Setbacks
I had the follow up with the retina doctor on the 24th - good news initially. The bleeding in my eye had resolved, there was nothing wrong with my retina and it was time to get back to life. Stop the atropine drops and resume my normal activities. I think he may have forgotten how crazy some of my normal activities were though...
I planned on easing back into things, did an easy four mile run that day and then a five mile run Saturday. Two short mountain bike rides over the weekend on very non-techy trails and things seemed good. Sunday night had no issues and I could still see just fine. Monday morning, woke up, went for a little longer run and noticed the fuzziness was back. Exact same presentation as before - lots of small black floaters and gradually reducing visual acuity. Crap, crap, crap. With calls placed to the triage desks of both the eye and the retina docs, I went to work and pretended everything was fine. But I knew something was going on again. Finally got some appointments scheduled - one with the retina doc and one with the eye doc. Maybe this time we could actually figure out what was going on and causing me to lose my vision in my left eye.
Retina doc - well, it started bleeding again, but the pressure isn't as high as it was last time. Retina is still intact, so bleeding had to be coming from the lens chafing against the iris. Resume atropine and go see eye doc bright and early. Grr... with my luck, the lens had shifted in the capsule and would need to be removed and replaced. Bright and early was right - my appointment was at a time reserved for the "blue hairs!" Got there, settled in and waited. Pressure way done from even the day before! So that was good - the blood in my eye was draining this time. The eye doc was able to look at the capsule and identified the incision from the cataract surgery way back in 2005. And he wasn't as worried about the lens shifting since he could see the capsule and it looked good. His opinion? While there is always the possibility that the lens has shifted and is rubbing against the iris, it didn't seem as likely. Chances are the blood vessel that started bleeding back on the 15th had clotted up, but the scab had jarred loose when I started running again. Hence the return of the fuzziness and black speckled floaters. At least that is the hope! If that's the case, then I just need let it fully heal.
But there in lies the issue - the jarring of running is what we think caused the re-occurrence. So no running for at least another week, if not two. I can ride as long as I avoid jarring - so staying on the easy trails and avoiding the rocks. No intensity restrictions this time around, so my workouts on the bike are still a go. It's just the running. One week without running puts it at April 5th - two weeks the 12th. The Rattler Trail Race 25k is on the 15th - there's no way I'll be able to race. More hopefully, but still unlikely is the Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race 25k at the end of April. I've already had a week and a half with minimal running and haven't gotten a single long run done since the beginning of March. Palmer Park is technical running with lots of jarring. I have to be smart and do what is best for my vision. If that means I have to skip all the running races I signed up for so far this year, that's what I'm going to do. Hopefully I'll get an all clear to start short, easy runs at my next follow up in a week. Even then, key words are short and easy. I'd rather be able to ride my bike hard on chunky trails this year so giving up some running will be a small price to pay!
I planned on easing back into things, did an easy four mile run that day and then a five mile run Saturday. Two short mountain bike rides over the weekend on very non-techy trails and things seemed good. Sunday night had no issues and I could still see just fine. Monday morning, woke up, went for a little longer run and noticed the fuzziness was back. Exact same presentation as before - lots of small black floaters and gradually reducing visual acuity. Crap, crap, crap. With calls placed to the triage desks of both the eye and the retina docs, I went to work and pretended everything was fine. But I knew something was going on again. Finally got some appointments scheduled - one with the retina doc and one with the eye doc. Maybe this time we could actually figure out what was going on and causing me to lose my vision in my left eye.
Retina doc - well, it started bleeding again, but the pressure isn't as high as it was last time. Retina is still intact, so bleeding had to be coming from the lens chafing against the iris. Resume atropine and go see eye doc bright and early. Grr... with my luck, the lens had shifted in the capsule and would need to be removed and replaced. Bright and early was right - my appointment was at a time reserved for the "blue hairs!" Got there, settled in and waited. Pressure way done from even the day before! So that was good - the blood in my eye was draining this time. The eye doc was able to look at the capsule and identified the incision from the cataract surgery way back in 2005. And he wasn't as worried about the lens shifting since he could see the capsule and it looked good. His opinion? While there is always the possibility that the lens has shifted and is rubbing against the iris, it didn't seem as likely. Chances are the blood vessel that started bleeding back on the 15th had clotted up, but the scab had jarred loose when I started running again. Hence the return of the fuzziness and black speckled floaters. At least that is the hope! If that's the case, then I just need let it fully heal.
But there in lies the issue - the jarring of running is what we think caused the re-occurrence. So no running for at least another week, if not two. I can ride as long as I avoid jarring - so staying on the easy trails and avoiding the rocks. No intensity restrictions this time around, so my workouts on the bike are still a go. It's just the running. One week without running puts it at April 5th - two weeks the 12th. The Rattler Trail Race 25k is on the 15th - there's no way I'll be able to race. More hopefully, but still unlikely is the Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race 25k at the end of April. I've already had a week and a half with minimal running and haven't gotten a single long run done since the beginning of March. Palmer Park is technical running with lots of jarring. I have to be smart and do what is best for my vision. If that means I have to skip all the running races I signed up for so far this year, that's what I'm going to do. Hopefully I'll get an all clear to start short, easy runs at my next follow up in a week. Even then, key words are short and easy. I'd rather be able to ride my bike hard on chunky trails this year so giving up some running will be a small price to pay!
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