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I haven’t posted an update for about three weeks.  In that time, my vision still sucks and I’m wondering if I made the right choice to have the surgery.  I visited the retina specialist on Tuesday and was told that there isn’t much difference on the macular edema from the last visit about a month ago (and that was only slightly different from earlier this year.)  Seems a bit odd since during my appointment in May, he was able to point out the differences with my OCT scan then and the one earlier this year.  I was also told that I had a bit of swelling in my cornea (cornea edema.)  I don’t recall if that was an issue at my last cornea doc visit, but I’m scheduled to visit him this coming Tuesday (22 June,) so I’ll ask.  At this point, my vision seems to fluctuate between slightly better than before the surgery to worse than before the surgery.

It is so frustrating to me that nothing can be done to get me back to where I was just days after the surgery.  For about 10 days from 18 April, my vision was the best it had been in years.  Seems now like that was a cruel tease.  I’m getting tired of running to the doctors multiple times per month and not making progress.

In other news, Jacob is in Japan with a group of students from Westtown.  The last few days they’ve stayed in Kyoto and taken day trips by rail to other cities and sites (Hiroshima, Miyagima-guchi, Miyagima, Kinkaku-ji.)  Sunday, they move on to Tokyo where they meet their host families and prepare for a week at Tamagawa, Westtown’s sister school in Japan.  The family Jake is staying with has a boy a year or two younger than Jake and seems to live a bit of distance away from the school.  Eliz and I hope Jake can manage the train transfers…

Jane is looking forward to meeting her favorite band All Time Low on Sunday at meet and greet during The Bamboozle Roadshow.  Monday, she heads to softball camp at Villanova for a week.  She is also doing two weeks at an overnight camp at Bryn Mawr College in July and going to the Outer Banks in August with Margaret, Meghan, and Chris.  Did I mention she spent yesterday (Thursday) in New York with her friend Rachel?

Since Eliz and Jane won’t be here on Sunday, I’m planning a day of football…  Well, at least the last two games (Azzurri/All Whites and Brazil/Ivory Coast (sorry Slovakia/Paraguay, I’m not rolling out of bed at 7.30am.)  So, if you want to watch some footie, come on over!

Finally, I’ve lost another pound, which I am trying not to do.  I’m trying to maintain 163 pounds, but have been between 161 and 162 the last couple of days.  I’ve bumped to 1800 calories per day (from 1700) to try not to lose any additional weight.  It’s been tough this week, because we’ve eaten out four times and I’ve had to estimate my calories once and calculate my calories after the fact another time.  By the time I added ‘em up, I was short by 200 calories (ate 1600 calories) and it was too late to have anything else if I wanted to go to sleep by 2.00am.  At 161, I’m down 73 pounds since I started on 10 December 2009.

More next week, after my cornea doc appointment.

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For the first time in a very long time, I got a chance to hit in a softball game.  I’ve been looking forward to it since the middle of April, after my surgery.  A few weeks ago, when my vision was heading in the wrong direction, I didn’t think I’d even try.  After my visit to Dr. Garg a couple of days ago and starting the drop regimen, my vision seemed to improve a little, so I was back in.

After some stretching (okay, very little stretching on the parents’ part,) we grabbed a ball and warmed up.  We threw the ball around like we do here: Jane to Eliz, then Eliz flips me the ball to me (I like to pretend I’m the second baseman and I’m turning a double play,) then I “fire” it to Jane.  Jane will sometimes just give me grounders that I field (without a glove, I don’t want someone to think I can actually play and throw me the ball) and throw to her.  After about 10 minutes of that the girls took the field and the parents went to the bench.

The batting order was determined by who went over and grabbed a bat first.  I hit fourth.  We went through the order all at once.  After three outs though, if there were any runners on base, they came in and the next batter started a “new inning.”  Wasn’t too different than t-ball for Jane about eight years ago.  Two of the first three parents struck out, while the other grounded out.  I felt no pressure stepping into the batters box, since I wasn’t going to be the first one to strike out.  I so wanted to make contact.  First pitch was a ball high.  Second one was over the inside part of the plate, strike one.  Third pitch was in the exact same spot, strike two.  The fourth pitch bounced on the front of the plate, ball two.  I probably saw that one the best and had the bounce been higher, I probably could have hit it — like in mush ball.  The fifth pitch looked good, but I swung and missed, strike three.  There were at least six strikeouts on our team, including Jane’s K of Eliz.

I noticed when I was batting that I couldn’t see as well if I looked straight at the pitcher, I had to glance toward first base to see the ball better.  That concerned me, because that is what seemed to be going on over the last couple of weeks.  My central vision wasn’t good.  I went out with Eliz to stand in rightfield.  As we were talking, I told her my vision wasn’t right.  Since I started the drops, I had noticed an improvement.  I even commented to Eliz on the ride to school that I’m glad I took the eye drop just before we left home and that I was seeing pretty well as I watched the cars on the road in front of us.  How could my vision have changed so quickly?  Was it the running around while we were throwing the ball around?  Was it bright sun?  I don’t know what the answer is, but my vision seems like it has gone back to how it was before I went to Dr. Garg on Tuesday.  Once I finish with this entry, I will investigate macular edema a little further.

