Hi,
My name is Peggy and I also have uveitis and I am currently seeing Dr. Foster. My uveitis was caused by sarcoidosis and I have uveitis in both eyes so as you can guess I am unable to drive at this time since I am consider legally blind.
My eye problems started back on January of 2002 when I went for a routine eye exam and the doctor notice that my vitrous was detaching from my retnias which is normal but instead of detaching in small points it was detaching in whole sheets which turned into large floaters also they wanted to make sure my retnia didn’t start to bleed. So I was seeing the eye doctor every month untill everything finially detached. On January of 2003, I was woken out of a dead sleep at 2:00 in the morning with a pain in my right eye. It felt like someone had just stab me in the eye. I tried to open my eye in the dark but it was to painful, I had tears streaming down my face. My left eye was okay so I just kept the right one closed and drove myself to the emergency room. I was lucky that the doctor on call was able to diagnose what my problem was immediately and get me some drops which gave me some relief right away, he also gave me a prescription for some pain killers. He told me to see an eye specialist as soon as possible, which I did and that episode was treated with eye drops and cleared up, The doctor told me not to worry about it since this was the first time. The next few months were fine then but then I was having a hard time driving at dusk and night the floaters seem to be getting worse. It was like I was looking through a dirty windshield with the rain pouring down. Only everthing was starting to look that way. So I went back to the eye doctor and said; I know you told me there wasn’t anything you could do about floaters but it seems to be getting progressively worse. They gave me an eye exam I was told that I had a bad case of uveitis in both eyes. So in August of 2003 I started seeing a eye specialist every month. By December of 2003 it still wasn’t any better and I told them I was at the end of my rope. That is when I was finally referred to Dr. Foster, my first appointment was set for Febuary 12, 2004. That first appointment was long. I got there around 8:30 am and left at 4:45 pm. Dr. Foster examined me and asked how I felt about running a few test to see what I had. Then I made another appt. and saw a few specialist in my area to rule out other disease. I saw five different specialist. Finally it was ruled that I had Scarcoidosis in my eyes, lungs, and kidneys. Dr. Foster but me on the usual drops about four of them. It seems I was steroid sensitive and my pressure in the right kept climbing and my vision was getting worse. In July Dr. Foster preform an operation in the right eye he pried the iris off of the lens and reshaped the puple and put in a new lens and replaced the vitrious with something that was saline filled. He was very pleased with the operation but the pressure kept climbing so I was put on more drops. By this time I was on six drops and 4 different pills and received a steroid shot in the eye and also an injection every month. With all this going on I wasn’t tolerating the medication I was nausea all day and vomit at least one to two times daily. And still the pressure stayed up. So Dr. Foster put a valve in the right eye. The pressure is down in both eyes. I still have 20/600 vision in the right but the left vision is improving. That is where I stand today. My question is there anyone else who had to have a valve put in and how are they doing? I am also very nervous about the left eye when it is time to have that one operated on will I have all the same difficulities? The valve is uncomfortable and makes my eye to appear swollen and dropey. Will it always be like that. I don’t have a computer at home so I’m using the one at work since my ride is going to be an hour late picking me up tonight.
Well thanks for listening to me. I live in Greenland, NH and the biggest problem I have is finding rides to and from every where. And wondering if I will ever feel independent again.
Peggy Bellemore
The Yankee Printer
603-926-6742 x3006
Email Peg
Addendum Follow up:
Hi,
Just came back from a follow-up appointment with Dr. Foster and he says he’ll have to go back in and fix it. It seems there was some retraction and the valve has been exposed and infection can set in. So it’s emergency surgery for me set on Feburary 7 to make repairs.
I’m glad that I have the best doctor. It’s just a little discouraging, every opporation brings some inflammation and I’ve had inflammation in the retina for over a year and untill that goes down we won’t know if I will have sight in the right eye and untill I do we can’t proceed with the left eye. So here I am struggling every day at work and trying to get transportation everywhere. That still poses the biggest problem for me. And of course the strain on the eyes when the vision is so poor and all the lovely side effects from all the meds.
Thanks, for listening.
Peg
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