Well, trying to sort out why Matt is going to be much better in 2013.. I begin to wonder if the incident has something to do with him becoming a father.
I think it wuld be more of a Grandfather. I believe Maddy iis of age.
OK, heres the story
December 12th, 2012 (12/12/12), at noon how ironic is that? Im sitting in front of my computer (just like I am right now).
My vision begins to fade - kind of like a window shade being pulled from my nose towards my right ear.
Im having a stroke I thought. So I did the most intelligent thing (not!) - packed up my stuff and drove myself to the nearest hospital.
The Stroke Team met me at the Emergency Room counter they whisked me away, and connected me to all kinds of microcontrollers and electronic gizmos.
Its not a stroke, says the Doc. You need to get to Ophthalmology right away.
Long story short Full Retinal detachment in my right eye.
Fell completely off its optic nerve.
No head trauma, no disease, no nothing. It just happened. Blind as a bat.
Surgery scheduled - operation successful!
Recuperation is over a 6 month period at the end of which Ill need glasses.
Right now Im 20/20 in my left eye and 20/600 in my right eye. Very blurry, but no blind spots!
Now heres the back story - and my encouragement to you
if you ever see flashes of light or black floaters (I saw both) get to the hospital right away! It can be fixed with a laser relatively simple outpatient surgery. My wife told her friends what had happened to me, and one of them said "I see floaters". She went to the hospital, they zapped her with a laser and she's fine.
In my case it was nearly three hours of general anesthesia, and probes/tools/devices inside of my eye by a very talented team of surgeons. For situations like mine, the success rate for any vision restoration is about 70%. A far less percentage get a full field-of-view restoration. I was part of this group.
I was face down through the Holidays, for three weeks, 24 hours per day with a gas bubble in my eye (to help hold the retina in place as it reattached itself to my optic nerve).
Im blessed. I'm back at work with my friends and associates, plus all you Forumistas!
So all that being said, I think that Post #52 by Lev came the closest (double-check me somebody).
You were very lucky to have had that particular surgical team so readly available. Retinal detachment is nothing to fool around with, and time is of the essence. The people I've known personally who have suffered from it all say that the gas bubble is the most disorienting aspect of the recovery. As to floaters, per se, I've had them for years, and the eye doctor said mine are nothing to worry about. What's more troubling is when they first appear or occur after seeing flashes in the periphery of ones vision. That requires a quick trip to the ophthamologist to make sure that retinal detachment is not in progress. This happened to me once, but it was only due to the vitreous pulling away from the retina due to shrinkage -- a common consequence of aging, apparently. Had the vitreous adhered to the retina and pulled it away from the back of the eye, that would have been much more serious. So these symnptoms do entail immediate attention.
Matt, I hope you continue to heal and that your vision restores as close to normal as possible.
I am glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery and I wish you the best.
As for the contest, WOW.... I would have never guessed that one in a 100 years. Now you got me thinking, perhaps I should finally get rid of all those girly magazines
Lev - you've got your choice between a QuickStart, an Altimeter, or a Ping /IR Combo pack...
Email me with your prize choice and shipping address :thumb:
-MattG
I was going to guess some kind of infection caused by being stabbed by pine needles on Christmas morning and being cured by the influx of large amounts of adult beverage on New Year's Eve. Probably not I guess! :-) Hope you're doing well!
Of course we're all dying to know what sort of eye-popping image he was looking at when this happened. Was it the new bluetooth module? Or another one of Humanoido's Quantum Umlaut Processors? Do tell!
Glad your ok, but I just need to chime-in on this. The average person (male or female) will get up in the middle of the night because they don't feel good and go to the bathroom, then the EMT's have a terrible time trying to get to them with equipment because of the limited space. If you are aging (I think this applies to many on the forum) and don't feel good, and feel the need to call 911, try to move into a room that has space for the EMT's (equipment, cart, and people).
My buddy (Bryan) is an EMT.. I keep telling him I'm planning to have my emergency in the upstairs of my old house just for him. He's promised me that when I do wake up in the hospital I'll likely have a headache unrelated to what happened except for his dragging my body down the stairs by my feet.
Agree'd with @GrandeNurse If you know you'll likely need EMT, try to help them out.
Heck, if you can get to the door, 'might as well just go outside, lie on the ground, and watch the vultures circling overhead, until help -- hopefully -- arrives.
Happy to hear that they could successfully reattach the retina.
I've a friend that taught English in Taiwan until a rather major motorcycle accident. He lost vision in his right eye, along with other severe damage that left him with partial paralysis on his right side.
Here it is five years later and he went in for a 7 hour surgery for a bone graft to his clavicle. He wakes up in the Recovery Room with full vision!
