Just Last Wink And A Few Blinks Ago__Eye Guide

What did you do with the other story?  It’s there  What made you change your mind?  The last visit to the eye doctor. What happen?  Everything!  I got into this conversation and I thought if I get out of this office with my eyeballs attached to my head  I will be batting more than 1000. Was it intense?  Intense isn’t the word. It changed the meaning of See all you can See. Here was this young African-American male explaining to me what will happen once I go beyond the door. He was so encouraging and so knowledgeable about eye diseases. He stated he was not diagnosed early with glaucoma. When he was diagnosed with glaucoma it had taken a toll on his left eye and it was beginning to work on his right eye.  He shared some very interesting information.  He stated depending on your race, open-angle glaucoma is 3 times more likely to affect African Americans and 6 times more likely to cause blindness in the African-American community compared to non-Hispanics whites. Is that the type of glaucoma he had?  He mentioned pigmentary glaucoma, secondary glaucoma, congenital glaucoma,  and we got off into the different types of treatments.  To be honest with you I don’t recall him saying what type of glaucoma he had.  I remember him saying whenever he was active his eyes would hurt. He did say his eyes would get red.  There was Times he felt nauseated and he would vomit a lot. He said he no longer could see out of the side of his eyes and everything looked like he was seeing through a tunnel. Then the lights went out in his left eye.

This young man got into the Did you know conversation. Whew! If I didn’t know I know now. He said the reason why so many people go blind is they do not follow their doctor’s plan especially taking the eye drops. Most people feel no pain so they think they’re okay. They stop taking the medicine and so much damage is done to their eyes. It gets too late and the damage cannot be reversed.  Stick to your treatment. Find out how long the treatment will last. What do you do if your eyes are not responding to treatment?   Do you need a special diet?  Can exercise help my condition? If I continue to drive are there any extra precautions or special arrangements I  should make. I noticed it was many people scheduled.  It takes 2 or 4 hours per person. I truly appreciated the conversation. It was this young man was trying to prepare me.  He sensed I wasn’t afraid.  Why?  I came prepared with those questions people are afraid to ask.  Whatever the doctor rolled out on me I was going to make the doctor sing Michael Jackson’s Let’s Dance Let’s Shout Shake Your Body Down To The Ground.  I care about my Eye Guide and all the people, places, and things I have not seen before the Wink goes on the Blink. Here are some of the questions you need to ask your doctor.

1.) What is glaucoma?

2.) What type of glaucoma do I have?

3.) What causes glaucoma?

4.) Was it another condition that causes me to have glaucoma?

5.) Is glaucoma hereditary?

6.) Can diabetes, vascular disease, or hypertension cause glaucoma?

7.) What is eye pressure?

8.) What is the range of eye pressure?

9.) How often should ones eye pressure be measured?

10.) How much damage has been done to my optic nerve?

11.) What is my prognosis?

12.) What type of treatments are available?

13.) Do we take the next step and move to laser if the medicine (eye drops) doesn’t work?

14) Shouldn’t  surgery be the last recourse? Why?

15.) What happens if I  go without treatment?

16.) What types of medication are offered?

17.) What are the results of the medications and side effects?

18.) How will this medication interact with other prescription medicines I’m taking?

19.) How often should I have my eyes checked even after the eye pressure goes down?

20.) Who out there knows their eye pressure, (IOP) intraocular pressure?

21.) Why don’t you get an early start? Exactly!

Special Note: This is not 50 Cent singing 21 Questions featuring Nate Dogg.

I felt it was an honor for this young man to reach out and try to comfort me. One of the greatest honors in my life are the people who have included me in their lives.  They were born blind, had eye injuries that later caused blindness but still, they were willing to share their experiences with me. They were not bitter.  Strange how we look through our lens and do so much damage to our perception by sending the wrong message to our brain using the wrong elements of HATRED blocking the fluids in the eye.  Hatred is not a medication that can cure any disease. Hatred is not a POWER that can lift one out of poverty. Hatred cannot bring success but only duress.  Hatred is the key element for absolute BLINDNESS. Hatred has led men who have never fought in a War to leave a Soldier behind which is AB-SO-LUTE-LY MINDLESS. Hatred is the Cadillac of Cataracts to denounce the individuals whose skin is of Ebony, Bronze, and Ivory.   Stale Old White Men with profound Glaucoma needs emergency surgery.  What happens when you cannot look through the lens of one’s eyes and accept change or diversity? The pressure builds up and before you know it Hatred has destroyed your perception of we the people, our nation, and the presidency who has been all he could be.  It was Just Last Wink And A Few Blinks Ago__Eye Guide has given me another life’s lesson to See all that one can See.  Truthfully!