My Old Diagnosis: Optic Atrophy: 04/22/09

Many of you may be wondering what exactly my eye problem is. Today I'm going to address this topic. Most doctors have labeled my eye problem as trauma at birth. Optic Atrophy is usually accompanied by color vision loss. Optic Atrophy commonly develops during early childhood. Since the optic nerve runs to the brain, there is currently no cure for this eye problem. On the other hand, since it's not a physical eye disease my vision should not deteriorate further. For years my eye doctors have shrugged shoulders and said anything from he's undiagnosed to he's got Optic Atrophy due to trauma at birth. I was 2.5 months premature when born. My lungs were underdeveloped so it's possible there could have been a lack of oxygen to my brain that may have caused this condition. The doctors actually told my mother I'd never live. hahaha They're SO smart aren't they?

Not only am I classified as legally blind, I'm also partially color blind. Now lets get this straight, I DO NOT see in black and white! Oh sorry, touchy subject. Yes, I detest that question as much as the "how many fingers am I holding up question", even though I fully understand why someone would ask. Bright colors are more easily discernible in bright lighting conditions. When colors get close to the same value is where my problems lie. At that point, confusion sets in. When I open my eyes very wide and more light gets in the bright colors jump out at me. But this is useless because I can't walk around with toothpicks prying my eyes wide open daily.

With these things in mind, my new specialist, Dr. De Carlo, took great care in providing me with any diagnosis. She didn't rush to any decision, nor did she buy into what other doctors had told me. After looking closely with some really bright lights around my eye, she had an idea. She said she has a hunch that I have a different eye problem, but we will not know for sure unless I agree to undergo additional testing. I told her to sign me up. I agreed to have a Electroretinogram done. I won't bore you with the medical definition unless you want to click the different links.

On April 22 2009 at 8:30 am I went to the Eye Foundation for my Electroretinogram. I had forgot my insurance card that day, but God takes care of fools and blind people. lol Anyways, this nice lady with a (I'm guessing here) German accent tested me. The electrodes were placed on me, I was dilated, the lights turned out and the fun began. Well that doesn't sound right in print. After dilation was complete, (Dr De Carlo says I'm a fast dilator) my testing began. I stuck my head in this thing pictured above that looked to me like a space helmet with a red light in the middle. We did a spot test where I looked and a tiny light flashed soft to bright. The ERG machine measured the electrical activity of my retina in response to light stimulation. It's actually a pain free test of my rods and cones. I tested with the lights off and on. After testing I walked out with those fashionable dilation shades to meet with the ERG doctor who would examine the results. This guy looked at my eyes extensively with more bright lights. Are we having fun yet? After all that, I noticed him flipping though my test results. When I asked, he stated he thinks he knows what I've got, but doesn't want to say until he examines my results more extensively. No shocker, I know how these people work. Now the waiting game beings again until Dr De Carlo gets my Electroretinogram results back from the ERG specialist.

The Ganzfeld Electroretinogram machine I was tested on looked exactly like the one pictured at the top of my blog. They had it connected to a laptop and my eyes to the electrodes. It was painless and a extremely simple test.

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2nd Passenger Evaluation: 04/24/09 I'm Crushed

My neighbor and friends have been working a lot with me this past week to prepare me for today. I still don't think I'm an ideal bioptic user, but I should pass. Today Jennifer was kind enough to arrange to pick me up form work with another one of her pupils. This Friday was a bright sunshine filled day. I hurried to get downstairs from work to meet Jennifer at the curb of my workplace. She called my cell and said one of the girls she was training had put her a little behind and someone was lost in her building. I told her no problem, I had no choice but to wait. :) After about 10 minutes she arrived. I had no idea what vehicle she was in. I forgot to ask. When she finally arrived she rolled down the window and said my name as I cautiously approached the van.

