GN: In the past I have posted GN like this:
I haven't got glaucoma after all.
... and 364 days later I still haven't.
Another year gone, and still no sign of glaucoma. The doctor I saw said that next year they might discharge me and leave the testing to an optician.
If I'd posted on the subject in September 2013 it would have been something like
BN: The visual fields test shows the first signs of glaucoma.
GN: Thanks to NHS screening, it's been caught at a very early stage, and an eyedrop a day in each eye will mean that it won't get any worse. Unlike the previous generation (i.e.
and e.g. my father) who didn't have it diagnosed until late in life, and the next genearation, who might not have an NHS to pay for screening in cases such as mine where there might be an inherited disposition.
BN: December 2013. The eyedrops arent working. I'm given different ones.
GN: April 2014 The new eyedrops are working, so in May I set off on my 11-country tour of Nordic countries and Baltic States (plus Germany, Belgium, France) with a 4-month stock of eyedrops.
BN: May 2014. My eyes become red and itchy, and ooze gunge. This becomes worse during June and July. It becomes so bad I have to force my eyelids apart by hand when I wake up. Small Scandinavian children run away in fear of the man with the garishly red eyes. The only chance to see a world cup match is at a hostel in northern Sweden on a huge TV screen, but there is so much stuff coming out of my eyes that I can'rt see what is going on. A hospital in the wilds of Swedish Lapland gives me some antibiotic eyedrops. They have no effect.
GN: On a hunch, but only after much consideration, I try stopping the glaucoma eyedrops. The redness and oozing clear up. Every time I start again, the redness and oozing return. Huzzah! I've found the cause. (But I don't know why I was fine with them from December to May - a bad batch of eyedrops? Unlikely, so perhaps I'd developed an allergy).
BN: It means stopping using the glaucoma eyedrops until I get home and can see an opthalmologist I trust. I really don't wan't my eyesight to be permanently damaged any more, but how much damage was being caused by the eyedrops anyway?.
GN: I already have my normal September check at Frimley Park Eye Department booked for early September just after I'm due to get home, so I won't be without glaucoma medication for too long.
BN: When I get home there's a letter postponing the appointment until the end of September (the 29th), so that's nearly another month without any treatment. The staff nurse I speak to at the hospital won't give me an emergency appointment because I honestly state that the redness/oozing began in May.
GN: The consultant's secretary arranges an emergency appointment. I use the eyedrops (from a new bottle) for the last time (I hope) and take 'before' and 'after' photographs to show the effect.
These convince the opthalmologist that the drops are doing me no good.
And after looking at the results of the latest visual fields test, she concludes that there is no sign of glaucoma after all, although I might as well go to the September 19th glaucoma clinic to get the official all clear from a glaucoma specialist. Unless they know better.
BN: I was all ready to set off for the appointment this morning when I got a phone call saying the opthalmologist I was due to see was ill, so they'd have to postpone. As I'm going away for a couple of weeks on Friday, that'll mean the end of October at the earliest before they can see me.
GN: Half an hour later another phone call to say the glaucoma consultant can see me tomorrow, so I'll know one way or another.
(to be continued tomorrow in either the bad news thread or the good news thread)
