A Day in the Life of An Eye

This beautiful bue and green picture is a tribute to modern technology. What it's a photograph of, well, that's not so beautiful. It's a branch vein occlusion in someone's eye. Believe me, there are amazing pictures now available for our eyes, like architectural side views of our retinas in the red and yellow picture above.

I'd just as soon not know all this stuff, but on the other hand, one of the saving graces of being curious and educated is, when something happens, you may find some weird satisfaction (no, it's not enjoyment, really) in at least learning something new!

As some of you know, my husband, David, awoke one morning in July 2003 and, as he put it, there wasn't a straight line in his universe. Diagnosis, from one enthusiastic, curious and bang up-to-date doctor was retinal angiomatous proliferation. Blindness in as little as three months. But he knew this guy in New York with some new treatment.

Long story short, this new treatment, done in New York, repeated in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Las Cruces, New Mexico (would you believe we happened upon cities with docs who had been part of the NY doctors tests?!), and he is still seeing, and still able to drive.

A new complication, central vein occlusion, has arisen. It is clearing itself, but still there. So it's off for an MRI. My sweet has never had an MRI before -- I was telling him in the doctor's office how noisy they are (bang bang BANG Claattttter) when it suddenly hit me and I burst out, "On "House" they're always so quiet the staff are talking about their love lives - but that ain't real!", and the doctor turned around and burst out laughing. "Sure isn't!" he said.

Human doctors are a blessing too.