Bricks and Bones (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bricks_and_bones) wrote2013-05-21 07:31 am
bricks_and_bones) wrote2013-05-21 07:31 am
Still waiting....
EYE ISSUES GALORE
OKAY SO it has been exactly one week and six days since I went blind in my left eye. CENTRAL RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION. That means a blood clot blocked the vein (and a small artery as well) and deprived the eye of oxygen. The ultimate result is that my right eye is 20/20 vision. Everything I look at out of my left eye has the Asian subcontinent superimposed over it. If I look at your face, for example, you will be Asia with hair. That would be the part of the eye that died from blood starvation.
I am still running. The weekend after it happened I ran about 21 miles (1 14-miler, one 7-miler); I’ve done a strong speed workout since then and another 2-hour long run on Sunday, and another shorter run that was probably about 10k. The doc actually said “We PRESCRIBE exercise for this, so don’t stop running.” That is because what I have typically affects elderly people with high blood pressure and diabetes. I am a medical anomaly, because I am not on birth control pills (one risk factor) and my blood pressure is that of a Marvel superhero. HOWEVER diabetes does run in my family. My otherwise-healthy 40-something cousin was recently diagnosed with it. But my bloodwork has all come back normal, so that’s not it, either. We still can’t figure out why this happened to me.
The biggest problem is my depth perception. Sure, I can accomplish my speed workout on the treadmill at the gym, but hell yes I am going to fall off the curb OUTSIDE the gym like a major tool because I can’t see where I am putting my feet. Ditto on the trails, although I haven’t fallen out there, only stumbled a few times. There’s a chance the eye won’t get better 100% — I may see Asia for the rest of my life. But friends of mine with impaired vision insist your brain gets used to it over time and compensates for it and it gets better.
Right now it’s just the waiting game and trying not to fall down too much.
OKAY SO it has been exactly one week and six days since I went blind in my left eye. CENTRAL RETINAL VEIN OCCLUSION. That means a blood clot blocked the vein (and a small artery as well) and deprived the eye of oxygen. The ultimate result is that my right eye is 20/20 vision. Everything I look at out of my left eye has the Asian subcontinent superimposed over it. If I look at your face, for example, you will be Asia with hair. That would be the part of the eye that died from blood starvation.
I am still running. The weekend after it happened I ran about 21 miles (1 14-miler, one 7-miler); I’ve done a strong speed workout since then and another 2-hour long run on Sunday, and another shorter run that was probably about 10k. The doc actually said “We PRESCRIBE exercise for this, so don’t stop running.” That is because what I have typically affects elderly people with high blood pressure and diabetes. I am a medical anomaly, because I am not on birth control pills (one risk factor) and my blood pressure is that of a Marvel superhero. HOWEVER diabetes does run in my family. My otherwise-healthy 40-something cousin was recently diagnosed with it. But my bloodwork has all come back normal, so that’s not it, either. We still can’t figure out why this happened to me.
The biggest problem is my depth perception. Sure, I can accomplish my speed workout on the treadmill at the gym, but hell yes I am going to fall off the curb OUTSIDE the gym like a major tool because I can’t see where I am putting my feet. Ditto on the trails, although I haven’t fallen out there, only stumbled a few times. There’s a chance the eye won’t get better 100% — I may see Asia for the rest of my life. But friends of mine with impaired vision insist your brain gets used to it over time and compensates for it and it gets better.
Right now it’s just the waiting game and trying not to fall down too much.