Glaucoma, My Eye!

This picture has been the header for my Facebook profile for a while, now. It is funny (in a black-humor sort of way), that I chose my left eye to highlight, and made some comment about "still having a twinkle in it". I was diagnosed with glaucoma in that eye three months ago, and started on an eye drop regimen that will continue for the rest of my life (unless I actually go blind in that eye, in which case...).

A couple months ago, I underwent laser surgery to blow a hole through my iris to relieve the pressure that was causing my iris to bulge. The surgery was a piece of cake. In fact, my doctor said she'd never had it go so well before: she only had to make two "shots" - one with the hot laser, and one with the cold laser - and ...voila!...a perfect hole in my iris, which has not closed up since the operation, which often happens. (BTW - she said she usually makes 12-15 shots with the hot laser, and 15-18 with the cold laser to get a big enough hole!!!) I had a BUNCH of good friends praying for me, and I can only give the glory and praise to my Heavenly Father for seeing me safely through the procedure.

 I have recently taken a turn for the worse - I developed a white "haze" in that eye - like looking through gauze or fog - and went from seeing 20/20, to not being able to read the top row of letters on the eye chart - with my glasses on. My doctor increased the dosage of steroid drops to 4 times a day (up from once a day), but a side effect of the steroid is that it increases the pressure in the eye, which is basically what glaucoma is. The other two medications I'm taking are drops that limit the production of fluid in the eye, thus reducing the pressure. These drops seem to be making my eye "shrink" - it is not as pronounced as my other, healthy eye, and my eyelid has a decided droop to it. Consequently, my eye doesn't look much like it does in the picture above. My vision does seem to be improving ever so slightly, day by day, though, so keep those prayers a-coming - please! They are mighty powerful stuff!

Unfortunately, I cannot do much work on the computer, as my eye tires easily, and that means blurrier vision, so I am not able to do much design work right now. The Lord has given me the wonderful opportunity to watch my beautiful little granddaughter on a daily basis, which takes all my time, anyway, so I probably wouldn't be getting much design work done anyway. (As proof, notice the "Hello Spring" header on my blog. Sigh.)

Anyway, I just wanted to let some of my peeps know what has been going on with me. Thanks for thinking of me.

Laura

Update: I am doing fine and dandy as long as I use my eye drops twice a day. My vision is clear and pressures are low, thank the Lord and all the docs who've worked on me, and especially all those of you who have prayed for me. Prayer works!