Dream Trip Turns Tragic

The last week has been a blur (literally) and I will try to summarize the details as best I can. Ruth and I were wrapping up our stay in the Hill Country of Texas and getting ready to move on to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I'd call this the start of the heart of our trip and we were really looking forward to the next part. This blog was going to be called "Over the Hill and Far Away".

The trouble started on Friday May 13. I was going to bed and when I looked out of my left eye I noticed a small curtain in the top right corner of my left eye. Figuring it was probably nothing I went to sleep hoping it would be gone the next morning. When I woke up Saturday it was still there but I kept quiet hoping it would go away and we drove from Mason Texas to Ozona Texas. This was our first night in a hotel since we left and I was looking forward to a good dinner out, hot shower, and sleeping in a real bed. We got to the hotel, checked in, and took our bags into the room. The curtain was still there and I decided to tell Ruth what was going on.

After google doctoring I found out the problem was likely a detached retina. We are in the middle of nowhere Texas (sorry Ozona) and there is no one that can diagnose the problem. We found a hospital over 80 miles away that has an ophthalmologist on call so we left the trailer at the hotel and sped up to San Angelo. Here the 75 mile per hour speed limit was very helpful and we got there in a little over an hour.

We got to the hospital, checked in, and they did all the normal test and a CT scan to see if I had a stroke. Everything turned out fine and it is verified that I have a large brain! My blood pressure was a little elevated but due to rushing out and the stress of an eye injury that is to be expected. FINALLY they call the ophthalmologist and he verifies that I have a torn and detached retina in my left eye. He did not see any problems in my right eye. I'm told timing is critical but there is nothing the hospital can do for me. There is a specialist in the area but he doesn't like to work on the weekends, but I MAY be able to schedule an appointment for him to see me on Monday. No guarantee and no guarantee on when he can do the retina repair. We are told it should get much worse if I keep my head upright and the doctor recommends we travel back to Wills Eye Hospital.

Ruth and I decide that is the best course of action and we start the drive back to Philadelphia on Sunday morning. I am still able to drive as I have full vision with both eyes open and we make it to Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia Tuesday morning at 12:30 am. Ruth and I both shared driving duties and we stayed at a hotel and got 6 hours of sleep Sunday night before moving on. The whole way back we are calling retina specialists and hospitals to see if I can get emergency surgery en route. I am repeatedly told "you are not a patient and we can't help you" or "we are not allowed to tell you if we can perform emergency retina attachment surgery, come into our hospital and we can diagnose you". I already know the diagnosis and our mantra became if we are not rolling towards Wills Eye Hospital we are wasting time. The medical system in our Country is definitely flawed and I will rant about that in a later post.

FINALLY at Wills Eye Hospital emergency room and I am seen and told that in addition to a retina tear and detachment in my left eye, I also have some tears in my right eye. They can't do emergency surgery but will set me up to see the ophthalmologist that morning (Tuesday). A THIRD eye exam gives me the same results and I am scheduled for Wednesday morning to retina attachment surgery. I also asked them to repair the tears in my right eye on Tuesday to protect that vision and it is a little painful but they fixed the tears in my right eye using laser surgery.

Surgery went well on Wednesday. I was in surgery for over 2 hours which is an extremely long time for retina attachment surgery. There was a lot of scar tissue that had to be removed, the eye gel (vitreous) that got through the cracks had to be removed, a silicon eye band was placed around my eye, silicon eye was used to fill my eye, and then everything got stitched back up. I elected to do this under general anesthesia and I'm glad I did. They placed an eye patch over my eye and I was instructed to come back the next day.

The next 24 hours I had to keep my head down and move as little as possible. We spent the night in Philadelphia and saw the doctor the next day. Things were looking good and I was sent home and had to lie down on my right side for the next 5 days. Try keeping your face down for 24 hours and lying on one side of your body for 5 days. It is not that easy and you start to get sore no matter how comfortably you start out. Ruth was a HUGE help and had to lead me all over the place as I could not see anything but blurs out of my right eye. I am feeling very blessed to have Ruth in my life and Wills Hospital so close to home.

After Surgery

After one week, it was back to Wills again so they could check on progress. I got great results, the retina is still attached, my eye pressure is back to normal, and I'm healing very well. Vision is still very blurry out of my left eye. They are reducing my drops and want to see me in one month. I was told that it was very evident I kept my head in the position they told me and that is leading to the good results. I'm allowed to start "normal" activities that amount to being able to take walks and not having to keep my head in any particular position. I'm still not out of the woods and have to be very careful for the next month. The oil in my eye should be able to be removed in September or October and then hopefully the vision in my left eye will improve. There is some risk of detachment during the oil removal process but I am very confident of the Wills Eye Hospital surgeons. I'm so grateful for my wonderful wife and the excellent surgeons at Wills.

My advice to everyone is to make sure you are getting a full retina exam during your eye visits. If they are not dilating your eye and looking for tears in your retina you are not getting a full eye exam and this could happen to you. I will be going to an ophthalmologist from now own to make sure my retina is fully checked, I wish I had known as my yearly optometrist visits were not enough.

Ruth and I will overcome this and plan to be back on the road sometime in the future. I'm already planning the next trip! Other plans in the future include finding a way to volunteer to help people that don't have a significant other that can help them through the healing process. I will look into that further after my eye is healed and my vision is better.