not ao great news

[lazydaizy]

I came back from a retinologist and said that my eyes were leaking and bleeding. That surgery was the only way to stop the leaking and bleeding. They would fix the
inner part-the leakage first and then the outer. I am scared about having surgery on my eyes. I was told that I didn't have a detached retina, which is good. But I am still scared.
Does the surgery hurt?
LazyDaizy

[lgvincent]

I'm so very sorry to hear that. I have 2 friends who have had the surgery but they've never talked about it, so I don't know what it will be like. Everything will be fine though. You'll be sitting there one minute and the next thing you know you're waking up in the recovery room.

[KLD]

My husband had a total of four surgeries on his eyes in an unsuccessful effort to save his sight as a result of the same kind of damage you're experiencing, Lazydaizy. His retina did become detached and the last three surgeries were attempts to reattach it, none of which worked. But his retinopathy had got extremely bad before we switched to a new opthamologist who was very good, but it was too late and he lost his vision. I know that his sight could have been saved if he had had the proper care earlier on - the new opthalmologist came as close as he could to admitting that to us without outwardly criticizing his colleague. So whatever you do, don't hesitate to follow your doctors recommendations. You're fortunate that it's been caught while there's still time to do something about it.

My husband, by the way, didn't find any of the surgeries painful at all. He was pleasantly surprised at how little pain was involved. He did have some discomfort from having to lie face down for a day or so after a couple of the operations, but no pain at all.

Good luck!

Karen

[KickStart101]

Hi LazyDaizy: I am also sorry to hear the results of your
eye appointment BUT no retinal detachment is Good. :)
To me surgery means cutting which I have had several
times for non-diabetic issues, so I don't know if laser
applies to your situation.
Many years ago my Opthalmologist said I needed laser
to burn off extra vessels that had grown in the back of my
left eye. It was 2 visits, a couple hundred shots each visit.
Sounded simple enough. I found it a little uncomfortable
not painful. I think it was the thought that he was burning
something that made me move occasionally, which is not
good.:eek: I told him, "No next visit". He said the next time
he'd just freeze my eye so I couldn't move it. I figured
drops. WRONG! Next visit.........................
Well, he came at me with this hypodermic needle explaining
he was going to put it under the muscle to the back of my
eye(as he has it halfway shoved in)AAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKK!
I grabbed his arm and yelled, "Oh my God"! As he pulls the
needle out he muses, "HHHMMMMMM, no one has ever called
me that before". " And no one ever will again", I retorted.
Anyway he did the job, I was glad and would do it again
when needed. One of my Bro's also had it done without
freezing, no prob.
Your Doc wouldn't want to do it unless it was necessary,
I'm sure. Good Luck. ....................***Carlie*** :)

[KickStart101]

Oh one more thing. I did experience nightmares for a few weeks
after the laser treatments where I would see a little dot of light
far away and in an instant it would explode in my face. I would literally, out of a sound sleep, jump up on my hands and knees a
few times a week. My Hubby got used to it. My Bro did not
experience this. Everyone is different............***Carlie***:)

[lazydaizy]

Thank you all for your input and your honesty. I don't like anyone to sugar coat things-like some drs. I know do. I read some things on the web about the diabetic retinopathy and yes I understand the whys and hows, but it is not the same as if one was talking to someone who had experienced it.
I just wish this wasn't happening to me. I can accept a flu or a pneumonia or being sued, but my eyes? sorry venting & crying
LazyDaizy

[Belinda]

Originally posted by lazydaizy
Thank you all for your input and your honesty. I don't like anyone to sugar coat things-like some drs. I know do. I read some things on the web about the diabetic retinopathy and yes I understand the whys and hows, but it is not the same as if one was talking to someone who had experienced it.
I just wish this wasn't happening to me. I can accept a flu or a pneumonia or being sued, but my eyes? sorry venting & crying
LazyDaizy


Lazy...first of all I am sorry that you are going to have to have surgery. I have had this done and it took 14 total surgeries for both eyes to be completed. The first phase was laser and that did not hurt (I was more stressed than anything). After that then I had to have surgery (and I can't for the life of me think of the name of the procedure but it starts with a V:mad: ). Once again the first eye and the first time I was really stressed out but then I was fine. It was not painful, I spoke to my Dr. the entire time and he made me feel very comfortable. The only thing that was painful and not that painful but very very discomforting was that they had to put a gas permeabale bubble in my eye to insure the retina stay in place and I had to lay face down for 10 days!!! 24/7 only could sit up to eat or go to the eye doctor. There are alot of eye drops and ointments involved and I used a Lg (sharpie)marker to mark the bottles so I wouldn't get mixed up. You do have to wear a patch etc....but as I look back at it now...I would have gone blind without it and I only have to go to the retinologist one a year (I just went last week and everything was fine).

Feel free to PM or email me if you have any specifics....I know 14 sounds alot but there were some that were laser only.

Good luck.

[gettingby]

I'm so sorry for your problems. I'm sure that everything will turn out ok.

[KLD]

The first operation my husband had was called a vitrectomy, so that sounds like the same one you had, Belinda. I didn't remember how long he had to lie face down, but I know he sure hated it. The opthamologist told us that in only one percent of cases, the retina becomes detached following the surgery, and he was unfortunate enough to be in that one percent. His other three operations were all attempts to reattach the retina, but none worked, and they finally gave up. His opthamologist said that his eye was so bad by the time he had the surgery that it increased his chances of having the retina detach, and that's why I was recommending to Lazydaizy that she not hesitate in having it done as soon as her doctor thinks it needs doing.

