Nobody wants to read the ins and outs of someone elses medical dramas, so, I'll keep this really short. I'm okay - thank you for caring. The Glaucoma was caused by the previous radiotherapy. The pressure can (and is being) reduced by drugs, but the sight is gone forever and it's a chronic condition which will require management for ever. It's a pain but I thnk my lucky stars that I live in the first World and have access to the best Doctors and all the drugs & treatment I need is free (God bless the NHS), so... chin up, stiff upper lip in place..... and on we go!
Just be aware( those with CM and or TED) that closed angle Glaucoma is a possibility and if you have a bad headache, nausea, see haloes around lights, your eye is red and irritated, or any combination of those symptoms, do NOT do as I did and consult junior Doctors & GP's - it's rare and they don't know what they are looking at - head STRAIGHT for an eye consultant without passing 'Go!'
Trouble...
Well, there's been trouble....
No sooner had my Darling recovered from his illness than I was struck with dreadful headaches. I'm not the kind of woman who gets headaches and as they intensified we became anxious and went to the local hospital. The young Doctor there was pretty convinced that I had developed something called 'cluster headaches' but during testing threw a load of drugs in my (red and swollen and previously (as in 15 years ago) irradiated and therefore blind)) eye. We retreated home laden with half a dozen drugs, including antibiotics for my eye. The situation worsened and we went back to the hospital a few days later where a second Doctor agreed with the original diagnosis and prescribed more of the same drugs.
That weekend we were due to leave for a long planned family holiday in the West country. When I say 'family' I mean my entire family - parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, kids and dogs. By this time I looked terrible as well as feeling it. Facing the dilemma of whether not to go - thereby alarming everyone and meaning that my beloved girls would feel that they shouldn't go, we loaded the car and headed down. I patched my 'bad' eye and made a fist of it but had to spend much of the time in that beautiful place lying down in the dark. There was deep concern amongst my family. We cut our holiday short and headed back. The following morning I walked into my GP's office. Within moments he had arranged for me to see a Consultant at the eye hospital. I'm not a fan of eye hospitals. Fifteen years ago I was treated for eye cancer. It's rare and the kind of treatment I had for it is even rarer. Most physicians - including the vast majority of very senior eye Doctors have never seen an eye like mine and this results in some barely concealed excitement when they get me in front of them, followed by extensive tests and a queue of students 'having a look'. I don't mean to sound churlish and I absolutely know that intensely studying me could only have benefits for any future case they may come across, but hours of feeling like a Lab rat and anxiety about what they may discover, always leaves my spirit low, so I am ashamed to say that I argued with my lovely GP; 'Look Dr. C, I've seen two Doctors at the hospital, it's my head affecting my eye, not the other way around!'.
Wrong!
My beloved dragged his grumpy, muttering wife to the eye hospital and within half an hour the Consultant explained that I have something called 'closed angle Glaucoma'. It had been missed because most of the indicators required for diagnosis, require the patient to report blurred vision and seeing haloes around lights - my eye, is blind. That I had been instructed to shovel antibiotic drops into my eye and had had my pupil dilated by Dr. no.1 had exacerbated the situation. Had I been sighted, heroic measures would have been taken immediately in order to save my sight, as it was, there being no sight to save, reducing the pressure and therefore the pain was started immediately and I am so grateful to say, that after two weeks of intense pain, within hours I felt MUCH better.
Back home, this time with the right drugs and with instructions to return this week, my relief has turned to worry. The Consultant had explained that the cause of the raised pressure in my eye would need to be investigated and that growth of the tumour was a possibility. I am trying not to panic. My eye was closely inspected by an Occular Oncologist a year ago and was pronounced 'fine'. Did I have cluster headaches and that early treatment sparked the pressure to rise in my eye? Had something else raised the pressure? or is the tumour on the march? I'll find out on Wednesday.
I'm sorry to post this. Hardly cheerful reading is it? but writing it down serves to clarify to myself what has been a very weird situation. I wish you good health!
No sooner had my Darling recovered from his illness than I was struck with dreadful headaches. I'm not the kind of woman who gets headaches and as they intensified we became anxious and went to the local hospital. The young Doctor there was pretty convinced that I had developed something called 'cluster headaches' but during testing threw a load of drugs in my (red and swollen and previously (as in 15 years ago) irradiated and therefore blind)) eye. We retreated home laden with half a dozen drugs, including antibiotics for my eye. The situation worsened and we went back to the hospital a few days later where a second Doctor agreed with the original diagnosis and prescribed more of the same drugs.
That weekend we were due to leave for a long planned family holiday in the West country. When I say 'family' I mean my entire family - parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, kids and dogs. By this time I looked terrible as well as feeling it. Facing the dilemma of whether not to go - thereby alarming everyone and meaning that my beloved girls would feel that they shouldn't go, we loaded the car and headed down. I patched my 'bad' eye and made a fist of it but had to spend much of the time in that beautiful place lying down in the dark. There was deep concern amongst my family. We cut our holiday short and headed back. The following morning I walked into my GP's office. Within moments he had arranged for me to see a Consultant at the eye hospital. I'm not a fan of eye hospitals. Fifteen years ago I was treated for eye cancer. It's rare and the kind of treatment I had for it is even rarer. Most physicians - including the vast majority of very senior eye Doctors have never seen an eye like mine and this results in some barely concealed excitement when they get me in front of them, followed by extensive tests and a queue of students 'having a look'. I don't mean to sound churlish and I absolutely know that intensely studying me could only have benefits for any future case they may come across, but hours of feeling like a Lab rat and anxiety about what they may discover, always leaves my spirit low, so I am ashamed to say that I argued with my lovely GP; 'Look Dr. C, I've seen two Doctors at the hospital, it's my head affecting my eye, not the other way around!'.
Wrong!
My beloved dragged his grumpy, muttering wife to the eye hospital and within half an hour the Consultant explained that I have something called 'closed angle Glaucoma'. It had been missed because most of the indicators required for diagnosis, require the patient to report blurred vision and seeing haloes around lights - my eye, is blind. That I had been instructed to shovel antibiotic drops into my eye and had had my pupil dilated by Dr. no.1 had exacerbated the situation. Had I been sighted, heroic measures would have been taken immediately in order to save my sight, as it was, there being no sight to save, reducing the pressure and therefore the pain was started immediately and I am so grateful to say, that after two weeks of intense pain, within hours I felt MUCH better.
Back home, this time with the right drugs and with instructions to return this week, my relief has turned to worry. The Consultant had explained that the cause of the raised pressure in my eye would need to be investigated and that growth of the tumour was a possibility. I am trying not to panic. My eye was closely inspected by an Occular Oncologist a year ago and was pronounced 'fine'. Did I have cluster headaches and that early treatment sparked the pressure to rise in my eye? Had something else raised the pressure? or is the tumour on the march? I'll find out on Wednesday.
I'm sorry to post this. Hardly cheerful reading is it? but writing it down serves to clarify to myself what has been a very weird situation. I wish you good health!
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