it was not tumors. So sorry you have lost some sight in the eye. =(
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*hug* to Holly, too!
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Maybe you don't know much (been THERE), but at least you know some things about what it's NOT. That's always good.
And love all the photos, Frank!!!
(hugs)
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