This column is written as a follow-up to my May 23 column, where I outlined the new cancer medications (pills for melanoma) that I am taking. My experience indicates to me what can happen when changes are made. The question is, “How do I know what was done and was it done properly by the doctor?”
Two weeks ago, I had an appointment with my oncologist in London. His first question was, “How are you?” My answer was, as usual, “Fine, and you?” I guess he thought that I was trying to be funny. He then explained that he was asking whether there had been any changes since I started taking these medications two weeks previously.
“Yes, there were changes”, I answered. “My left eye can see the closed captions on the TV very clearly, But the closed captions are fuzzy when viewed only by my right eye.”
Something is affecting my right eye’s vision.
He then explained that there have been side effects from these melanoma medications in the eyes by other patients. He then explained that it was usually both eyes that are affected, not just one. Regardless, we need to find out whether the pills that I am taking are causing the problem, or not. Therefore, I was to stop taking these melanoma pills immediately and see if vision was restored in my right eye. The result: stopping the pills made no improvement to my right eye, so I am now back on the pills for my melanoma. This pleases me because the pills are for melanoma – not my eyes.
After stopping the melanoma pills, my oncologist then set up an appointment with the Ivey Eye Clinic three days later to have my eyes examined. The eye specialist was very thorough and asked many questions about my eye history. I explained that glasses were fairly recent with me and that I had new laser cataracts added about two years ago. These cataracts were expensive – $,1700 per eye – and they were specially made to overcome astigmatism that I had and they would also prevent a need for long distance glasses. Both my optometrist and my local eye doctor, who would put in the new laser cataract lenses, agreed that these would be the best for me.
I told the Ivey specialist about the laser cataracts and he explained that he could not see any sign of laser work being done to insert cataracts. He felt that the right eye cataract needed to be cleaned out, similar to what the left cataract had done three months previously. He questioned whether or not I actually got the good lenses at $1,700 each. The regular, normal cataracts are covered 100 per cent by OHIP. These new ones are at my expense.
Fortunately, my wife is meticulous and keeps very detailed records. She has the name and model number of the lenses that the local eye doctor put in at his London clinic. We will be getting appointments with the local optometrist and eye doctor to clean-up the actual lenses used. I don‘t like being suspicious but the two local eye clinics are ‘private’ while the Ivey clinic is in the hospital and is considered ‘government.’ It is the Ivey clinic doctor who has raised this issue. The question is – did the local eye guy put in the expensive cataract lenses that I paid for? How do I tell?
It will be interesting to read the report that the Ivey doctor will send to my oncologist.
We are off on vacation for the next two weeks. We fly to Calgary and visit with family Then we take the Rocky Mountaineer train to Vancouver. Next will be three days at a condo in Whistler resort, two hours north of Vancouver. From there, we fly home from Vancouver to Toronto. A total of 12 days – our first trip since COVID-19 hit. It will be good to get away – a change very much needed.
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Bob Murray is retired from the graphic communication (printing) industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013 and works hard to stop the progress of the disease to AD. He shares his experiences in his column entitled “My Voyage with Dementia.” Follow him on his blog entitled Voyage with Dementia – https://myvoyage553264702.wordpress.com.
