Finally! Some good news about my serious eye issue!

I mentioned a time or two that a blood clot burst in my retina last January (2014). It was an extremely serious situation on many levels and I have been having injections into my eye (Yes, into my eyeball!) for months to keep the swelling in the retina down.

When the clot burst, blood poured out into my retina. That caused a ton of vision issues. The biggest issue was that my left eye was impaired from a baseball bat to the face when I was a kid so I relied on right eye to do most of the seeing. Without good vision in that eye after the clot, everything was blurry and I was seeing what looked like huge snow flakes everywhere. That was the blood splatters getting in the way of my cornea.

Most people my age - which is just under 50 - generally don't have this situation occur unless they have one or more of a number of certain health issues. I have no risk factors at all for this sort of thing so I stumped the doctors. The blood was supposed to pool back there and HOPEFULLY stay put so that I didn't lose my vision if it moved into the cornea area. Needless to say, I have been a basket case for a year. I am losing my hearing due to a genetic issue so I NEED my eyes to help me hear.

I went to the eye doctor Wednesday and he took a ton of pictures of all parts of my eye especially my retina. I was nervous because my eye had been hurting and I just felt something bad was going on. Together, we went to look at the pictures of my retina. I dreaded seeing that awful red splatters all throughout the retina. When the doctor switched on the light to see the photos on the light board, both of us were stunned. The pooled blood was GONE!

This sometimes happens when a vein near the site of the clot decides to be nice and absorb the blood and take it back into the blood stream. But that is rare and my doctor never saw it happen in someone my age. I am considered "young" for what happened and younger people actually fare much worse than those in their mid 60's and later when this type of occlusion happens.

My doctor told me that my body was working to heal me and that I am now not in danger of the blood taking my vision away. I still need the shots for the swelling and I still have a long road ahead of me but seeing the beautiful photo of what looked like a peach colored moon, completely lacking the splatters of blood that were there a year ago made me cry and I NEVER cry. My doctor was a little emotional as well. He was so upset when he told me what happened to my eye last year. He knew that it was my "good eye" and that I could easily lose my vision. And there was the chance that I had an underlying even more serious condition that could cause a stroke or worse.

No doctor has found the reason why the clot occurred and I have had every test imaginable. And now, the blood has moved on and I am at a much lower risk for permanent vision loss. I could not be more grateful.

A branch vein retinal occlusion (which is the technical name for what occurred) can be very dangerous and usually occurs in people with serious underlying heath issues. I thought I was very unlucky but really, I am LUCKY. I don't have the serious underlying health issues and the blood that pooled was absorbed lowering my overall risk of blindness. I wish this had not have happened but I am SO grateful that things are playing out the way they are. If the swelling would stop, I could stop having nasty injections in my eye and really start to believe I may out of the woods. I am due for injection Monday. Blah. But still, I am filled with relief and gratitude and pray that eventually my retina will settle down and stop swelling and I won't need laser surgery which is the next step. Even if I do have to have it, I am still happy. The blood is gone. The blood is gone!

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BVRO |#retina|#retinalocclusion|#bloodclot|#visionissues|#goodnews|#visionloss|#lucky|#blind

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