Hi, Bob! I see (ha ha) that you have joined the club I joined in 2003, when my own retina detached. (Side note: I was 47 at the time, so folks should be aware that the condition is not necessarily connected [pun intended] with aging.)

Bob, I'm so glad to hear that your doctors were able to correct your condition and that you've recovered so well, but I'm shocked to hear that it took your doctors THREE MONTHS to diagnose and correct the detachment. I can't imagine why it was so difficult for them to detect.

My story is quite different: I noticed a sudden increase in the number of floaters in my right eye (I learned later that that was a result of my retina tearing -- the beginning of the detachment). Like you, I did not ask my doctor about it immediately. Several days later, I noticed a black spot in the lower-left corner of my vision in that eye.

The following morning before I went to work, I dropped in at my eye doctor's office without an appointment and described the symptoms to the receptionist. I was told NOT to leave for work and come back later, but to wait till the office could work things out with my health-insurance company and get an emergency referral from my GP so that one of the eye doctors could examine me that morning (#*$& health-care bureaucracy!!). The available doc turned out to be my regular optometrist, who immediately diagnosed the detachment.

What followed was a day of driving (with dilated pupils!) to two different specialists to determine the proper treatment, along with frantic phone calls to get additional referrals to see them. The first specialist said the detachment was too far along for her to treat with laser surgery alone; the second specialist, an eye surgeon, scheduled an operation for the following morning at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia PA. So, roughly 24 hours after I said, "Hey, can somebody take a look at this?", I was being prepped for eye surgery. I have many people for whom to be thankful for cutting the red tape necessary to make that happen.

The operation was three-pronged: laser surgery to "tack" the retina back in place; injection of a gas bubble into the fluid of the eyeball (it pressed the retina against the eye wall so it would lie flat as it healed; and insertion of a scleral buckle under the surface of the eyeball to reduce the surface tension that caused the tear and to form scar tissue that helps hold the reattached retina in place. I spent the next 2 days in the hospital, positioned face-down so that the bubble would rise to the back of my eyeball, and the next several weeks being prohibited to lie on my back or tilt my head up (couldn't let the bubble put pressure on the front of my eyeball). My neck hurts just remembering that! I was also prohibited from flying while the bubble was there (because of cabin pressure) and had to wear a plastic medical bracelet with an alert about the bubble.

As the retina healed, there was swelling that made my vision look like a funhouse mirror for a while. But everything settled down eventually, the bubble was absorbed by my body, and the retina's fine. There's still a dark spot in my peripheral vision because of the scar tissue, but I don't usually notice it. What I did notice was the scleral buckle, which was so irritating every time I blinked or moved my eye that I had it removed in a second (minor) operation 8 months later.

And THEN, I noticed my vision getting fuzzy and was told that I was developing a cataract, a side effect of the invasiveness of the first operation. 15 months after the first surgery, I had a 3rd operation to remove the cataract and insert a lens implant. Unfortunately, because of the possibility of retinal re-detachment, I couldn't get the newfangled type of lens that focuses (docs can't see the detachments as well through that lens, and it's made of a material that would absorb the gas bubble!). I find that the lens implant makes my vision "jerky" sometimes, especially when I read. Also, colors look "colder" than through my other eye; I'm told that the colder colors are the true ones and that my natural lens is yellowing from age. The floaters from the retinal tear are still there and have formed annoying clumps that travel around my vision (hence the term "floaters"!).

All things considered, it still beats being blind in one eye! I have a cello-player friend whose retina was reattached and he has very limited vision, so I feel very fortunate.

One thing that amazed me during this process was the number of stories I heard from medical professionals and friends about people who put off seeking treatment even when they started experiencing vision loss. But then again, I kick myself for not running to the eye doctor the minute I saw a bazillion tiny floaters that hadn't been there before. If I had, I might have gotten away with having simple laser surgery to repair the tear before the retina started detaching, and I'd still have my natural cornea and I wouldn't have scar tissue from the scleral buckle that I still feel whenever I blink or move my eye.

So I'll repeat the moral of Bob's story: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!!