Oh say, can you see
By Steve Greenberg | September 21st, 2009 | PERMALINK
A cartoonist requires, at minimum, the following working tools: a mind, a hand and a couple of eyes. Right now I’m down one of these.
No, it isn’t the mind, although I know there are many out there who are convinced I long ago lost mine, based on political disagreements. The drawing hand is working OK, although I have ulnar nerve problems that can cause a sore wrist along with carpal-tunnel syndrome.
No, I’m trying to function, read, draw and write this blog with only one working eye. My left retina has become detached, and will be having surgery two days after I write this.
Wikipedia says the retina is a light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. 
Medicinenet.com says a retinal detachment is a separation of the retina from its attachments to its underlying tissue within the eye. These retinal breaks may occur when the vitreous gel pulls loose or separates from its attachment to the retina… once the retina has torn, liquid from the vitreous gel can then pass through the tear and accumulate behind the retina. The build-up of fluid behind the retina is what separates (detaches) the retina from the back of the eye.
Last Wednesday I woke up as usual, although not having slept well, and found the vision in my left eye to be blurry. Well, my eyes were bleary from not enough sleep, so that didn’t seem too odd, except that it stayed that way all day. Thursday, the exact same thing. Friday, I began to wonder if I should contact my ophthalmologist but had a number of errands to run. After lunch, I noticed a darker circular shape obscuring the vision in the eye on the side toward the nose. As I drove home, it seemed to increase a bit.
When I called the ophthalmologist, I was hesitant to come in, needing to be 50 miles away in the opposite direction an hour later, but they told me it would really be better if I were seen then. My doctor suspected a retinal problem, and his exam confirmed that. It was already past 5 pm on a Friday — of course — and he called around a bit before finding a retina specialist still working. By the time I drove to see this specialist, I was driving while only able to use my right eye.
The retina specialist used a cryogenic probe to sort of weld the retina back in place (the probe doesn’t puncture the eyeball, but pushes on it from the outside) and an induced gas bubble is supposed to act like a bandage and hold the retina in position while it heals.
For the first day, it worked as planned. But on my second follow-up, the doctor was not pleased, with vitreous fluid getting behind the retina again. So, he’s ordered a more intensive surgical version of the same procedure. I can expect to functionally have no real vision in the left eye for a couple weeks, and maybe much longer.
There was no particular trauma or incident that set this off, as far as the doctor can tell. I just have had the risk factors all along — most notably, having been severely nearsighted (before Lasik surgery a decade ago), with the eye anatomy of that putting a strain on the retina from the get-go.
I’ve really started to notice the difference in not having binocular vision. Even though my left eye was less sharp than the right, binocular vision helps make more sense of what one sees, as well as provides far greater depth perception. In addition, using only one eye means it gets tired faster, with no partner to share the load. Plus, there’s the reality of not having a backup eye now in case, say, a gust of wind blows some grit into my right eye.
I’m still drawing, but slowly and with more difficulty. The only thing that keeps me from utterly freaking out is the statistical probability that my sight will return after surgery, though maybe not fully for a month and maybe not quite to what it was before. But I’ll take what I can get.
If you’re reading this blog post with two good eyes, take a moment to give thanks for that small blessing. Believe me, you’ll really miss your binocular vision if it goes away.
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Be sure to see the huge archive of my work (organized by topic area) on my web site at http://www.greenberg-art.com
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Comments
Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time September 22, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Wow, Dick, that is so sad to hear. I hope you can find a way to get the cataract surgery so you can draw, and enjoy life, better.
Comment from Robin
Time September 22, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Steve - praying your surgery will go well, and that you will be “back to the old drawing board” in record time!
Comment from David Teague
Time September 23, 2009 at 6:47 am
I wish you well. BTW I\’m on your side on the politics…
Get well, and stay that way!
Comment from Liz
Time September 23, 2009 at 6:52 am
I’m sorry you are having such a hard time. I really appreciated your column as I was told by my opthalmologist that my retina has a defect and will most likely detatch but there is no telling when. Now I have a much better understanding of the physiology and the effects of the detatchment. Good Luck and Thanks!
Comment from Glen
Time September 23, 2009 at 6:56 am
Have been effectively a cyclops from birth (lazy eye). However, I wish you best of luck. Normally such operations go well.
Comment from Jeanne
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:03 am
I had detached retina in 2001. Repaired with skleral buckle procedure. Worked fine ever since.
Good luck to you.
