NOW DO YOU SEE?...

I have written about my eye issues in several blogs but unfortunately I’m no closer to solving the problem. The condition of my eyes fluctuates between alright and not very good, depending on the day. I had mentioned that I was seeing a new ophthalmologist hoping that he could bring a new perspective to the situation. The ironic part about seeing a new doctor is that although we have never met it seems as though he’s been reading my blog. I finally found a doctor that is able to keep his ego in check and speak honestly. Just as I had thought, an honest doctor would own up to the fact that he doesn’t know what’s wrong and this doctor boldly admitted this! How refreshing!

He could see some redness in my eyes and eyelids but could not attribute it to anything specific and stopped well short of calling it an infection. He said that there is no point in loading me up with more prescription drops if they don’t seem to be doing anything except cost money, what a revelation! I asked if he thought my MS or possible problems with my optic nerve could be causing my difficulties, he said it’s possible but he really doubted it. Hopefully my new MRI will show something but yet again, this is a big uncertainty. His overall point was that without knowing what’s wrong, it’s very difficult to treat me. His suggestion was to continue using Refresh Tears and when they felt really bad to use a warm compress. Another option he gave was to try flaxseed oil, I haven’t looked into this yet but at least it’s an option. If my vision becomes very bad then I should go back to see him but perhaps the best course of action I’ve heard is his suggestion to keep a journal about when I experience pain or vision difficulty, what the situation is that may have caused it and what if anything provided relief. Maybe this approach will provide some meaningful information on how to proceed but the bottom line is that I’m sill no closer to solving the problem.

Unfortunately my vision is a serious issue that has become worse. It hasn’t affected me to the point of preventing me from doing certain things like driving so I’m praying it doesn’t deteriorate any further. Like I’ve said, it is part of the up and down nature of MS that is characterized by good days and bad so there are plenty of times when this is not a concern at all. On the other hand, there are times when I’m reminded of just how poor my vision can be. I recently went golfing with some friends, I didn’t golf but I did have a great time getting out on the course, driving the cart and enjoying a few beers. Being exposed to the bright sun and open wind isn’t the most favourable conditions to be in for my eyes but until this day I hadn’t realized how poor my eyesight had become. Even though on certain days my vision will still be classified as 20/20, this is in a controlled state looking at a chart where my eye has time to focus and disregard the outer edge blurriness which is a deficit that I’ve been left with for several years now. Very seldom could my eyes track the ball from the initial impact of the club through its flight but when I could see the ball I would lose it as soon as my view point hit the open sky. Looking down the fairway I could see it bounce after it had landed but I had no concept of where it was heading from the tee.

Even if I am able to do some scooter-golf this year I don’t think this will be a problem. To have the ability to hit the ball hard enough, high enough or long enough to lose it is something I doubt I’ll have to worry about. I guess you’d have to go way back in my blogs to find out what scooter-golf is but it’s a new innovation to the game that I developed in 2007. Basically I golf from my scooter by positioning it in front of my ball, spinning my seat around to lean against it and rest my lower legs against the shroud for stability then try to hit the ball. The first time I tried this it worked pretty well because even though I couldn’t hit the ball far I was able to par three holes. This was on a very small par 3 course but still something I considered a great achievement! Since I put my back out in June last year I didn’t have the opportunity to practice at all but I’m hoping to this year. I’ll need to take some lessons and possibly make some modifications to my scooter but hopefully I’ll be able to get out. If there happens to be a pro out there reading my blog with any experience working with disabled golfers I’d love to hear from you!
LC