Monday- To the Eye specialist....

To the Dr., not just the Dr. but the Eye Specialist.... Ugh, I hate going to the eye specialist, with the tests I have to have, having my eye's dialated, then of course getting the news each time that my vision has gotten x amount worse. Why do I go? I am asked this quite often too. I go for several reasons. First, so I know I'm not crazy and that I really am not seeing those things I'm tripping on and falling over when i do miss them. I also go too so that there's some sort of record of the progression of this mean disease. I also go too, as I know that there are the complications that are very common for people with Ushers Syndrome. Several being Macular edema's or fluid collecting at the back of the eyes, cataracts, and sometimes detachment of the retina. Fun, fun huh? So yeah, although I don't like the typical end result of going, it's far better to go and know that none of those other things are happening or trying to happen!

I had been going to one Dr. at Midwest Eye Institute for quite some time now. He is very versed and knowledgeable about Usher's syndrome, doing a lot of his residency work with Usher's patients. However, in the last couple of years, the appointments have gotten longer and longer and the Dr. more and more intolerable in his attitude on some things. I have a fellow Usher person that will not go to see him because he refused to take her as a patient, if he had to provide her an interpreter. That bugs me as well.

Two years ago, I was really upset with how I was inadvertantly chewed out because I'd "no showed" for my appointment. When in actuality, I'd called and cancelled the appointment, and didnt receive any notice of the first appointment. But when I showed up for the re-scheduled appointment, while they had me on the books for it, the Dr. really laid into me for not showing up for the first one. I explained that I'd called and tried to cancel it. The other thing that really put me off too, was every time I went in, I'd invariably wind up needing to have a 120 visual field test and an Electroretinalgram (ERG) along with having my eyes dilated, and retinal pictures, along with being fitted in amongst all the other patients there for the day Our appointments went to being 4-5 HOURS long each time. I was exhausted, tired, cranky, and just felt poked and prodded by the time we'd get home 6 hours later.

So after my chewing out, I insisted on having the visual field scheduled ahead of time for the next appointment last year. The Dr. was rather indignant about it and really came across of having did it in a mood of just trying to appease me and my insistance about it. So when we came in last year, as I told him, I'd lost more vision and he even looked at me funny like I wasn't being truthful. Then after the results of the visual field exam, he was like Wow, you HAVE lost some more vision. So again, I insisted on having a visual field scheduled for the next appointment, which he didn't balk at quite so much that time in light of the events that just transpired, just now he'd hired someone to do all the visual fields for him, so had to schedule with HIS person this time. So we didn't exactly leave there with a good taste the mouth yet again.

So then I had an appt scheduled for this year- for January 18th. As soon as I found out the Friday before Christmas, that I'd be leaving for NY for Honey, on Jan. 14th, I called the office and talked with his staff explaining that I needed to reschedule my appointment, as I would be out of state and unable to be there. Yeah, you see where this is going.... She said she took it off the books and that she couldn't just reschedule it, since she had to coordinate it with their tech that does the visual fields. I said that was fine, that I wasn't leaving for three weeks, but that I would be leaving on Jan. 14th. I just needed to know before then. She said she'd call back. So I wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. The week before I was to leave, on Wednesday, I call the office again, explaining that I was leaving the following Monday and needed to get my appt re-scheduled. The person I was talking to, was a different person and pulled up my acct on the computer. She said well, she's supposed to call you today. I said ok, you can't tell me the information now? I'm on the phone with you, long distance, now... She was like no, she's at another office, she'll have to call you.

So the original person never calls me. I say screw it, I'm changing doctors and will take care of setting up a new appt when I get home from NY. WRONG.... There is a message on the answering machine for 12:30pm, on January 14th, from the person. Ok, I'm in the air in the airplane when she called. So Mike got the message and tries calling, and again, She's at another office, you have to call her back later. Mike said screw it, we'd deal with it later, and then Mike got a post card in the mail saying that I was to show up for an appt on the 18th, the date I'd supposedly cancelled. grrrrrrrr. So Mike called and got that cancelled, and I was then determined to find a new Dr. when I got home.

So I came home, got a referral to Eye Surgeon Associates of Indiana and went yesterday for my appt. As I came in they were very helpful and politely directed me to the check in area. Very quickly, I was called back and the tech did the pre exam. We did have a little snafu as we were walking back to the exam room though. I'd commanded Honey to follow, and she was, but as we were going past this wall, there was another tech that came bopping around the end of the wall and pretty much came face to face with Honey. She jumped and absolutely shrieked. She yelled so loud that my tech jumped, I jumped, and Honey jumped sideways, jerking me away from her. Scaring the daylights out of all of us. Once we all collected ourselves, we moved on and after a few minutes, the other lady came to the exame room and apoligized profusely for scaring us so bad.

The Dr. wanted me to do the visual field before she saw me and went and did that. It was very quick, being completely computerized, taking about 15 minutes to do both eyes. Then had the exam. The Dr. was VERY nice, answered all of my questions and provided information too, making sure I knew of things that I may not have. I was REALLY pleased. :) And best of all, I was totally done and headed home right at 2 hrs after we got there! Yay! So will be going back, thats for sure.

We worked on bags and different things last night, and have to get hopping for the meeting tonight, so have to cut this short. Will try to finish up later!

Toodles!