Comment from james
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:10 am
When the health and medical bill passes, the words will be changed to, “Jose can you see.”
Comment from Nan
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:13 am
I had a small semi-detached retina several years ago. I had learned from my mom’s experience, and I went to the ER and from there to my doctor and from there to an eye clinic and had laser surgery. It took advocacy to get past the ER doc, but I already knew I was vulnerable to retina detachment. No problems now (yet) except a bit more sensitive to light in that eye.
Any sudden change in vision, such as light flashes, large floaters, blurriness need to be looked at immediately - our eyes are a big part of our independence. I hope things work out for you, but please, be faster to seek help in the future.
Unexpected medical incidents such as this point out the need for accessible health care at an affordable cost AND point out the fallacy of thinking that if people take care of themselves they don’t really need health insurance.
Comment from Slack
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:17 am
Steve,
Hope all goes well. Why the hell did you wait so long to get it checked? Blurry vision is nothing to fool around with. I’d have been calling the doc within 15 minutes.
Comment from Vicki
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:18 am
After your surgery, if problems still exist I’m sure your opthamologist could recommend specialty stores for the visually impaired. I work at a store that sells all such items and have had people come in with big eye problems and leave saying…oh, I can see again. Good luck.
Comment from Tina
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:51 am
Steve, I came here to comment on your cartoon to say I was happy to see an effective one that I could agree with. Those seem to be fewer lately. Even my husband who is the true cartoon connoisseur has noticed a clear shift toward the right in the daily cartoons we see.
Anyway, I was very disturbed about your eye problem and I hope things go well. Make sure you get back to the doctor RIGHT AWAY if things aren’t as they should be after your surgery. AND don’t let that carpel tunnel situation get worse. I let mine get so bad in both hands I couldn’t tie shoes or pick up anything. When you wait too long they can’t repair it as well. I had surgery over two years ago and parts of fingers, especially the tips are still numb. I hope that your reluctance about seeking medical advice is more from being stubborn and not from lack of insurance. The stubborness can be overcome with nudging by friends and family. I used to threaten my husband that I would tell his mother when he didn’t go to the doctor for his ailments.
Comment from Marty
Time September 23, 2009 at 8:25 am
My husband was diagnosed as having monocular vision even tho he has two functioning eyes. He has gone on to race powerboats and scare the heck out of me when passing cars (monocular vision means his depth perception isn’t perfect!). You will be grateful your career is based upon having to “draw flat” as the architects at my design school used to deride graphic designers! May your “lamp” (eye) be fully functioning soon.
Comment from Connie
Time September 23, 2009 at 8:34 am
Just wanting to add my good wishes for your soonest and fullest recovery! Best wishes from Texas–where there are MANY good people who understand that healthcare for everybody is a moral imperative too long ignored. Good luck.
Comment from Ernie
Time September 23, 2009 at 8:35 am
Steve, I hope all goes well. Vision is nothing to mess with or let go for any length of time.
Now, I too, was self employed which in itself offers no benefits, but that was my choice. For me, my wife was fully employed with benefits, so i have been covered by insurance. But there is insurance out there for the self employed, it can be expensive. Shop around. The government wants to eliminate competition which eliminates competitive pricing. When you shop for auto insurance, dont we check several companies for the lowest price, of course we do. Why is health insurance any different. If Canada or Mexico’s insurance plan is so good, why do so many come here for care? Health care is expensive because these companies use mandatory trials for new drugs, this costs money. Canadiens pay a minimum 30% income tax and a 10% sales tax, and they still come here. You have to ask yourself why
Comment from James
Time September 23, 2009 at 9:07 am
Be happy you don’t live in Canada and Obama’s bill hasn’t passed yet thus you are not goin to have to wait a year or so to receive the needed care. Hope you heal quickly!
Comment from GoMoJo
Time September 23, 2009 at 9:57 am
I see James has nothing better to do with his day than complain about Obama every two hours. So sad… Steve, best of luck with your surgery. I will think positive thoughts for you.
Comment from James
Time September 23, 2009 at 10:15 am
Poor assumption GoMoJo, I did not post the 1st comment “Jose can you see”. That would be typical of your ilk to assume so. I am sincerely happy Steve will not have to wait for rationed health care as he will in the future if the socialistic Obamacare bill passes.
Comment from Linda
Time September 23, 2009 at 10:34 am
I’ll be praying for you and the surgeon.
Comment from Call Me Conservative, but…
Time September 23, 2009 at 10:53 am
GoMoJo and James…Shouldn’t we all just chill with the politics on this one? We can pick it back up on another blog. Good luck Steve.