After two more drops today, my vision is bad.  I had trouble reading most of the graphics on TV tonight and the text on the computer is fuzzy.  Fortunately, I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Ayres, the surgeon and cornea specialist.  Maybe he’ll have an idea about the macular edema and the quick change in my vision.  Most likely, I’ll have to wait until I go back to Dr. Garg on 15 June.  It’s funny, I think if I had hit the ball, I don’t think I would have noticed or been bothered by the decrease in vision.  I’m already looking forward to next years game…

Couple other short items…  I spoke to Dr. Rist, my gp, today.  She was calling to give me the results from a blood test I had yesterday after my appointment with her.  They were all very good and well within the normal range.  They were dramatically better than a year ago.  My blood pressure yesterday was also pretty good, 104/68.  All in all, the 1500 calories per day has been a good thing.  I will be increasing my caloric intake to about 1700 next week, since I’m within a few pounds of my goal.  The doctor calculated my metabolism and came up with that number.  I asked the doctor if the results were back from the throat swab she had done yesterday (I’ve had a sore throat since early last week, along with chills the first day or two,) but they haven’t as of today.  She prescribed Amoxicillin yesterday since she had noticed some things in my throat.

Also, we’ve been getting more calls to our design company (Digital Graphics Design) as of late.  I had to cancel a meeting with a prospective client earlier in the week since I wasn’t feeling well.  Today we got a call from a professional looking for a small website.  I am going to attempt this one on my own.  Let’s see how that goes.  When I took the call in the morning, I was seeing okay and was confident I could do it.  Now I’m not so sure.

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I say that like it doesn’t happen often.  Today I had an appointment to see Dr. Garg, the retina specialist I visited several times in January and February.  As far as I was concerned, he was my last hope of finding why I was having difficulty seeing over the last couple of weeks, after noticeably better sight after the cataract extraction on 15 April.  I mentioned in this space last week that I didn’t think he’d spot anything.  Fortunately, I was wrong!

After having difficulty reading the 20/200 line (their chart is different than all the others, the 20/200 line is CD not SL) I had my IOP taken (9 in the left, 28 in the right – that is high, but since there is no pain and virtually no sight, who cares,) I was given drops to dilate my eyes.  After a 10-15 minute wait, we went to another examination room.  Dr. Garg came in and asked me about the trouble I’ve been having and the surgery, then had a look.  He noticed something and said he would like me to have an OCT scan.  After another short wait, Tom called me in and did the OCT scan.  After another short wait, we went into a different exam room.

Dr. Garg came in and immediately said that I have Macular Edema.  I was pretty happy for a second.  I thought, “Wow, he actually found something!”  Then I though, “Uh oh, now what?”  I asked the doctor how it is treated and then I was happy again.  Eye drops (the name escapes me at the moment, but I think it begins with a D) four times per day.  That is easy enough.  He then showed Eliz and I (between my dilated eye and poor vision, I couldn’t really see much) the OCT scan from today and the one from 15 January.  He pointed out the difference in the one today, which Eliz was able to see.  After about two hours, we were done.  I go back in four weeks.

Today was the first of three doctor’s appointments for the week.  Tomorrow, I go to my general practitioner for a check-up.  Perfect timing for me to visit her, as I’ve had a sore throat for about eight or nine days.  I’m interested to see what she says about my weight.  I was in the mid-180’s the last time I was there in March.  I was 168 this morning.  I know many of you have been asking about how I dropped a total of 66 pounds since 10 December 2009 and want to know my secrets.  The short answer is 1500 calories a day and I weigh everything I eat at home (unless it is packaged, then I use the nutritional info on the package.)  When we’re out, I use the restaurant’s own nutritional info.  If a restaurant doesn’t provide the info, then I calculate it.  If I can’t calculate it, we don’t eat there.  Do you hear me Bertucci’s?  I’ve kept a food journal since February and I’ll post it soon (I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago, but my vision issues got in the way.)  Friday, I visit Dr. Ayres for another post op check.

Lastly tonight, I went to Anthem Institute (formerly Chubb Institute) for a Graphic Design Advisory Board meeting.  It was both good and bad.  Good because I love talking about graphic design work, the industry, and the curriculum at the school.  They’re making some positive changes there that will give students a deeper design knowledge that should translate into being better prepared to land a job once they graduate.  The bad part about tonight was talking about new version of programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash.  How is that bad?  I so want to use them, start shooting pictures again, shooting videos (and editing them,) and cool stuff like that, but my vision is not cooperating.  Maybe I’ll be able to get back to it once the drops work their magic…

Oh, and one last thing.  Really.  The parent daughter softball game is Thursday afternoon at Friends Central.  I am hoping to get an at-bat.  I will most likely strike out, if given the okay to hit, but I want to try.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Fortunately, Lankenau Hospital is literally right around the corner…

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