Twenty Years

New Year's Day, 1997, brought me a sense of relief.  I had just gone through a bad year, health-wise.  In the beginning of 1996, I suffered my second colitis attack (last since then) which I had to fight off with prednisone, a dangerous drug.  At one point, I lost more than ten kilos (22 pounds), partly because I completely lost my appetite.  I remember looking at a bowl full of chocolate pudding without being able to lift a spoon.  However, by the end of 1996 I felt the worst was over. With the prednisone, I got the 10 kilos back and more so.  

Three months later, in April of 1997, something else happened to me.  I started noticing wavy horizontal lines in the upper portion of the vision in my left eye.  As days went by, the lines extended downward until they completely covered what I saw out of my left eye.  I could make out only images, but nothing in detail.  I had lost about 90% of the vision from my left eye.  

My eye doctor recommended a specialist.  After examining my left eye, the specialist said three words I'll never forget: "ischemic optic neuropathy."  He also told me there was nothing that could be done to restore the vision.  I would face the rest of my life with only one good eye.  What a frightening occurrence!  

From the lowvision.org website, I found the following: "Ischemic optic neuropathy is a potentially visually devastating disease that occurs in the middle aged and the elderly.  This condition is often referred to as stroke of the optic nerve, and it usually begins suddenly with little warning in one eye, but frequently progresses to the other eye over time."

What could I do to protect my right eye?  The specialist recommended taking 81 mg. aspirin, a blood thinner, to cut down the risk of going completely blind.  With the aspirin and some good fortune, the vision in my right eye has survived since April of 1997, twenty years.  

However, with only one eye, I have had to adapt a little.  My biggest problem is my left peripheral vision.  If someone or something comes up behind me on my left side, I cannot see them or it until they are almost in front of me.  When we are walking on the street, I always tell my wife, Cristina, to stay to my right.  I have to be especially careful when I am driving.  By the way, in New York, North Carolina, and Brazil, you need only one good eye to get a driver's license.  

In spite of the fright when I received the news from the eye specialist, I have discovered that one good eye is enough to live a full life.  I can read books and newspapers, watch TV at home and movies in the cinema, walk inside and outside the house, drive a car (when I am in the USA), etc.  In other words, I can do everything I did with two eyes now with only one eye.  I do take the precaution to wear non-breakable glasses.  I don't want anything to happen to my right eye. It's got to last me a long time.