Never take vision for granted

Operations do not scare me. They never have and probably never will.

There have been so many eye surgeries: nine on my right eye, the only one that works, and nine on the left. Surgeries have been common in my life.

It's been almost a 30-year slugfest against glaucoma. My left eye is sightless. Obviously, there is great concern for further right-eye surgeries or any additional vision loss but that thought doesn't rule my life.

This blog is written in hopes that readers will have their vision tested at least once each year after turning 40 years old, and have them checked for glaucoma. You may see well now, but most people take their vision for granted, which was hammered home years ago after undergoing my first eye surgery.

Don’t put off eye checks yearly after age 40.

Before glaucoma came visiting, no one in the Richey family ever had glaucoma ... until me. We really didn't know that it is the greatest sight robber of all. My father developed glaucoma late in life, and my twin brother was on the bubble for glaucoma when he died almost seven years ago.

My vision was never great, and never was 20-20 corrected vision found in our family. My brother began wearing glasses in kindergarden, and thick glasses covered my face, so it's been glasses or contact lens from that day forward. My life for the past 30 years has became one of daily eye drops and eye surgeries.

It was after my first glaucoma surgery more than 25 years ago that the idea of looking and seeing, and paying attention to things unseen earlier in my life, became so important. My glaucoma came on suddenly with headaches, blurred vision and preliminary tests were done, and just six months after an all-clear eye exam that included a glaucoma check.

And then came even more complicated tests as doctors determined that my intraocular (inner eye) pressure was four times higher than normal.

Glaucoma pressure at a higher-than-normal rate causes pinching of the optic nerve. The more the nerve is pinched, the more vision loss is noted. By the time they determined that glaucoma had settled in, some of my vision had already been lost. My depth perception headed downhill, stumbling over things became a problem, and peripheral vision was soon lost as more and more open doors suddenly jumped out at me.

The early surgeries helped some, but the vision loss kept disappearing like a desert mirage. Outdoor walks, hunts and fishing trips with friends became more meaningful, and stopping to study the spring flowers and to smell the roses, became much more important as time went by.

Soon those spawning salmon and steelhead that had been so easy to spot, were now very difficult to see, even with polarized sunglasses. More than once an improper step found me plunging into river bank holes, and on more than one occasion, my wader-clad boots would trip over an unseen  submerged log and I'd come crawling and splashing ashore through cold water.

My companions thought it was funny, and we laughed at my apparent clumsiness, but it wasn't a case of being clumsy. It was caused by poor vision. No longer was the river bottom or a drifting dry fly visible.

Glaucoma creeps up on its victims without warning.

The times spent outdoors have become more dear in recent years. It's easy now to marvel at glowing sunrises and sunset, and although grouse hunting was always a passion, there are more missed birds now than ever before. If grouse scoot out the sides, my peripheral vision misses them. Once every 10 flushes a bird may be seen somewhat clearly, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a hefty bird in my game bag.

It's still possible to hunt deer, and many folks ask why my bow range for deer is 15 yards or less, and the answer is the animals can't be seen clearly enough at 20-25 yards to make an accurate shot. Knowing my limitations, and hunting within them is my key to success. Give me a rifle with a quality scope, and there are no missed shots. The magnification allows me to place the bullet accurately, but one can't walk around with a scope to his eye.

It's become necessary to adapt to this problem. My lack of vision and my life has changed and my thought is to ask my valued readers to learn from my situation. Get your eyes checked once a year after the age of 40. Glaucoma damage to an eye is irreversible, and once the disease settles in. you’re on a slippery down-hill slope for severe vision loss or blindness.

Hunting and fishing has been my life, and now it is slowly changing, and this points out that life holds no guarantees for any of us. My operations have helped save my right-eye vision. My life could be much worse, and I can still fish and hunt although much less effectively than years ago.

Eye infections are fairly common but the treatment is rather extreme.

Three times when one eye or the other developed a severe infection, immediate medical attention was needed to prevent total blindness. If you’re squeamish, skip this paragraph. Treatment includes, but is not limited to, six needles to the affected eye.

Three needles go in to remove the infected intraocular fluid, and three more go in with sterile fluid. My fingerprints are still embedded in the doctor’s chair. I’m sure from the first such problem, and trust me on this, it certainly doesn’t get any easier with future infections.

Much of my time is still spent outdoors. Winter days are spent tracking bunnies and squirrels around the house or wherever life takes me, and hours are spent watching birds from my kitchen window. It’s easy to drink up the outdoor sights like a 21-year-old chugging their first brew.

Ice fishing has become a special pleasure for me but extra caution is require to keep from slipping and hitting my foolish head on the ice.

My thought is to store outdoor memories, to place mental pictures in my mind of things seen and done, and places visited in the past, and if my surgeries don't do the job in the future, there are memories stored that can be revisited whenever the urge gets strong.

Don't feel sorry for me, nor shed a tear on my behalf, and please don't pity me. My life has been one wonderful adventure after another. Day after day, week after week, and year after year for more than 43 years, the outdoors has been my private banquet table where one could feast heartily on all sorts of wonderful and exciting fishing and hunting experiences.

Any upcoming eye surgeries will be considered just another of life’s bumps in the road. Each new day is another adventure as time is spent looking forward to another neat experience.

Time will tell, but one way or the other, any surgeries needed will take place. So, until then, my vast warehouse of memories continues to grow, and some occasionally find their way into my weblogs.

So, never take your vision for granted, live each day to its fullest, and suck up all outdoor memories like a new kitchen sponge. One day we may need them to flow vividly through our mind's eye as we remember and recreate a scenario that was a major high point in our lives … once upon a time.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors