After a much too long wait I am finally back in the air again. In June while in Las Vegas for a trade show I had a retina detach in my left eye. A couple of hours after arriving back in Austin I was in emergency surgery. Recovery is supposed to take 9 weeks, but in the 6th week the retina detached again. Back to surgery and another 9 weeks. After that wait the detachment caused cataracts that also needed surgery. Finally in early December everything was in place. I was able to get my medical renewed under the new FAA Basic Med offering. Then a quick bi-annual review and I was back at it. Just in time, the Kitfox thought I had abandoned her.
UPDATE - While recovering from the initial detachment in the left eye we heard from many people working the eye offices that I could expect something to happen in my right eye as well. Apparently when you get older the composition of the eye becomes more liquid and shrinks a bit (pretty technical huh?) That will allow anyone that has been severely near-sighted to have a retina detachment. Makes sense that it could happen in both eyes.
IT DID! Now that I know the symptoms of additional floaters that look like black and gray specks (like a snow globe) and crescent shaped flashes of light in the edges of your sight, I knew to head to the doctor right away. Sure enough, there was a small tear in my right eye. But it was early in the process. The doctor was able to use a laser in the office and try to tack the retina in place. That is so much better than surgery and 9 weeks of recovery. And the best thing, it all happened HOURS before the Cisco health insurance lapsed on January 31.
I have to live with floaters for a while until the eye cleans itself up. But otherwise I am good to go. The moral of the story, if you suddenly see specks, floaters or strange flashes in your eye, CAREFULLY go to an eye doctor. It is an extreme emergency with the very good potential of blindness. Had I known what I was seeing I likely could have saved myself a lot of trouble.
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