The Long Decline

On January 19, 2012, I had outpatient surgery of retina reattachment. My eyesight in the preceding months had been declining in spurts, mostly with the release of floaters that enter the vitreous liquid in the center of the eye. The floaters cast shadows and darkened the vision with shadows and obstructions. By this time, most of the red cloud of the October 2009 vitreous hemorrhage had healed and cleared. The vision was declining with symptoms of diabetic retinapathy by summer, 2010. Researching the PRP surgery I had undergone after urgent pushing by Koch Eye associates revealed that the side effects of the PRP laser are identical to the symptoms of diabetic retinapathy. Too late for me. What’s done was done, and after the first round of symptom development including flashers that began after the third PRP session and the recession of peripheral, the darkness advanced. Fall 2011 saw it getting worse regularly.
The retina reattachment halted that. Part of that surgery included replacing the natural eye fluid with a silicone oil. The silicone helps to maintain pressure in the eye to keep the back of the eye "glued together." This can increase eye pressure and cause glaucoma, one of the few problems I didn’t have in either eye. Two kinds of eye drops kept that problem at bay. At one point the pressure was too low; stopping the drops on the doc’s recommendation saw a surge in pressure. Resumption of the drops brought that back under control.
From all physical signs from doctors looking at my eye, the reattachment was successful and "stayed together." Looking out from the eye, however, indicates different results. The vision was at a slow decline in the year since the surgery.
The specific problems have not been traditional signs of diabetic retinapathy. Before the retina reattachment, the cloud overwhelming my vision was dark, and had definite, noticeable onsets as "gunk" in the eye released This year’s decline has been different.
I suffered no sudden "setbacks," as I called the release of floaters. Two problems developed and worsened over time.
The first is the light sensitivity and my eye’s apparent inability to process light. Strong light sources blind me with their brilliance and glare. My eye experienced increasing difficulty adjusting to variable light, even that of inconstant and inconsistent outdoor shadows of leafy trees. The reverse also proved true. Not enough light just was not enough light. Night vision is blindness. Vision in overly bright light is blindness.
A new cloud also developed, much like bottled fog that I carry with me everywhere. This was not like the red cloud of the hemorrhage or the black cloud of developing retinapathy. The fog is very clean, and has been since post op. But as "clean" as it has stayed, it has thickened over time. After the reattachment, I could see more than four feet away with finger motion. Now I can barely see overall motion at one foot away.
Without cues of voices, I cannot identify who I am talking to. I cannot see people sitting across a table from me. Moving around even familiar environs is extremely difficult, and always runs the danger of collision with people who assume I will see them and get out of their way. Seeing the computer even with multiple ways and levels of enhancements has become more difficult, and more painful.
Thursday’s procedure may improve the new disabilities.
Maybe.