I don't use TWFE as a personal forum all that often. This blog is my baby and my refuge from real life, so to speak. But I also want you all to know what's going on with me, and why updating TWFE has been sporadic the last couple of weeks (and for that matter, why my contributions at Bless You Boys as of late have been just short, breaking news fan shots).

About 3 weeks ago, I went to check the mail. Being a bonehead, I slipped on ice and fell...right on on my surgically repaired back. Luckily, I landed in a snowbank, which cushioned the fall.

I still managed to do some damage, as swelling developed in the area where the surgeons did their magic. The swelling refused to go away, so I had to schedule a visit to my doctors at the University of Michigan. The swelling was diagnosed as a hematoma, and I finally had to have the area drained of blood by my rheumatologist last Monday.

So far, so good on that front. Though I have an appointment with my surgeons on Friday, but it's more as a precaution than anything else.

But something else related to my ankylosing spondylitis flared up in the meantime. I developed uveitis (also known as iritis) in my left eye.

AS, along with doing nasty things to my spine, can also attack soft tissue, such as your heart and eyes. I've dodged the bullet in regard to soft tissue for years. Lamentably, my luck ran out. During my recovery from surgery, I developed a bad case of uveitis. It was painful, but it went away right after I went back on my normal arthritis meds.

But it returned with a vengance a week ago.

Thankfully, my right eye remains unaffected. But my left eye is angry looking, red and bloodshot. Even worse, the vision in the eye has gone in the tank. My sight in the bad eye is comparable to looking through a very cloudy and blurry plexiglass window, or as if someone went at a camera lens with an abrasive pad. I put myself within a few inches of my laptop screen, and I still can't read a damn thing. Action on the big TV is just a blur. In the dark, it's even worse.

Uh...that's not good.

I was examined by a U of M opthamologist on Wednesday. He wasn't happy. The eye is badly inflamed, scar tissue has formed, and the pressure inside the eye is twice the normal amount (which is known as ocular hypertension). There's the possibility of glaucoma as well. But he can't do anything about the vision in the eye until the inflammation and pressure are reduced.

So the opthamologist gave me 3 different types of eye drops in hopes of reducing the eye pressure. I'm literally swimming in eye meds, and I've been pounding them since early yesterday afternoon.

If the drops are ineffective, the next option may be a laser procedure to drill a hole in the eye to reduce the pressure. Uh...YIKES!

I'm going back to see my doctor today, and I find out if the drops did their job, and what we'll do next.

To top things off, I was supposed to interview Matthew Stafford this morning. I was all set to record my conversation with the Lions quarterback to post here at TWFE, but the phone connection was so bad, they had to bail.

This entire week has been one big facepalm...

I have no idea if we'll be able to reschedule. My spider sense tells me they won't.

So it seems I can't win for losing the past few weeks...just like the team I write about!

I'll keep you all in the loop as to what's up with my eye. As they say, you'll be the first to know.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Comments (6)

Thanks for the update
written by Quiddity, February 04, 2010

Hope the eye heals with only the drops.

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written by Baroque, February 04, 2010

Blech. What a time you have had.

Me careful walking next time, take care of yourself as best you can (I'm recuperating from a badly pulled lower back muscle myself right now), and concentrate on getting healthy.

The internet isn't going anywhere in your absence for convalescence.

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written by Ratt, February 05, 2010

Al, I wish you the best of luck with your back recovery and with the eye. I know you aren't particularly a big fan of this, but you will most definitely be in my prayers.

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written by TimMex, February 05, 2010

I've never commented before but I've been really enjoying your blog. I'll keep you in my prayers.

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written by VN33Katie, February 05, 2010

Some people think that creating the custom sociology essays supposes to be not very hard, nevertheless I argue that only the professional writing services can create the custom term papers of top quality.

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Thanks, everyone!
written by Big Al Beaton, February 05, 2010

And I'm not insulted by the prayers. I'm quite flattered, actually.

I'll have a post up later as to what I've learned. But the good news is I'm not going to lose my sight in the left eye. Bad news is it looks like I'll be dealing with vision issues for the next several months before we can correct it.

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