Update

[mowens]

I've been in the hospital the last week. My left eye is all messed up my optic. Nerve is swollen. The muscles are frozen and it causes a lot of pain. The pain causes my blood pressure to rise considerably, which is dangerous for my heart condition. The only hospital with an ophthalmology department is not in my insurance network.I see bankruptcy in my future.
I'm sorry for your loss Dell.

[Smit]

Sorry to hear that Mike. Best wishes for getting better very soon. 

[Dan_AKA_ROY23]

Best wishes, Mike. Hang in there. Get well soon.

[beej]

oh my goodness! I am sorry, Mike. I am praying for you.

[Incogneeto]

Man!! you can mess with about anything else , But Not My Eyes.

I had a Bout of serious eye Inflammation they called it Styes.

Come to find out our New Coolant was just introduced. "Huot" salesman said it was over the top!!

Read the chemicals list.

Severe eye trauma, Jesus!! if exposed remove all clothing??

It took 3 months to get semi back to normal.

Over a year for all to subside.

I hope you feel better, sorry for the pain. It's the worst.

Look into it if things changed at the shop.

[Zoffen]

I am sending out as many good vibes into the universe for you. Hope it helps!

This January I got an ear infection that lead to very serious vertigo. I couldn't see straight for a week. Sight is something that is you take for granted until you can't!

[Rstewart]

Best wishes, hang in there!! Hoping for your speedy recovery

[neurosis]

Sorry to hear, Mowens. 

[MIL-TFP-41]

You wanna get my blood pressure up mention dealing with network and out of network insurance bullshit. Sorry you have to deal with that and work towards getting healthy at the same time. Its a thing that no one should have to even think about.

[Shazam/TPP]

hoping for a quick cure and recovery!

[mowens]

So, just a little update. It turns out I don't have a tumor. One name for it is Orbital Inflammatory Syndrome, sometimes called Orbital Pseudotumor. Treatment is almost exclusively high dose steroids. I started at 80mg a day of prednisone. Did that for a week then dropped to 70 for a week, etc. This week I'm on 40. The steroids have helped with the pain but not so much with the eye muscles and such. My eye stays about 75% closed and pointing a different direction than my good eye. Honestly, it's disturbing to see for the first time. I look like a villain in a slasher movie, so I try to be a little extra friendly when dealing with people. This has its own rewards, independent of the eye issues.

High dose steroids wreck your blood sugar levels. I now have "Steroid Induced Hyperglycemia". I wear a continuous glucose monitor and carry an insulin pen and needle tips. I have an app that shows my blood sugar level and updates every minute. It sends an alarm when certain levels are reached.

This is an inconvenience and a pain but nothing compared to stuff other people on here are dealing with. I'm fortunate it's not worse.

Edit: One thing that really does suck is that I have floaters in my eyes. Occasionally one will show up right in the center of my good eye which severely limits my vision. Fortunately, It usually doesn't last long.

I just realized I think I said all of this in another thread. Oops. Sorry.

[mowens]

I'm sure reading all of my self inflicted health issues gets old. I'm just venting.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with diastolic heart failure. This means that, although the blood gets properly oxygenated, the heart is unable to pump enough volume for the body's needs.  Once that episode had passed, all of my yearly tests have been stable.

I had my annual echocardiogram earlier this year and it showed some issues, leaky aortic valve, aortic ectasia. So, we scheduled a stress test and ct angiogram. I had those tests done but before I had my follow up with the cardiologist all this other stuff happened. I finally had my follow up today.

My doctor is a good doctor but he is notorious for not explaining things. I was expecting something about the valve and aorta. He came in and said both of my tests were abnormal. He added two medications and says we are doing a heart catheter. He checked me over and left. I asked his nurse practitioner for a more in depth explanation; she said that I am in heart failure. Sometimes they can improve the heart function by cleaning off plaque so the heart can expand and contract better; thus the catheterization. A lifetime of high blood pressure has left the walls of my heart too thick, sort of like a muscle bound body builder whose muscles limit his movement.

I am regularly short of breath but just chalked it up to being an old fat man; partially correct. I am an old fat man with heart failure. Unfortunately, additional oxygen won't help since the volume of blood being pumped is the issue and not a lack of oxygen in the blood.

Anyway, that's the latest.


Edit: I just got into the patient portal and was reading the actual report. It says I have a 70% blockage in the LAD artery, which I believe is the widow maker. I'm a little miffed at not being told this. I don't know if he's just used to people not wanting details or what.

[Dan_AKA_ROY23]

Hang in there, Mike. Getting old sucks.. (Thanks for the updates)

[mkd]

I would get a new doctor. That's complete BS that a serious condition is just skipped over without verbal explanation. 

[Del.]

I think that 70% blockage is not horrible for your age and condition
I would seek another cardiologist though for a different prospective. My brother in law lived for years with only 25% heart function. A good cardiologist can do wonderful things today. Best wishes Mike.