Is seeing believing?
A new year, new time to start stacking on the doctor visits. Better control and diabetes management is always a worthy goal, but for some reason new years tend to bring out that goal even more. Across the blogosphere, d-bloggers are chronicling their experiences at the endo, eye examiners, dental experts, nutrionists, and general physicians. I'm in need of pump supplies, and aside from the issue of whether I'm adequately pushing for better control, will nee to consult my endo just to get a script for life-enduring supplies.
But the first exam goes to the eye experts. I've been in need of new contacts and specs for months now, but have pushed off the inevitable purchase until now. My latest visit means I'll be back to contact wearing, ending the temporary adventure of wearing my glasses that need to be bumped up a couple notches.
The visit wasn't a welcome one, not after the news last year from a specialist that beginning stages of diabetic retinopathy had started. Duh duh duh . News we all dread, and a tidbit that I expected but somehow thought might never arrive. Well, it had. So, here we are - a year later. The next visit to the regular eye doc.
After the dialation pressure tests on Friday, waiting in the chair as the vision blurs and the already-blurred rows of letters on the wall fade out even more. He came to the open door, though I couldn't see him behind the corner. Only the rustling of papers- his flipping through my charts. Then, he entered. Light intro talk, basic questions, then lights out. Time for the bright, waving light and moving of my eyes in each direction.
As he got ready to give me the latest update, I clutched a tissue that had been given to me earlier to dab at the dialiating drops. Here it comes, I thought..... How worse can it be? What can another year of less-than-adequate control have done?
"No signs of diabetic retinopathy."
Huh? Say that again? He did. I was somewhat confused, especially after the last news bit about beginning stages. Questioning the diagnosis, I pushed for more. His answer: just because you have beginning stages of d-retinopathy, doesn't mean it's going to stay. Might go away. Of course, I'm thinking how absurd that idea is since my control's been below par. Why would it just go away? Could it be that the "specialist" can see more than he can, do more detailed and explorative tests to reveal issues that might otherwise be hidden? This took him back a little, and he noted how he's usually pretty adept at spotting signs. It's possible, though.
So there I am. Now what? May want to get a second opinion, going back to that specialist to see what he says. It just strikes me as odd that retinopathy would just "go away" like that, especially with my control behavior. As of now, I'm glasses-wearing and awaiting the contacts. We'll see what happens from here.
But the first exam goes to the eye experts. I've been in need of new contacts and specs for months now, but have pushed off the inevitable purchase until now. My latest visit means I'll be back to contact wearing, ending the temporary adventure of wearing my glasses that need to be bumped up a couple notches.
The visit wasn't a welcome one, not after the news last year from a specialist that beginning stages of diabetic retinopathy had started. Duh duh duh . News we all dread, and a tidbit that I expected but somehow thought might never arrive. Well, it had. So, here we are - a year later. The next visit to the regular eye doc.
After the dialation pressure tests on Friday, waiting in the chair as the vision blurs and the already-blurred rows of letters on the wall fade out even more. He came to the open door, though I couldn't see him behind the corner. Only the rustling of papers- his flipping through my charts. Then, he entered. Light intro talk, basic questions, then lights out. Time for the bright, waving light and moving of my eyes in each direction.
As he got ready to give me the latest update, I clutched a tissue that had been given to me earlier to dab at the dialiating drops. Here it comes, I thought..... How worse can it be? What can another year of less-than-adequate control have done?
"No signs of diabetic retinopathy."
Huh? Say that again? He did. I was somewhat confused, especially after the last news bit about beginning stages. Questioning the diagnosis, I pushed for more. His answer: just because you have beginning stages of d-retinopathy, doesn't mean it's going to stay. Might go away. Of course, I'm thinking how absurd that idea is since my control's been below par. Why would it just go away? Could it be that the "specialist" can see more than he can, do more detailed and explorative tests to reveal issues that might otherwise be hidden? This took him back a little, and he noted how he's usually pretty adept at spotting signs. It's possible, though.
So there I am. Now what? May want to get a second opinion, going back to that specialist to see what he says. It just strikes me as odd that retinopathy would just "go away" like that, especially with my control behavior. As of now, I'm glasses-wearing and awaiting the contacts. We'll see what happens from here.
Comments