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In this life you only have the ones you love and if your lucky the ones that love you too!
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Art Moss
Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Glaucoma

Well folks, I had a real taste of reality today; I have been diagnosed with a disease that is not curable, but is treatable. Open-Angle Glaucoma is often found in individuals with the following risk factors: 1. African Americans and Hispanics age 40 and older 2. Family history of glaucoma 3. Age 60 and older for the general population 4. Poor long-distance vision (near-sighted) 5. History of diabetes 6. Taking prescription steroids 7. Eye injury or eye surgery 1. I am not currently African American or Hispanic 2. There is no family history for at least three generations 3. I am only 29 years and 6 months Young, Half the age of this risk factor 4. I am as blind as a bat- on the 20/20 scale I am 20/475 5. I have no history of diabetes 6. It may be hard to believe, but this beautiful body I have is NATURAL no steroids needed 7. I want corrective surgery but have not had any, nor have I had any trauma One interesting thing I found out today is that my iris is encroaching on the mesh area that normally drains the fluid from the eye, but it is not blocking the area and is not the cause of the high pressures in my eyes. The first time I had the pressure of my eyes measured (since I joined the navy in 1997) was in 1999. The reading was normal, 13 in the right and 14 in the left eye. The next time was in 2002 and the reading was a little abnormal, 25 - right 26- left. This is outside of the acceptable normal range of 10 - 21. (This measurement is of pressure in the eye in inches of mercury, much like pressure altitude is measured, sea level is 29.92 inches of mercury) When the high pressure was initially found I took a Visual Fields test (a test that measures the range of peripheral vision one has) and had photographs taken of the inside of my eyes (to document the area where my optical nerve leaves my eyes and goes toward my brain). I had a few follow-ups to measure the pressure in my eyes and was told that at the time there was no problem. Last week I had an appointment with my optometrist for consultation on the possibilities of corrective eye surgery. I am tired of wearing glasses; it’s been over 22 years now. He wanted a full eye exam prior to making a recommendation for surgery, sounded good to me, and that is when this whole thing started to feel surreal. He measured a pressure of 30 in each eye and told me that with a pressure that high I would not be able to have surgery. Additionally he wanted me to come back the next day to have the IOP (inter ocular pressure) measured again. I did and it was still 30. I then took another Visual Fields test and by comparing the test from 2002 and this new one we discovered that I have lost about 10-15% of my peripheral vision. He was hesitant to call it Glaucoma; still there are many factors to consider. So I was sent to an ophthalmologist at Naval Hospital Bremerton, a ferry and 100 miles away. That appointment was today, and it was confirmed that I do indeed have glaucoma. The treatment I have been prescribed is an eye drop medication called Xalatan. It is to lower the pressure in my eyes so that no further damage can happen to my optic nerves and preserve my vision. Here is the warning on the label. Like all medicines, XALATAN can have side effects. These side effects are usually mild and tolerable and may include blurred vision, burning and stinging, eyelid redness, the feeling that something is in the eye, eye itching, increased pigmentation (darkening) of eye color, or irritation of the clear front surface of the eye. XALATAN may slowly cause darkening of eye color due to increased brown color, darkening of the eyelid and eyelashes, and increased growth and thickness of eyelashes. Color changes can increase as long as XALATAN is administered; eye color changes are likely to be permanent. Good bye baby blues, hello BROWN? I hope not, I am a little partial to my blue eyes. At least I won’t go blind any time soon!

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