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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

>

> Jeanne Driese wrote:
> > Bev, If you don't mind my asking, what problems do you have with
> > your eyes?  Sounds like Glaucoma is one you are watching.


Yes.
After my father died in 2006, I had planned to take my inheritance and
have LASIK done.  Like I mentioned before, it had always been a dream
and I had followed the progression of the development of this surgery
since my teenage years when I first heard of RK in Russia, before any
Western docs could do it.  When it came here, it was too expensive for
me, but over the years, it became more reasonable to where I would have
been able to do it, and that was the plan.  In January of 2006, I had
not been to an ophthalmologist for a number of years-I have been seeing
an optometrist just for glasses/contacts and quick eye checkups every
year, but when I finally went for the checkup and consultation, they
said that I was no longer a candidate for LASIK, but I could be a
marginal candidate for ICL at some point in the future.

> http://www.harbinclinic.com/eyecenter/hcec.html

By the way, the doc in the top/bottom picture is the ICL doc,,,nice guy,
I consulted with him, but I can't see him-he doesn't treat my issues.

The silver haired dude in the middle picture is my doctor, the a-hole.
Note that his name matches the Clinic name..no coincidence there..he is
the latest in a medical family of physicians that predates the civil
war, and just in Rome alone, there have been something like 17 Harbin
physicians.  He is Mr. Elitist and acts snobbishly 24/7.  The
guy,however, is a GREAT doctor, he just has zero personality.  If I had
to go to him more often, I'd strangle him, but I can put up with his
personality once a year or so.

At any rate, In January of 2006, my intraocular pressures were pretty
high(in the 30's) , putting me on a glaucoma watch.  Also, I have
scleritis caused by my Rheumatoid Arthritis.  That was the LASIK killer.
 The scleritis makes my eyes look perennially bloodshot, as well as
creates ocular pain.  Sometimes it feels like you eye is gonna pop out,
or in..lol...sometimes you want to dig it out yourself..lol.. Anyway,
the treatment for this is also the Enbrel that I am trying to get off.
So you can see that my RA issues extend a bit beyond the morning
stiffness and joint pain that most people have-I have that too, I just
have more crap to think of.  When I say that time is the enemy for going
off the meds, I mean it...scleritis can blind you quickly, and untreated
it alone can cause glaucoma.  As to the pressures, they have been
fluctuating for the last few years, but yesterday they were at 20 and
21, which is great for me.
So once again, I am back to my RA...which has led to scleritis, which
may be leading to secondary glaucoma.  RA has also attacked my heart
valves, but that is another matter entirely.

I keep going back to my childhood, that there must be something that
happened that switched on all of these auto-immune diseases.  I think
there has to be an environmental link.  I just don't have a clue as to
what it might be.

B


--
The true significance of Sacajawea's involvement in the Lewis & Clark
expedition is that it was the first documented trip in history where men
asked a woman for directions and followed them, allowing them to arrive
at their destination.