Comment from GWA
Time September 23, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Hopefully you have one of those GOLD PLATED insurance plans. (I guess that means you get all the care you need) - any cartoons on that?
We need your talent - get well soon. GWA
PS. If he were in Canada he wouldn’t need to worry about anything and he would get great care. We
lived under the Canadian system for several years.
Comment from James
Time September 23, 2009 at 12:46 pm
With all due respect GWA, I have several friends who live in Canada don’t agree with you in the least. They tell me it is horrible, rationed with long waits to see a nurse then longer for a Doctor then longer yet for a procedure.
Comment from Jack Hand
Time September 23, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I hope you get better soon.
Comment from Ernie
Time September 23, 2009 at 1:44 pm
GWA, you couldnt be more wrong about canada, he would probably go blind before the surgery got APProved, if it did at all
Comment from Copernicus
Time September 23, 2009 at 1:44 pm
If you get a chance, try to find a copy of the film “Blue.”
“If I lose my sight, will my vision be halved?”
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck and future health. Be sure to relax and take your time, we will be here whenyou get back.
Comment from Rob
Time September 23, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Michael Connelly (http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/ ) is a Constitutional Lawyer and has read the entire health care bill and has some comments, not about the bill, but about the effects on our Constitution. It’s a broader picture than just health care reform.
All of you and those to whom you communicate had better sit up and pay attention; once this sort of thing happens, it will be irreversible.
http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/ Take a look and let me know what you think.
The blog will concentrate of my concerns as a retired attorney about the imminent and growing threats to our Constituton and our form of government. We have reason to be very afraid of what is happening.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HEALTHCARE BILLS ?
Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.
To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.
The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats and most of them will not be health care professionals.Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled.
However, as scary as all of that it, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.
The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.
The paragraph below is really frightening (Bob Sr.)
This legislation also provides for access by the appointees of the Obama administration of all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4thAmendment to the Constitution protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.
If you decide not to have healthcare insurance or if you have private insurance that is not deemed “acceptable” to the “Health Choices Administrator” appointed by Obama there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a “tax” instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn’t work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the “due process of law.
So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much out the original ten in the Bill of Rights that are effectively nullified by this law. It doesn’t stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;” The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.
I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution. If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.
For those who might doubt the nature of this threat I suggest they consult the source. Here is a link to the Constitution:http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
And another to the Bill of Rights: http://www.archives.gov/exhibi.....cript.html ;
There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.
Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas
Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time September 23, 2009 at 8:35 pm
UPDATE, Weds. evening: Surgery completed and seemed to go well, but the eye is all bandaged and I won’t get a report from the doctor until Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, must keep my head in awkward forward and to the right position and sleep only on right side.
Comment from tribawan kaul
Time September 24, 2009 at 1:41 am
Dear Steve, Try getting the procedure done in India at a fiftieth of the US cost–( yes one by fiftieth). It is ridiculous and frustarting to see the medicare and dental care situation in these so called advanced countries. I ,a canadaian Citizen \" slunk \" back to my home country ( India) because of these unacceptable situations . If you ned any more info then call me up on my email. Goodluck. TK
Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time September 24, 2009 at 7:13 pm
UPDATE, Thursday: Just came back from retina doctor. One day after surgery, he says it looks the way it’s supposed to at this point. But I can expect not to have any functional vision in the left eye for weeks, and it may be months for a full recovery of vision (and it may not return to where it had been). For the next week or so I also have to keep my head down and to the right most of the time. As for cartooning, I can draw, a little, for now, with one eye.
Comment from Karen
Time October 2, 2009 at 1:53 am
Hi Steve, I\’m so sorry that you have to go through this, how frightening and painful. Thanks for taking the time to illustrate the problem, wish it wasn\’t from your own experience, but you certainly made it interesting. I hope you recover fully and quickly.
Comment from Dick Kulpa
Time September 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I too have a detached retina — though the doc initially misdiagnosed it. After a week passed and it became totally detached, that was all she wrote. I’ve since had the surgery, and after a full year, my right eye vision remains blurry (though somewhat improved.).
Unfortunately, My left eye has a full cataract.
I have no health insurance.
Since I’m a working caricature artist, I needed to figure out how to see — one way or another — until I could amass enough money for cataract surgery. I ordered up a hugely-powerful lens for my left eye, and now can see “just enough” to draw faces.
Try drawing under those conditions.