Eye Plan!

Well it turns out that the World's Best Eye Doctor is still in my corner, even though I moved away and haven't been to her office in something like 2 years. She thinks I would do well with Xalatan, Travlatan, or Lumigan, in case I have a spike from the decadron. I will have some eye redness, and I might get headaches, but they should work -- and I should be able to stop using the drops after I'm done with the decadron (early October) or soon after.

I have put Alan on the job of researching these meds -- but basically I trust this doctor. Besides, I remember talking about Xalatan with her years ago, and it sounded fine except for the possibility that it might darken my eye color over time. I have to confess that I am still vain enough that I would prefer to keep my eye color..... though the possibility of losing it kinda pales in comparison with the possibility of losing more eyesight, or how about my life...... However, Dr M says that the darkening happens over a period of 6-18 mponths, if it happens, and I would probably need to be on the drops for 3 months maximum, so I'd likely avoid that.

If you live in the Boston area and need a fabulous eye doctor, ask me and I will point you in the right direction. She might be a glaucoma specialist -- but I think basically she's who you want to go to if you have enough going on with your eyes that you need someone fabulous.

My oncologist has been really helpful about this too. Last Thursday, when I was still trying to make a backup eye plan, she said that if I needed to go to Boston for surgery in my left eye I could take a week off before starting taxol to do it. Turns out it's not necessary, but I really appreciated her offering the suggestion -- and the fact that she understands that I am probably capable of creating an eye pressure spike just by worrying about not having a good plan.... not to mention her observation that now is a fine time for surgery since my white blood count is through the roof at the moment. (I had a shot of neulasta 2.5 weeks ago to boost it. It kind of overcompensates.) She also said she is planning to try giving me half the amount of decadron that she usually gives people before taxol. I hope it works!