My optometrist took a look at the image of my retina that popped up on her screen and said, "You need to go straight to the ER, don't go home first, they need to operate on you tonight. Your retina is detached." I froze in the moment - it was around 530p. I had stopped by after work since the very bottom of my field of view was cloudy starting the previous day. I was expecting to hear that it was due to my allergies and would clear up on its own. No such luck. I ferociously searched for retina detachment treatments (something about a gas bubble in your eye?!?) and recovery rates in the Uber on the way to the Stanford ER, where I was admitted and checked out a few times as more of my field of view started to go dark.
Dr. Rahimy was on call but not at the hospital. I spoke to him on the phone a few times as he walked me through some options, trying to plan around the potentially chaotic nature of the operating rooms at the ER. He (and the rest of the staff at the hospital) made me feel confident in the diagnosis and treatment plan (the works - a plastic buckle around my eyeball to maintain shape, a carbon-fluorine gas to take the place of my eye liquid, and some lasers), and I was scheduled for surgery at 11p. At 3a it was all over, and my wife drove me home. I didn't get to meet Dr. Rahimy that night; the anesthesiologist had put me under before he was there. I have to say that despite the freaking out that had been going on earlier in the evening, everyone I interacted with made me feel comfortable. Thanks to the nurses for getting me a warm blanket before I got wheeled over to the OR.
I am completely in awe of the treatment as well as my body's ability to heal. I've done my complete regimen of eyedrops (4 different kinds, one starting at 8x/day) and worn my rad sunglasses (which block light from different directions). For the first few weeks I taped an eyepatch onto myself every night and showered very carefully to avoid injury and infection. No lying on my back. I've gone from only being able to detect patches of light and dark and color to regaining full vision in my injured eye, seeing all the changes as the gas has been replaced with eye liquid. A month in I was allowed to do light exercise again, with the eye about half full of liquid; whenever I would jog, tiny bubbles would form in my eye and hang out at the gas-liquid boundary. As of this afternoon around 4p, the bubble has disappeared completely, right on schedule. I'll kind of miss it; it was a good reminder of how the eye perceives the world upside-down, the spherical nature of my eye, and to have better posture.
I finally got to meet Dr. Rahimy at my 1-week and 1-month checkups. He and his staff are excellent at what they do and very attentive. I've had a clear understanding of what I need to do and what to expect. And over the past few months I've heard that Dr. Rahimy is the best at what he does - from my optometrist, from a neighborhood friend, and from a mutual friend of ours. I'm amazed that I have fully regained vision (slightly worse, as expected, due to the change in my eye shape). He also said there was no scarring (thank you and great job, Doc!). There's been minimal discomfort for me - some very infrequent slight soreness in the first few weeks.
I feel incredibly fortunate that Dr. Rahimy is my ophthalmologist. He also practices out of the San Carlos Sutter Health location, which is a very familiar office to me, just a few minutes from my house. Two months has gone by quickly - in that time we've canceled a vacation and I haven't been over the Santa Cruz mountains (couldn't go over 1000 feet in elevation). Excited to be able to do some of this again. Tonight I cut off my green bracelet that I've been wearing for the past two months. People ask me if it's from a concert and I've had to tell them it's so that medical professionals don't do anything to me that would make my eyeball explode.
Looking forward to getting some new glasses and my 3-month checkup! read more