Allenuk

[stonecutter]

Hey folks,

I just received a message from our co-Admin, AllenUK who seems to be having some issues with his eyesight.   He hopes it is temporary but he really can't see his computer screen.  He asked me to pass along the message.

Thanks,
Trevor

[ann-]

Sorry to hear that Allen is having problems with his eyes, so best wishes and healing to Allen, hope that the eyes improve soon for you Allen and you can get back online and using your computer again.

[cherylm]

Oh, Trevor, I hope it's temporary too! Allen and I have both had our share of eye issues—some of them eerily alike—and mine have all been more-or-less successfully resolved, so I'm wishing the same for him. Do you have a "non-computer" way of contacting him? I'm wondering if he might be able to see the monitor with an increase in the print size and/or contrast??? I know that during my months of "recovering from eye injuries that had left me temporarily blind," I eventually was able to use my computer with the monitor set to show everything as white-print-on-black-background, enlarged so that the individual letters were about 3/4" high. Just a suggestion, if you can get in touch with him...I know that having computer access during that time made me feel less helpless..........

[allenuk]

cheryl - thanks for the good wishes.

I must be the luckiest man on one leg. Previous bleeds to my now-redundant right eye ended with me being totally blind; this one has left me nearly blind, but with enough residual vision plus the help of my Mac to be able to enlarge type and reverse backgrounds, which means i can see and type.

type, although you will have to excuse errors...

i can navigate my flat, make tea, cook a little, so all in all very fortunate. it is either going to drain of blood in the next month or more, or the docs will do a vitrectomy. either way, with the help of my loving wife, life will be bearable, although my visits here might be less than normal.

try emailing me by all means on

[e-mail]

best wishes,


allen (can't do caps very easily, but years of touch typing help!)

[cherylm]

Thrilled to hear from you, Allen...will try e-mail soon! Aren't Macs wonderfully adaptable?

[ann58]

Apr 10, 2014 4:53:16 GMT -7 allenuk said:

cheryl - thanks for the good wishes.

I must be the luckiest man on one leg. Previous bleeds to my now-redundant right eye ended with me being totally blind; this one has left me nearly blind, but with enough residual vision plus the help of my Mac to be able to enlarge type and reverse backgrounds, which means i can see and type.

type, although you will have to excuse errors...

i can navigate my flat, make tea, cook a little, so all in all very fortunate. it is either going to drain of blood in the next month or more, or the docs will do a vitrectomy. either way, with the help of my loving wife, life will be bearable, although my visits here might be less than normal.

try emailing me by all means on

[e-mail]

best wishes,


allen (can't do caps very easily, but years of touch typing help!)

[ann58]

Allan, what is a vitrectomy? I hope the bleeds are stopped & things turn out OK for you.

[cherylm]

Ann, since I'm not sure how well Allen is seeing right now, and I HAVE been through a couple of vitrectomies in my life, I'll give a brief explanation...Allen may want to join in, too.......

A vitrectomy is an eye surgery where the vitreous humour (the clear liquid inside your eyeball that keeps it all nice and round and healthy) is extracted with a syringe and is replaced with an artificial substance (usually a clear oil, but sometimes just an air bubble to act as a "place holder" while your body produces new vitreous humour). The procedure is used for some types of injury or a diabetic "retinal bleed" where the existing fluid becomes discolored to the point of blocking out vision and the body can't clear out that discoloration naturally. It can also be done as a part of an "old-fashioned" cataract extraction surgery or retinal surgery.

It's a scary-sounding procedure, but as long as you don't have to have the "air bubble implant," it's a fairly easy recovery and not terribly painful...just uncomfortable. (The "air-bubble" procedure is more complicated...you have to spend several weeks facing downward almost-continuously while the new vitreous fluid is being regenerated.)

Don't know Allen's specific details, but I'm hoping that his bleed will clear up naturally and quickly!

[allenuk]

Thanks Cheryl, that's just what it is.

The air-bubble technique, where you have to lie face-down for six weeks or so, is reserved for cases where there has been a tear to the retina, and it needs repair. Hopefully - I really would like some good luck this time! - mine is 'just' a bleed, with no rtinal damage, and it'll be a question of replacing the vitreous, going home, waiting a couple of weeks, and then getting on with life.

Fingers crossed, eh?

I can't see much more than a few days ago, but maybe I'm getting used to working with what I've got.

All in all, it really could be a lot worse.


Allen.

[ann58]

Thanks, Cheryl & Allen...I have had cataract surgery & I knew about the retinal surgery about keeping your head down most of the time.

I will keep praying that you will have the {good} luck you deserve.

[oneblueleg]

All the best Allen, sorry to hear what you're going through, hope it all gets resolved successfully.

[ann58]

:)Haven't heard much about Allen....has anyone else? I am hoping he will get some of his sight back.





ann

[allenuk]

Thanks oneblue, ann, for the thoughts.
I don't write much yet, as it's difficult (have to blow everything up huge, etc., so not just bashing the keys like I used to) plus of course more typos creep in.

Position is that docs want me to be a patient patient for a while and see if the blood drains well. Good news is that they don't think it's diabetes-associated, rather the result of the vitreous jelly getting a bit of a tug during recent cataract surgery, which in turn weakened the retina where jelly is attached.

So I'm keeping them all crossed, thanking heaven for my Apple Mac and its built-in visual aids, and of course for my old touch-typing abilities without which I couldn't do this much!

There was a quote I liked on a film on TV recently about the German-jewish doctor who pretty much single-handedly founded Stoke Mandeville hospital for spinal injuries after WW2. What he said was, "Don't think about what you can't do, think about what you CAN do." Good advice all round.

Best wishes to all,


Allen.

[ann58]

We understand Allen.....just want you to know all of us on here have our fingers & toes {if we have any} crossed for you. Hang in there



ann

[cherylm]

Allen, I'm glad to hear that there may be an actual, physical cause for this bleed (as opposed to one of those "beats me...these things just sometimes happen with diabetics" that I've heard from my ophthalmologists over the years). I know a "real" cause doesn't make it easier on the recovery front, but I hope that knowing that it's not "your" fault is reassuring.

Patience is a good thing, but I hope you start seeing more soon...fingers crossed!

[ann-]

Hi Allen, hope you are doing ok.