DP & I had our annual eye exam today, at a new eye doctor. We purchased our glasses from them last year because I had seen a pair of frames that I loved in their ocular shop. They had such rave reviews and my mom took the kids there so I looked into their office a bit more. They have a lot of high tech eye machines which I've always liked better than the standard eye-dilation (I hate having things in my eyes). We were able to make an appointment for Saturday which is great so we don't have to miss work during the week!
I was called back first. I had my eyes scanned by two different machines and did a few color and distance tests. When the doctor got around to seeing me he went over the pictures the machines had taken of my eye.
I don't know why I reported last year that everything looked clear. The old doctor told me I had mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy without macular edema, but he down-played it as something that wasn't a problem. The new doctor took a completely different approach, making sure that I understood that my high blood sugars were causing damage that couldn't be repaired and if I continued to have high blood sugars, things would get worse. He pointed out a total of 3 hemorrhages that I have between both eyes (1 in one eye and 2 in the other) and that only one was close to the optic nerve/macula, which was concerning. He told me I needed to tighten my control if I wanted to prevent vision loss.
Both of our prescriptions changed considerably, so we ordered new lenses (and opted to keep our current frames since we like them so much). I feel like we made the right choice switching doctors. I feel like I got a much clearer picture of my eye health, and a doctor that actually understands the importance of normalizing blood sugars. Even though he said an A1C of 4% was difficult to achieve, I know it's possible. I'll aim for that. Even 5% would be good. I've done it before. Now I need to work my butt off to do it again.
As if my body was scared into submission by what he said, my numbers have been lower today. But I can't slack off. Here's to lower blood sugars and keeping my eyes for another 40+ years!
