I am Divya Sharma, pursuing my Masters in English. I am suffering from Glaucoma. Here I am going to brief my experience of ‘how glaucoma grasped my life’
Glaucoma grasped my Life
Glaucoma grasped my life… In the tender age of 3, my parents got a doubt about my eye-sight. Here it is worth mentioning that we are twin sisters. As we are twins, my parents noticed that I was not as active as my sister. Then one day, they took me to a nearby eye clinic. The doctors therein said nothing is wrong with my eyes and they look so beautiful. To sweep away their doubts, they rushed me to Chandigarh. Doctors told that the patient had been suffering from severe glaucoma but they expressed their inability to operate the eyes at that tender age. Doctors told that about 60 % of vision was already gone and so, they just prescribed special eye drops to keep the pressure of eye within check. The drops had to be used several times a day. During those times, the prescribed imported eye drops were scarcely available even in Delhi.
After this whole scenario, finally, a ray of hope emerged. I was taken to Dr. NN Sood in Delhi. Here I would like to mention that he is known as ‘Ungleon ke Jadugar’. Doctor Sood told my parents that I was suffering from acute glaucoma and the only way out to check the eye pressure was surgery. He operated both of my eyes and created drainage holes in the iris of both eyes to release the pressure build up. It was so severe that the natural lense in the right eye had to be extracted. Within a span of few weeks, I underwent another operation in order to provide drainage channel for the fluid to exit, thus, lowering the pressure build up.
After a few months, I got some infection in my eyes and had to undergo another operation. Unfortunately, the doctors could secure only 25 % of vision. Subsequently, we started going to Delhi for routine checkup initially twice a week and then once a week. Later, we were told to undergo routine check up after every 3 months. Even today, I go for routine eye check up after 3, 4 months to ensure whether everything is under control. The present status of my eyesight is 75% vision impairment. Doctors have told me to take extra precautions like to inform the doctor whenever I get any redness, water coming or stickiness in my eye etc to avoid further vision loss. That is how Glaucoma grasped my life.
