Why I'm Writing This Blog

I'm writing this blog to try to help fellow retinal disease patients who are undergoing retinal detachment and repair surgery to gain from my own experience some idea of what one patient experienced as his recovery progressed.  I am not a medical professional and this blog is not intended to serve as medical advice or as a substitute for appropriate counsel from a doctor or other licensed professional. I am just one patient and my experiences may not be typical or representative of what other patients can expect.  I advise you to consult a licensed and trained medical doctor for medical advice. 

As I went through my recent recovery from repair surgery for retinal detachment on my right eye, I often found myself wondering what I should be seeing through my surgery eye at certain times.  The internet has many sites that describe the symptoms of retinal tears and detachments and that discuss what patients should expect as their recovery progresses.  With regard to what to expect as far as vision is concerned, most sites are understandably very vague and they just say that if a gas bubble is present, vision will be quite blurry, that the quality of returning vision will vary significantly from patient to patient, and that the best vision will take months to attain.  

At times during my recovery, as the gas bubble in my eye reduced in size and I could see a dividing line, I thought that even though I still had a good sized bubble in my eye, I should be able to get an idea of how good my vision would be when I recovered.  But I didn't know which side of the dividing line to look on, and what I should see when I looked there.  As the weeks progressed, I learned the answers to those questions, and I wanted to let others know what I had learned so that I might be able to help them understand what they might be experiencing. 

From what I have learned, my current retinal condition may not be the end of the story of my vision issues.  I have several of the predisposing factors for possible retinal tears and detachments in my currently healthy left eye, and my doctor has told me that scar tissue on my repaired right retina may cause that retina to detach again.  My intention is to use this blog to chronicle my experiences as a help to others and help myself to cope with the challenges I may face.