One Eye Kirk - What's in a Name.

One Eye Kirk.

sounds like a singer of the blues.

As is, the moniker for this blog is part theater, part present history, and part spiritual vision.

(waiting on the doc.  First time to use my camera phone.)

Several months ago I started noticing some abnormalities in my vision.  I looked at a crescent moon  and swore it had two tips... on each end.  I wondered if there was some kind of strange eclipse.  Then I noticed I kept trying to bend and straighten my glasses.  It seemed like one of the lenses in my glasses was askew..  I kept seeing distortion, like a looking trough the edge of a windshield.

It wasn't till I actually covered my right eye (my "shooting" eye) that I actually noticed my left eye was seeing the world all wonky.  Think of having a big drop of honey on your glasses or a little funny mirror right in the middle of your vision.  Beyond that, the world as viewed through my left eye was about an "F-stop" darker.  Like wearing medium sunglasses.

So I made a b-line to the optometrist...who turned me over to retina specialist.

I was subject to a small battery of tests, including one where they put glowing die in my blood so they could photograph the back of my eye.  Later I would pee florescent.  They showed me a grid chart.  All the lines in the lower right corner collapsed.

The eye doctor confirmed I had something called "Pigment Epithelial Detachment" -- in short a blister on the back of my retina, with that rich seeing rod-and cone stratum, pulled from the back of my eye.

Then he told me words that made me a little anxious.  My condition might self heal, but there is not a lot to be done.  We should wait.   Laser surgery or steroids might irritate my eye, leading to greater damage.

In the meantime, my vision just kept getting worse. Lines that should have looked like Twiggy looked more like Beyonce.   I knew even the prescription for my good eye needed adjusting, so together, I was having a hard time with camera focus... and even a harder time viewing my work on computer.   I am a God conscious man.  He gave me my eyes.  He can take them back.   But I was concerned.

Went for a second opinion.   Map of the back of my eye, showed the blister had bloomed.   He suggested that It is highly probable that I have early Wet-form Macular Degeneration.  I would later find MD it runs in the family.

Long story short.  I am receiving treatment for my eye, that consists of a series of shots... delivered straight into my eye.   They are using a drug... developed for cancer patients  that will target the capillaries growing under my retina.   I have never been one given to taking meds, and the cost of all this is astonishing.   Funny.   I have long wanted a real nice set of speakers.  And now I spend that much on a single shot in my eye.   Vision is both common... and terrible (in that old sense of the word.)   I cannot imagine how some  folks function without it.  I earn my living with my eyes... So I let them pump away.

And now.  Good news.  I am seeing much better.  After two shots, there is considerably less distortion in my left eye.  I still see a discolored dull spot, and I am getting new glasses to boot.  But I am relieved.  And PROFOUNDLY thankful.   For medical treatment.  For answered Prayers.  For the love of friends who have shared their concerns.  And for the ongoing ability to praise God by looking at His world with the eyes he has loaned me.