And the eyes have it!

Wow, life can sure turn on a dime sometimes!
As we were approaching graduation, Bill had begun having trouble off and on with his left eye. Started with floaters, then a shadowy area near his nose, then distortion, blind spot, and flashing lights. The last parts sent him to an eye dr, whose first thought was 'choroid serous retinopathy'- a problem with the blood vessels in the choroid layer, and sent him to a retina specialist. We were prepared for the worst we had found researching the problem- laser surgery (Bill hates anything in his eye).

The retina specialist took one look and sent Bill to University of Va, Charlottesville because he suspected it to be choroidal melanoma. So we did a whole new round of research, and were prepared for the worst- losing the eye surgically.

Once at UVa, the drs there did a thorough battery of tests and determined it was indeed melanoma, only to have a final test throw a bit of doubt into the picture, so we went home to await their further review and determination of the diagnosis. While there, we did learn that the dr we are working with, Dr Ghazi, is fascinated with eye tumors and plans to stay on at UVa to do research into them. Because of this interest, he is vested in the outcome and well-prepared, including understanding that there are times it is ok to leave things alone- not something you hear often in the medical world. Also learned how reassuring it can be (albeit time-consuming) to have the oversight of an entire department (including the chair, personally!) when you are being seen at a teaching hospital. Many heads were put together over Bill's eye, both literally and figuratively!! Whether hemangioma or melanoma, it is still interesting to deal with because of the location, near the macula and optic nerve. We also had to face the fact that there is still worse to consider: we will have to make sure this is the only cancer in Bill, that it has not either spread, or come from somewhere else. And then there would be the options of treatment to consider, depending on the conclusions of the testing.

And the official diagnosis is Choroidal Melanoma- a tumor in the pigment of the choroid layer which is where all the blood vessels that supply the eye are. Bill's tumor is very near the macula (center of visual field) and the optic nerve, which is not a good thing, and lessens the chances of recovering and/or keeping his vision in that eye long-term.

So appointments now are being lined up, but they go in a certain order, and it will all hinge on seeing the radiation oncologist, which starts the ball in motion as far as the timeline, since their part takes the longest.
~Debi