I got an early Christmas present thanks to this ANA board and most importantly thanks to Dena King. Three months ago Dena posted about a Schelra lens she was using and how it relieved the pain of her dry eye. Thanks to her post I went to my eye doctor for a new prescription for my glasses and hopefully a referral to a doctor in the area that could help me get a lens that would reduce the pain I had and cut down on the costs of the eye ointment I was using.
I got the referral and after a couple of weeks of missed faxes and phone calls I wrote a letter to the contact lens specialist. She personally called me the next day so I could make an appointment to see her. I saw the doctor a week and a half ago, she gave me a lens to try out for a week. I put the lens in when I got home that afternoon, left it in for 2 hours and increased the time an hour or so for a few days. When I went to work on Monday morning I put it in and kept it in until 10 that night. As Dena wrote in her post it takes some time to learn how to put in the lens and remove it, but it's worth it.
When I went to the eye doctor a week later she was almost as excited as I was about the progress I had made. It really made her happy to be able to help me get relieve from the pain and the pocket book. When I saw her the previous week my eye was bright red, when I saw her this week it was hardly red at all. The first time she examine me I couldn't see the BIG E on the eye chart because of the damage to my eye and the ointment I use. This time I could not only see the E, I could read some of the letters on the 3rd line of the chart. I have gone from using 3 tubes of ointment at work to using almost 1 tube. My eye has been so bad the last year that I was spending over $4000 in a year on ointment. Before I started using the lens my eye would hurt so much by Thursday that I could barely work and by Friday evening I couldn't look at a computer screen, let alone post a message. I would use the weekend to rest and hopefully get my eye in good enough shape to work another week.
I have no idea whether my Insurance will cover the lens or not and I don't care! The difference I have experienced in my life just this past week is well worth the cost. I'm still using a loaner lens as the doctor isn't sure which one she wants me to use yet. The cost of the lens is around $250, won't no how long it will last until I use it a while. Once again, I'm not concerned as I would spent about that much for ointment in 2 weeks.
For now I'm just enjoying the many, many benefits in my life that this lens has given me. It will take a bit of time to fully appreciate the changes, I think I'm still in shock as it's been 20 years since my surgery and I never thought I would see the day when I didn't have to put ointment in my eye every 15 minutes.
Tomorrow my husband and I along with our dogs will go out and cut down a Christmas tree, can't wait to do it as I can focus all my attention on looking for the tree instead of struggling to walk in unfamiliar territory because of my poor vision. I can't wait for Spring so I can ride my bike without stopping all the time to put ointment in my eye.
I'm sorry about the long post but I really wanted to share my good news with everyone and hope that those having eye issues read this and now know that things can and will get better. If anyone has questions about the lens please feel free to ask and I will answer the best that I can. Jill Marie
