Spacehamster’s Blog

On Friday I had another laser photocoagulation session to treat the retinopathy in my eye. The surgeon tells me that the condition is starting to get under control. The bad news is that there’s the strong possibility of surgery after the sessions are complete.

I consider a vitrectomy bad news for several reasons. Firstly, the possibility of complications after surgery are quite high. Cataracts is a distinct possibility. Especially if this is a full vitrectomy rather than a vitreous only. Secondly, it’s a 3-hour trip to Launceston and an overnight stay. And I feel really guilty asking for my Mum (bless her) to drive me there.

I’d prefer to wait 3-6 months after laser treatment ends before considering surgery, and see whether or not the blood floaters clear up by themselves. This decision might anger my surgeon, but as the patient it’s my decision and I’m sticking to it until the situation changes.

This afternoon I had another floater show up in my right eye after a particularly vigorous walk to the car. Fortunately the worst of it cleared up after a two-hour nap. I must admit I really miss having clear vision. I realise that the laser photocoagulation treatment is very important in treating retinopathy. That’s a medically proven fact. I’m just wondering whether the side effects make it worth the expense.

As I can’t play computer games for lengthy amounts of time anymore, I find myself watching DVD’s and reading more often nowadays. It’s easier on the eyes. I was watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - what a magnificent series! Thought provoking and action-packed in equal measure. It did raise one question - if I had the chance to replace my eyes with bionic implants, would I take it? If you’d asked me this question six months ago, I would’ve laughed. Now, I’m not so sure.

Imagine - no more retinopathy! Perfect 20/20 vision! But the downsides are the constant maintenance needed to keep them in working condition, and their running costs. But you could argue that even a normal human eyeball has to be checked by an opthamologist once every 2 years. Wouldn’t it be easier to remove the eyeball from it’s socket and plug it into a USB port instead?

Right now, I’d certainly be tempted to say yes.

I’ve been reading Joel Spolsky’s brilliant website Joel on Software. If you’re an IT Professional every single article on that website should be required reading. I’ve been re-reading Joel’s articles on useability - it’s been a real eye-opener. Especially as I recently worked on several applications where useability was a key factor.

It’s the reason why the iPod is the most popular MP3 player on the planet. Why Applie iTunes, Google and Amazon.com are so popular. Because the geniuses who designed them understood how to make their applications user-friendly.

Unfortunately, it’s obvious that the Lotus Notes developers don’t have a f*****g clue.

We use Lotus Notes as the default e-mail application in our workplace. If you want to see an example of a poor designed UI for an email application, Lotus Notes is a perfect example. For instance - have you ever noticed the countless numbers of arrows for navigating documents? And how you can’t use any of those arrows while you’re browsing webpages? Or how highlighting a section of text that goes beyond the current page, causes you to scroll to the very bottom of the document? Or how difficult it’s impossible to setup filters because they’re impossible to find. Or how difficult it is to access the help file, and when you do you can’t just type the text to find what you want. All cases of poor useability.

Now compare that to Thunderbird. My own mother and father can use this application. Businesses don’t use Lotus Notes for its email capabilities. They use it so they can easily add management and flow-based applications into an integrated environment. And that’s where Lotus excels - Domino Designer is very easy to use to create simple applications. Unfortunately, where Domino Designer falls down is embedding complex backend code into individual controls. Which sounds great in theory but horrible when you’re debugging and need to find that little piece of code hidden in 12 possible buttons. Give me Visual Basic 6 any day of the week.

It’s been about three months since I started photocoagulation treatment, and exactly one week since that giant floater in my left eye impaired my vision. The left floater is like a giant hook with bits and pieces hanging off it. Over the last few days the floater has gotten more diffuse, but it’s retained its general shape. It’s still touch and go as to whether it’ll ever go away without surgical intervention. I’ll give it a fortnight to a month - if it doesn’t clear away by then, I’ll talk to my doctor about a vitrectomy.

I’ve done some internet research (yay the web!) on vitrectomies. I found a messageboard (FloaterTalk) where people discuss their vitrectomies. Their are some really uplifting stories there from some really nice people. The good news is that a vitrectomy isn’t the horror story I first thought it was. My only concern right now is the 3-hour trip to Launceston. My mother would be the only person available to take me there. Would she be willing if I told her how important it was? And what about a place to stay overnight while the operation is taking place?

We’ll see.

In December of last year I went to see an Opthamologist to have an Angiogram done. He recommended that I have several sessions of Laser Photocoagulation treatment with Dr. Brendan Vote. He’s the only laser surgeon in the entire state, and each fortnight makes a trip to Hobart to treat patients here. Lucky me.

For the first 3 sessions, everything was okay. I had the usual sideeffects - reduced central vision (you can’t read properly) and reduced peripheral vision. No big deal - both side effects would’ve dissapeared after the sessions were finished. After the fourth treatment on February 16th, I started seeing 2 or 3 black floaters in my right eye. They were irritating but didn’t effect my laser treatment.

Then on February 28th everything went straight to hell.

In the afternoon, a large black floater appeared in my left eye. It was so bad that I couldn’t even see well enough to drive. My Endocrinologist - the wonderful Professor John Burgess - setup an Emergency Medical Appointment with the Opthamologist Dr. Banks. His prognosis was that the large black floater was due to a vein squirting a tiny amount of blood into my left eye. That blood would be reabsorbed back into the eye. Okay, so it’s bad right now but it’ll get better over the next month or so.

I went to see Dr Brendan Vote on Friday. Much to my shock, he said that if the large floater in my left eye didn’t clear up in the next fortnight, he wanted to have a vitrectomy done! I resent that Dr. Vote is suggesting a course of action that will impact the rest of my life in such a severe way. I don’t want to have cataracts or run the risk of blindness. And I sure as hell don’t want to spend the next 14-21 days with my face in a vertical sling. Patient anecdotes from the US show you can lose your vision for up to 5 months. Bugger that crap.

So what do I do know? My father has suggested stopping the treatments altogether. Dr Vote insists this is purely coincidence (of course he would). Or I could cancel the next fortnight session and wait another month for the blood floater to clear up. As for me? This “simple” laser surgery has ruined my life in the worst way imaginable. I just don’t want to end up like Mr. Magoo. Or blind in both eyes due to a botched vitrectomy.

We’ll see.