Central Serous Retinopathy: It’s a Waiting Game.

Sometimes things get worse before they get better.

Update: after posting this article I received word from my specialist’s office that I have an appointment at 8:45 Monday morning.

I just got back from seeing my eye doctor who, is only a couple of blocks down the street from me (score). She works out of Eye-Q Optometry on 17th Ave. S.W. and of the half dozen or so times I’ve been there, I have never had to wait to get in (big score).

As with my last set of scans, Dr. Sarah Freiburger was kind enough to email me a copy of the scan I had done today so that I could share it with you. So I’m going to give her and Eye-Q Optometry a shout out. Check them out for your next eye exam, which I am urgiung everyone to get immediately.

Eye Q Optometry in South Calgary

The reason I went to see (haha) her todaywas that my vision had suddenly changed again, for the worse. I underwent a round of PDT 2 weeks ago (see my previous posts on CSR for what that is) and I knew that I would likely be in for another change in my vision.

It started about a week ago when I noticed I could no longer see any straight lines. For instance, I went to light a cigarette one day, and when I held it up and looked at it, it looked bent and broken. “Well shit”, I thought. Then I saw it out of my left eye, my naturally weaker eye, and it was straight as an arrow again.

It was kind of amusing at first, kind of like a free ride on someones acid trip. Then, 2 days ago, I woke to yet another change in vision, only now the wavy lines, became a garbled mess. It’s now like looking through textured glass. It is no as dark as it was, but that really doesn’t matter at this point.

The fluid is in fact draining from beneath the macula, but there is another pocket of fluid that has built up between the layers, the smaller bubble to the right of the larger one. Dr. Freiburger suspects this is the cause of the distortion.

A view of the surface relief also helps to explain things. My retina went from normal and smooth, to distorted yet still smooth, to distorted and resembling a crater. There is a small area with peaks and valleys on my macula, and until they all settle down, if they all return to normal that is, this is what I have to put up with.

It is what it is.

There is nothing that can be done at this point but wait. It is also possible that it will take multiple rounds of photodynamic therapy to resolve this. The risk of serious and lasting loss of visual acquity rises with every round.

I see the specialist again in two weeks, and I’ll keep you updated as things progress. As bad as this might be, and things could very well turn out in my favor here, there are far worse that could have happened but didn’t. But far worse things have happened to tens or even hundreds of thousands of people.

For the time being I’m going to be writing a little bit less, but I’ve been mulling the idea of utilizing video a little more than I have been. Recorded video and live steaming on FB and YouTube are platforms that others haved used to great effect. I’ll let you know shortly.

In the meantime, if you haven’t done so already, GET YOUR DAMN EYES CHECKED!!!

D.B.