From another forum; in his own words...
Brethren,
Many thanks to everyone for their kind wishes.
Essentially, I have 50% sight loss in the right eye right now, and the disease is spreading to the left, as well. The event was immediate, with no warning.
My first guess was a detached retina, but that didn't turn out to be the case here. The disease is connected to lack of proper circulation and oxygenation of the vessels around the optic nerve, which is why blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and sleep apnea are all contributing factors. Oddly enough, open heart surgery is a contributor, as well. Blood tests are checking for bizarre possibilities like lupus and a few other oddities that might not be readily apparent. But the upshot is that if it stops in its tracks tomorrow, it doesn't heal or disappear. It simply winds up at the level it stops at. There's no surgical cure for this. There are two off-label drugs (actually developed as anti-cancer drugs) that can be tried once we determine what set this off in the first place and address that problem, but there's little hope of restoring what is lost. The immediate treatment is steroids to keep it from progressing further.
Blood tests from the weekend show a sudden onset of anemia, which is another contributor, although less commonly observed. So the next panic is, since boys don't have periods and I am the wrong pigment for sickle cell anemia, where the heck did the anemia come from? I've had major tests all week to see if I've sprung an interior leak somewhere hidden. I see the optic nerve specialist Friday.
The hope is that this is as bad as it will get and not spread to the left eye, but there are signs of the condition there already in the dye photos they shot on Friday. There's a 5-10% chance of total blindness, so it's enough to worry about. It happens immediately, with no warning. It's fairly rare: just 1.800 to 6,000 cases a year in the US. I can't get anything that isn't rare or bizarre, apparently.
BTW, I've never used the stuff myself, but be aware that use of Viagra is a contributor to the disease, proving our parents were right: you apparently CAN go blind having too much sex.
So it looks like Alice and the poodle need to go with me on driving trips from now on, alternately screaming, "Look out!" and barking at oncoming traffic. Good news: I will only have to see 50% of bad 3-D movies.
Thanks again for the kind wishes. I truly appreciate it.
S&F,
Chris Hodapp
Indianapolis