She was joking and called the van her new soccer mom mini van. Apparently, her employer had just given it to her to use for testing. Jenn introduced me to the teenage driver she was working with. Jennifer mostly talked and had a few cell phone distractions. It was obviously not a ideal day for her to do this test. She did ask me to spot a few things here and there. At one point we braked and she asked me if the car in front of us had blinking lights on or not. I had no clue, it was very bright and the bright light makes red light very hard to see. I can only see red perfectly at dusk or night. We tried a few other vehicles. No luck. With that, she was starting to get a negative tone with me about my driving prospects. I had mentioned moving to Oregon, and she said her sister lived there and I'd be a much better off there. That really did not make me happy, but she meant to be encouraging. I realized that, but this is NOT what I wanted to hear today! I was at my house before I could blink an eye. She apologized for not having enough time to test me more in depth today. I had to prompt her for information at the end of our trip. She told me what to work on and then gave me a little hope.

Jennifer explained that Dr. De Carlo has some options for users with problems seeing red lights. She mentioned some contacts and filters. She then told me that I should not contact her until I've seen Dr. De Carlo again for assistance correcting these problems. With that she was off, and I was left home alone on a early Friday afternoon to do nothing but ponder this unfortunate turn of events. I was CRUSHED!!! And the news gets worse from there. Monday I called the doctors office to setup this appointment Jennifer required. I was told by the secretary that it would be almost 2 months before I could see Dr. De Carlo again due to her extensive research and limited patient schedule! I took the next appointment: June 18th. This really sucks. I think it could be the end. Me going back to the doctor at Jennifer's request, sounds like a last straw effort. I'm in shock and frustrated beyond belief. I'm seeing red now...because I'm so mad, too bad I still can't see the red stop lights that well. I knew this may happen, I just don't want it to be over.

1st Passenger Evaluation: 04/14/09

Guess what? My new long term driving instructor is named Jennifer! I can't believe I was transferred from one Jennifer to another. Let's see... what can I tell you about my first impressions of her. She seems so efficient and good at multi-tasking. I get the feeling she likes to hang with the guys more than the girls. There's nothing wrong with that. We all need friends. Anyways, she asked me some basic questions, and much like my Dr.'s visit, they were simple. We did a short term memory test, a few eye test, I had to spell backwards.....not so good at that......and I had to draw something she showed me. These simple action / reaction test, were concluded with her asking for my paperwork......you know.....the paperwork I keep complaining about that Montgomery DMV never sends me. She said she'd make a call for a status update on those for me later. Then she asked to look at my Bioptic Training Folder and I was in for a shock. It turns out there was a eye chart test, flash card test and a spotting test in that folder! I had never noticed them. They were just laying in the folder pocket, obviously unused. I could not believe I had not noticed or remembered the other Jennifer even giving me those. I had my driving diary done at least, but this lack of practice noticeably troubled Jenn.

Well, I already felt bad about this, and she dug for some temporary paperwork to take the place of the DMV's delays. After that she got her purse and keys and we hit the pavement. My passenger evaluation was underway. We went toward my employers office and we began with spotting techniques. I was making errors looking through the glasses too long. I corrected this. Jennifer would ask me to see stuff that seemed too far off to care about or notice for the sighted person, much less a visually impaired person. She then asked me to spot closer up stop lights. This was working better. I was having trouble with the red lights but didn't voice this concern, scared of what may come of my revelation. I played it off as much as possible. My light sensitivity was bothering me some. More importantly, it seemed when we came to a cluster of trees that silhouetted the red lights I'd not have any chance of seeing the red light. This was also something I tried as much as possible to keep to myself. Who can blame me? Never mind...I should not have asked. :) But I can't let my dreams go this easily, so I wasn't about to let my first day of road testing with the bioptic be my last. I know it really wasn't in my control, but I could and did control as much as possible.

When it was all said and done, Jennifer did what I thought. After her obvious concern of no chart or card spotting practice I was reprimanded to another week of practice before she'd consider passing me. She said to call her next week and setup another appointment. She was kind enough to drop me off at work and I went home feeling dismayed and a little defeated. I really thought everything would go well. I thought I did ALL I could possibly do to make the 1st passenger evaluation a success. For the sake of other drivers and myself I know it's in my best interest to be an exceptional driver. With that in mind, I can't wait to try it again sometimes next week. I guess I'll be sure to do my homework next round.