again????

Well, the ophthalmologist confirmed it today. I have Uveitis again. For those who don't know (or don't want to look it up)....

• Uveitis is inflammation of the uvea, which is the vascular layer of the eye sandwiched between the retina and the white of the eye (sclera).
  
• Uveitis is estimated to be responsible for approximately 10% of the blindness in the United States.
• Myriad conditions can lead to the development of uveitis, including systemic diseases as well as syndromes confined to the eye.
  
• In anterior uveitis, no specific diagnosis is made in approximately one-half of cases.

More or less, my body is attacking my eye. It pulls little pieces off and tries to destroy them (thinking they are foreign matter). I have a lot of 'floaters' because of this and it is not the most comfortable experience.

The good news is that I caught it early, so I only have to be on the steroid eye drop and not the dilating one (which I hate) so that is a good thing. The bad news is that after lots of blood tests, CT scans, and X-Rays over the past few months they can not find any underlying cause. This first showed up when I was 20 years old and I have had it at least once a year since then (sometimes two to three times-each episode lasting 6-12 weeks). It is painful and my eyes become very light sensitive as well as extremely red. My pupils won't dilate like they should and often are two different sizes. The Uveitis can cause your pupil to adhere to the eye thus the need for the dilating drop. This is the first time that I have not had to use the dilating drop, so I guess I am getting better at self diagnosing! Yea....I think. I did find out today that my eye has permanent damage from this, but luckily that damage doesn't affect my vision.

In the quest to find some cause of the Uveitis, a CT showed several spots on my lungs (I mentioned these in a previous post---click here). So, I guess the testing paid off. I wouldn't have found out about these spots if it weren't for the Uveitis. I did recently meet with a pulmonologist, but of course he had no more information about these spots than anyone else did. The spots are tiny. One is 4mm and the other, 5mm. Both are in the same lobe, but because of their size would be impossible to biopsy. He gave me two options...crack my chest open, remove part of my lung, and attempt to find the masses OR wait 6 months and have another CT to see if there was any change. I, of course, chose the latter. I just hate waiting.

On a lighter note...I leave you with these photos. I was laying with Adalynn on the couch (our normal afternoon napping/Oprah watching location) and told her to close her eyes and go to sleep. This is what I got! Priceless!