A True Story of Vision Lost and Found

"You'll never regret restoring your vision."
- Dr. Kimberly Cockerham, M.D., F.A.C.S.

This is a brief recounting of how, thanks to the caring and expertise of Dr. Cockerham, I went from someone with bulging eyes, double vision and a compressed optic nerve whose life was on hold, someone too disabled for 18 months to even seek employment, back to being a detail-oriented technical writer who enjoys seeing straight and the life around him.

Bloody Eye At The Dentist Office

In March 2006 I arrived at my long-time dentist office for a routine cleaning. Both the dentist and the hygienist, noting my left eye looked somewhat bloody and was twisting outwards, insisted I have Urgent Care check it out. I had also noticed, and been disturbed by, the appearance of my left eye but since no actual vision changes were yet apparent I'd been stubbornly ignoring it.

Urgent Care took a blood test and referred me to a good local opthamologist.

The blood test came back showing hyperthyroidism.

Not only that but the CT scan that the opthamologist had me take showed proptosis/exophthalmos (bulging eyes), another classic attribute of Grave's Disease, also known as TED (Thyroid Eye Disease), or Grave's Opthamology.

Vision Lost

Within a couple months I acquired two other miserable, and classic, Grave's Ophthalmology characteristics: double vision (strabismus) and a compressed optic nerve in my left eye. A difficult 11 week regimen of taking Prednisone© stabilized the situation but didn't improve it. There was still a noticeable loss of vision in my left eye too; it saw with maybe 70% of the brightness and clarity with which my right eye saw.

More than a year was to go by wherein my life stood still. I was unemployed, on California Disability, felt alone and miserable and was treading water. Reading was difficult and painful; using the PC likewise. I only did some lightweight editing, replied briefly to email and watched TV. I was also becoming a burden and a drag on my roommate. Walking to and from the ocean at West Cliff was the one big consolation prize.