My sight this morning was unchanged: the curtain is blocking about 1/3 of my vision.
Phoned Dr. Shadra's office and rescheduled for Thursday.
Took Mar for her tooth repair early and was home before 10 AM.
All of a sudden I realized my sight was now impaired by 2/3, so called Dr. Glen Mullen's office, our family doctor. His nurse put him through and when I described my symptoms he asked me to come in immediately.
At his office he took me in right away. He took one look and called St. Joseph's, telling them they should see me immediately, not on Thursday as re-scheduled earlier today by myself. He hung up and told me to be there in 20 minutes!
Called Mar on my cell as I left Dr. Mullen's ... told her the urgency ... and she said to pick her up on the way by.
There were at least 30 people in the waiting room at St. Joe's!!!! I had to take a number.
After a couple of hours Marina, a sight technician, called me in for initial testing. Poor Marina. Her day is out to the waiting room to get another patient, test them on an eye chart, check eye pressure, dilate their eyes for a doctor's exam, etc. etc.
When Marina was done and was leading me out of this testing room, back to another waiting room, I decided to spice up her day. I walked into the wall. Boy! Did she panic! I thought she was going to kill me when she realized I had "punked" her.
I was soon being examined by Doctor Harvey, the same surgeon who had fixed Ruth's inturned eyelashes a few years ago. In minutes he was calling a opthamologist, Doctor Jim Martin, telling him I definitely had a detached retina and should be seen immediately.
On leaving, Dr. Harvey assured us that Martin is one of the best in his field.
So off to Wentworth Street South in Hamilton to see Doctor Martin. There were as many people waiting to see him as there had been to see several Doctors at St. Joe's!
Mar and I had some great conversation with several patients as we waited to see Dr. Martin.
I was finally called in to first see another Doctor, an associate of Martin's who did some preliminary tests. He also photographed both eyes before we left ....
Dr. Martin examined me and scheduled me for an operation for 6PM at St. Joseph's tomorrow evening, explaining it was imperative to repair it soonest, before more damage ensued.
He then "mapped" the damage to not only my left eye, but also the right. The right also has two small holes in the retina which require fixing in the near future.
Mapping is quite invasive. He used a metal device which felt like a shoe horn and he went all around the eyeball prying it to maximize his view. It felt like he was taking my eyeballs right out of their sockets!
While mapping he used a very bright light. It flashed extremely bright in my eye, alternating through hot white to very bright and beautiful blues and greens.
Martin explained his procedure all the way through, plus of course fully about detached retinas. For me, his detailed descriptions and narratives helped to relieve the tension and discomfort caused by the "mapping". The result: I have two tears in the retina between 11 and 2 o'clock, (a good position for an operation), plus two holes at the bottom of the retina, or near 6 o'clock.
Phoned Dr. Shadra's office and rescheduled for Thursday.
Took Mar for her tooth repair early and was home before 10 AM.
All of a sudden I realized my sight was now impaired by 2/3, so called Dr. Glen Mullen's office, our family doctor. His nurse put him through and when I described my symptoms he asked me to come in immediately.
At his office he took me in right away. He took one look and called St. Joseph's, telling them they should see me immediately, not on Thursday as re-scheduled earlier today by myself. He hung up and told me to be there in 20 minutes!
Called Mar on my cell as I left Dr. Mullen's ... told her the urgency ... and she said to pick her up on the way by.
-----------------
There were at least 30 people in the waiting room at St. Joe's!!!! I had to take a number.
After a couple of hours Marina, a sight technician, called me in for initial testing. Poor Marina. Her day is out to the waiting room to get another patient, test them on an eye chart, check eye pressure, dilate their eyes for a doctor's exam, etc. etc.
When Marina was done and was leading me out of this testing room, back to another waiting room, I decided to spice up her day. I walked into the wall. Boy! Did she panic! I thought she was going to kill me when she realized I had "punked" her.
----------------
I was soon being examined by Doctor Harvey, the same surgeon who had fixed Ruth's inturned eyelashes a few years ago. In minutes he was calling a opthamologist, Doctor Jim Martin, telling him I definitely had a detached retina and should be seen immediately.
On leaving, Dr. Harvey assured us that Martin is one of the best in his field.
----------------
So off to Wentworth Street South in Hamilton to see Doctor Martin. There were as many people waiting to see him as there had been to see several Doctors at St. Joe's!
Mar and I had some great conversation with several patients as we waited to see Dr. Martin.
I was finally called in to first see another Doctor, an associate of Martin's who did some preliminary tests. He also photographed both eyes before we left ....
Dr. Martin examined me and scheduled me for an operation for 6PM at St. Joseph's tomorrow evening, explaining it was imperative to repair it soonest, before more damage ensued.
He then "mapped" the damage to not only my left eye, but also the right. The right also has two small holes in the retina which require fixing in the near future.
Mapping is quite invasive. He used a metal device which felt like a shoe horn and he went all around the eyeball prying it to maximize his view. It felt like he was taking my eyeballs right out of their sockets!
While mapping he used a very bright light. It flashed extremely bright in my eye, alternating through hot white to very bright and beautiful blues and greens.
Martin explained his procedure all the way through, plus of course fully about detached retinas. For me, his detailed descriptions and narratives helped to relieve the tension and discomfort caused by the "mapping". The result: I have two tears in the retina between 11 and 2 o'clock, (a good position for an operation), plus two holes at the bottom of the retina, or near 6 o'clock.