Karen

[KLD]

Lazydaizy,

I've been hesitating about whether to add this to my previous post, but since you've said you prefer hearing the truth, I think I should. John's opthamologist told us that severe retinopathy very often goes hand-in-hand with kidney damage. I don't want to be alarmist, but it turned out to be accurate, and John died of kidney failure about two months later. He was 76 years old, so that's a much different thing, but do make sure that your doctor monitors your kidney function.

Karen

[lgvincent]

I'm so very sorry to hear that. I was feeling very bad about his loosing his sight and now find out he has passed away.

[lazydaizy]

Karen I am glad that you said something about the kidney dysfunction-as it goes along with the disease. But I AM sorry if I have caused you pain in your heart regarding your husband.

Belinda, yeah, I think it is stress is what is causing alot of my emotions to run amuck. It just seems like it's been one thing after another lately.

[Lorna]

Karen- do the two go directly with one another or are they linked through the fact that tyey are both related to diabetes?

[KLD]

Hi Lorna, The opthamologist that warned us about the connection between diabetic retinopathy and kidney damage was definitely referring to both conditions as complications of diabetes. But his point was that those two specific diabetes complications typically occur together. In other words, the fact that diabetics have retinopathy doesn't make them any more likely than any other diabetic to have neuropathy, for example, but it does make it more likely that they would have kidney damage. Let me know if I've confused you more than ever! To me it sounds as clear as mud.

Karen

[lazydaizy]

Can ya'll stand another question regarding this? Because it is a surgery-will the surgeon demand that my BS's be in a normal range before they do the surgery? Some drs. prefer not to do surery if the sugar is higher than normal-because it takes longer to heal. ie: like a knee replacement-someone I knew had to get his levels down before they would operate.

My levels are leveling off in the lower 200's-despite the Lantus at night and the Humulin R -I am doing on a sliding scale. Yes, I am trying to get the #'s down lower.
LD

[KLD]

John's blood sugars were normal when he had the surgery because we had just recently started eating low carb. But I do remember they had him on insulin in the hospital (even though he had never had it before) in order to keep them normal.

Karen

[Belinda]

Well the morning of surgery I sky rocketed to 500's but when they went to panic...they called the Dr. and he said go ahead it is probably stress which is was and as soon as they gave me something to relax and prior to surgery they checked it and of course it was in the 120 range. Knowing this each time I go for any procedure and they test my blood I have to give them the heads up and tell them to monitor it closely while I am under due to the fact that I tend to go very low......


As for retinopathy and kidney damage going together. Well I have NO damage to the kidneys and I have them checked every year. So I am not sure if they both aren't just complications due to the diabetes in general.

[KLD]

I certainly didn't mean to give the impression that the opthamologist meant that everyone with diabetic retinopathy would also have kidney damage. What he said was retinopathy and kidney damage were two complications of diabetes that often went together, and that diabetics with retinopathy should be extra careful about having their kidneys checked regularly.

Karen

[lazydaizy]

~My BS always reads higher at the dr. office than at home. No two BS monitors are calibrated the same way. The real dirt-per say is the record keeping. Last time I went to the dr. for a BS check up, my blood pressure was unusually high. I contribute this to the "white coat syndrome" anticipating what he may/not say.

~When I went to get my eyes checked for a new prescription last week, the tech took my blood pressure and said it bordered on being high too 143/90. That morning was when I found a spot in my field of vision that would not wash away. I was somewhat frightened and still am.

~In the 3 days that I had seen the optomologist, the spot on my lens which looked like a blotted question mark now looks like a big blot. I realize that I am looking thru blood. There's a slight veil
in both eyes, looks like a flock of tiny birds. Leave it to an artist to describe what she sees-ha! I am glad that I have an appt. with an eye surgeon on Thursday.
LazyDaizy

[lazydaizy]

~Just an update, the eye surgeon said that she believes that a total of 4 treatments-2 in both eyes would be necessary to stop the leakage & bleeding. This will be over a 3 month period.

~She took a film of the eyes-the light of the camera was so intense. I saw pink images afterwards-which she said was normal. The light hurt my eyes. She said that I had the first stages of retinopathy-"we caught it in time."

~They had to dialate my eyes; even tho they used 2 different kinds of drops to do this, my eyes were slow to dialate. They said that a diabectic's eyes were always slow to dialate. They offered no reason why. Sugar in the eyes?

~So I look forward to my first laser session next Thursday. I am hoping they can stop the bleeding-for it's terrible not being able to see things.
LazyDaizy

[KLD]

That's good news. LazyDaizy - does that mean you will just need the laser treatment and not the surgery?

Karen

[lazydaizy]

She said just the laser procedures for now. She said that the film when developed will tell her where she needs to concentrate the laser. I am fascinated about this treatment and how it works. My hopes are that I will only need the laser and not any surgery.
I really dislike surgeries(I've had my share) and the thought of someone messing with my eyes, is indeed scarey. I don't think it's a matter of trust-it's knowing that doctors do slip up for a variety of reasons and say '"whoops!"-that's not comforting at all.
LazyDaizy