An update a month earlier than expected

I know you've all been waiting at the edge of your seats for this. ;-) I ended up seeing an optometrist at my primary care clinic last week. He ran a few tests and concluded that, yes, there is a problem with my peripheral vision, but he couldn't see a reason why. Everything inside of me looks good. He wanted me to get my visual field tested and then see a neuro-ophthalmologist at the clinic, just to make sure everything was okay.

On Tuesday I had the Goldman Visual Field Test. It's basically a giant half-sphere with a chin rest in the middle. You're supposed to stare at a light in the center of the sphere while other lights of varying sizes are brought in and out of your field of vision. You let the technician know when you see the lights by tapping on the table.

When I went to see the neuro-ophthalmologist on Thursday, he showed me the results of my test, which were pretty much exactly what everyone expected them to be. I'm missing about a quarter of my vision on the lower left and lower right sides. It's a little unnerving to have such conclusive results, but, to be honest, it hasn't been affecting my life much. If Dr. Neurosurgeon wouldn't have said anything at my last appointment, I probably wouldn't have done anything about it. Or cared, really.

After examing my eyes yet again, the neuro-ophthalmologist basically said again that everything looks great and that this whole eye thing is just a result of the surgerys. He mentioned that it might be a good idea to get the visual field test performed again at a later date, just so they can verify that my vision isn't getting worse. If it remains consistent, though, then he's not too worried. This situation is not ideal, obviously, but I'll take it. As I said before, if this is the worst side-effect of my surgery, then I'd say I'm pretty lucky.

So that's that. I'm going to verify that Dr. Neurosurgeon has received the test results, and then I'm going to cancel my appointment at the U. I'm not planning on being there again until December for my next MRI, which is a very good thing.

Thank you all for the positive thoughts. I'm happy to report my good news!

Another day, another doctor

I've been debating about posting this, and have started and stopped a couple of times. I think the reason why I left this little blog alone was because I didn't want to turn into one of those people who was constantly kvetching about her health problems. Today, though, I'm going to kvetch a little, if only for my own sake. Feel free to leave at any time. ;-) Who knows, maybe I'll resuscitate the blog. Or maybe I'll turn into an account of my ever-fascinating daily life. We'll see what happens.

I saw my neurosurgeon the other day for a general follow-up appointment, my second in the past year. At the last one, in September, everything looked good, and I was told that, if my next MRI came up clear, I could switch to having appointments once a year (rather than once every six months). This was good news, obviously. If you're not familiar, MRI's are sort of a stressful experience. I've finally reached the point now where I can nearly fall asleep during the half hour scan, which is no small feat, considering how frickin' loud they are. I'm also not claustrophobic, though I can't imagine what it would be like for someone who is (they put a plastic CAGE over your FACE...it's unenjoyable, to say the least).

Anyway, at Tuesday's appointment, everything, once again, looked good. There has been no tumor growth, and my ventricles are normal-sized. When the resident was testing my peripheral vision, however, she noticed that I'm not seeing as well as I should. This isn't really that surprising to me, since I've been noticing some subtle vision problems myself, but it's disheartening nonetheless. My neurosurgeon referred me to an ophthalmologist at the University, but I can't get in to see him for nearly two months. I also have to go see my primary care doctor first in order to get an official referral so that my insurance will cover the appointment (yay insurance...). Apparently ophthalmology appointments can take FOUR HOURS, so I'll be missing at least half a day of work. Yikes.

I'm not really sure what peripheral vision loss is indicative of, or if they can fix it. Dr. Neurosurgeon indicated it might be a shunt-related problem, though I don't know in what capacity. If they need to adjust the pressure, they can do that from the outside by putting magnets near the shunt track (this makes me feel like a robot). If it's something else, will I need more surgery? I don't know. They didn't suggest that as a possibility, but they didn't really suggest ANYTHING as a possibility.

So the moral of the story is, I'll be living in mystery for another two months or so. Part of me was hoping to walk away from this experience scot-free. And I've been lucky--I haven't really had any brain tumor-related deficits to speak of. If peripheral vision loss is the worst thing that happens to me, then so be it. I'll deal. Even still, I'm anxious to hear what the eye doctor has to say. Hopefully this is manageable and not something that's going to continue to get worse.

Okay, I'm done now. Life is going really, really well otherwise, so I'm doing my best to focus on that. Onward and upward.