Sadly, it began to diminish after a fews hours, but it certainly wasn't what the doctors expected. He is now in the U.K. and will pursue the possibility of somehow restoring his right eye's vision at this late date.
My landlady has a stroke last year. She coulldn't speak, so she just drove herself to the hospital. Not a very good idea as we had one truck driver with a stroke that had about 5 accidents on his way to the hospital. I just don't understand why the police let him go from one accident to another.
Comments
OBC
Are we too late?
I think it wuld be more of a Grandfather. I believe Maddy iis of age.
Contest closed :thumb:
December 12th, 2012 (12/12/12), at noon how ironic is that? Im sitting in front of my computer (just like I am right now).
My vision begins to fade - kind of like a window shade being pulled from my nose towards my right ear.
Im having a stroke I thought. So I did the most intelligent thing (not!) - packed up my stuff and drove myself to the nearest hospital.
The Stroke Team met me at the Emergency Room counter they whisked me away, and connected me to all kinds of microcontrollers and electronic gizmos.
Its not a stroke, says the Doc. You need to get to Ophthalmology right away.
Long story short Full Retinal detachment in my right eye.
Fell completely off its optic nerve.
No head trauma, no disease, no nothing. It just happened. Blind as a bat.
Surgery scheduled - operation successful!
Recuperation is over a 6 month period at the end of which Ill need glasses.
Right now Im 20/20 in my left eye and 20/600 in my right eye. Very blurry, but no blind spots!
Now heres the back story - and my encouragement to you
if you ever see flashes of light or black floaters (I saw both) get to the hospital right away! It can be fixed with a laser relatively simple outpatient surgery. My wife told her friends what had happened to me, and one of them said "I see floaters". She went to the hospital, they zapped her with a laser and she's fine.
In my case it was nearly three hours of general anesthesia, and probes/tools/devices inside of my eye by a very talented team of surgeons. For situations like mine, the success rate for any vision restoration is about 70%. A far less percentage get a full field-of-view restoration. I was part of this group.
I was face down through the Holidays, for three weeks, 24 hours per day with a gas bubble in my eye (to help hold the retina in place as it reattached itself to my optic nerve).
Im blessed. I'm back at work with my friends and associates, plus all you Forumistas!
So all that being said, I think that Post #52 by Lev came the closest (double-check me somebody).
-MattG
Oh and congratulations to Lev!
P
Word of advice: next time you think you're having a stroke, call an ambulance.
Yes, Lev @ post #52 has got it.
You were very lucky to have had that particular surgical team so readly available. Retinal detachment is nothing to fool around with, and time is of the essence. The people I've known personally who have suffered from it all say that the gas bubble is the most disorienting aspect of the recovery. As to floaters, per se, I've had them for years, and the eye doctor said mine are nothing to worry about. What's more troubling is when they first appear or occur after seeing flashes in the periphery of ones vision. That requires a quick trip to the ophthamologist to make sure that retinal detachment is not in progress. This happened to me once, but it was only due to the vitreous pulling away from the retina due to shrinkage -- a common consequence of aging, apparently. Had the vitreous adhered to the retina and pulled it away from the back of the eye, that would have been much more serious. So these symnptoms do entail immediate attention.
Matt, I hope you continue to heal and that your vision restores as close to normal as possible.
-Phil
I am glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery and I wish you the best.
As for the contest, WOW.... I would have never guessed that one in a 100 years. Now you got me thinking, perhaps I should finally get rid of all those girly magazines
Lev - you've got your choice between a QuickStart, an Altimeter, or a Ping /IR Combo pack...
Email me with your prize choice and shipping address :thumb:
-MattG
Hope you are mending well all the same!!
Ok, maybe with a little apprehension...
-MattG
Amanda
Rich
Agree'd with @GrandeNurse If you know you'll likely need EMT, try to help them out.
Jeff
Maybe unlock the door, too, if you can get to it.
-Phil
I've a friend that taught English in Taiwan until a rather major motorcycle accident. He lost vision in his right eye, along with other severe damage that left him with partial paralysis on his right side.
Here it is five years later and he went in for a 7 hour surgery for a bone graft to his clavicle. He wakes up in the Recovery Room with full vision!
Sadly, it began to diminish after a fews hours, but it certainly wasn't what the doctors expected. He is now in the U.K. and will pursue the possibility of somehow restoring his right eye's vision at this late date.
My landlady has a stroke last year. She coulldn't speak, so she just drove herself to the hospital. Not a very good idea as we had one truck driver with a stroke that had about 5 accidents on his way to the hospital. I just don't understand why the police let him go from one accident to another.
Happy to hear of a good ending!
From personal experience, these things have a way of "re-focusing" other parts of our lives. (bad pun ....couldn't help myself).
Take the time heal completely!
Cheers,