Jim,
I have never met you, and probably never will since we are from different parts of the world, but I can sympathize with you. I hope that your vision improves greatly, and I say this from personal experience.
Five years ago, I awoke to impaired vision of the peripheral type. I went to my Optometrist and explained what I was experiencing, and he immediately sent me to an Opthalmologist. He did a few tests, and then decided to send me for a cat scan, an MRI, and blood tests! He pre-diagnosed me with "escemic optic neuropathy". After receiving the results of my battery of tests, he determined that his early diagnosis was in fact accurate. He told me that what had occured was a temporary interruption of blood flow to my optic nerve, and that some of the nerve had diedas a result. This is what caused the loss of peripheral vision. While I was pleased that it was only my peripheral vision that had been effected, I asked whether or not this could ever occur again. His reply was that it was such a miniscule chance that he wouldn't even consider thinking about it.
Go forward one year.............................I once again awoke to notice a loss of peripheral vision in my OTHER eye!
The result? I now have loss of peripheral vision in both eyes. The unfortunate thing is, the lost vision is in the same area in both eyes, from about 3:30 to 6:30.
If you have ever had an eye test where you focus on a dot in the center of the screen and press a button each time a light flashes in your peripheral, this is the test that will show your impairment should you have any. As an accomplished 1000 yard shooter, this upset me terribly. As long as I look directly at an object, it will be in my field of vision. If however, I expect to see any part of the object in the 3:30 to 6:30 portion of my peripheral, it does not show up. Makes it kinda' scary to look in the side mirror when driving and making a lane change. Makes one question whether he has truly seen all that's there or not.
Moral of the story is that eyesight is a precious thing to have. While I have some hearing loss from years of working around machinery, I can deal with this easily, sometimes preferring it when the little woman becomes "bitchy" (truly a rare occurance), but to lose eyesight is truly a heartbreak.
Here's hoping that time will heal your afflictions, I wish it could help mine.
Mark Van Beek
