The eyes have it

I was looking back over my posts and was surprised to see I have not updated my vision situation. The last time I wrote, back in February, I was trying a new set of contacts. A lot has happened since then.

For a week or so I was really excited. I loved the expansive field of vision. I was so pleased with the first rides and runs that I went right out and purchased new readers for working at the computer and plain, uncorrected swim goggles. Then on a longish ride the double vision returned, and as the days went by and my wear time increased, my vision got worse. I tried two different kinds of eye drops. No good. Finally I went back to my optometrist to get checked and he noticed that the lenses were not aligning correctly. No wonder my vision was so bad.

Fortunately some friends suggested I see an ophthalmologist. I got a referral from my GP and just got in for an exam before the COVID-19 lock-down went into effect. His diagnosis: double vision, probably correctable with prism lenses. Contacts were not an option. But he wanted me to see the expert over at Straub, and they were not taking new cases due to the lock-down. 

After what felt like an eternity I got in to see the guy at Straub, and he confirmed the prism thing. The really cool part was he has an optician downstairs who will add a stick-on prism to normal glasses. Look closely at the pic below and you can just make out a series of horizontal lines that cover the full lens.

After getting this stick-on I was amazed at how much better I could see on the bike. Not only was the old double vision daemon expunged, everything looked clearer. Simply amazing. Last Sunday Pattie and I rode Haleiwa and I never had to close one eye to see the road on the decent. I was flying down Pineapple Hill (Hwy 99) at 35 m.p.h. on the TT bike with total confidence.

The stick-on is only a temporary test. This week I went back to the optician to order real glasses. I decided to get what I have now and see how that works, because the real glasses use a different kind of prism. Apparently the correction will be optimal in the center of the lens and diminishing towards the edges. Since I look out through the top edge while in the aero position this may not work. If it does, the next step is to try the same thing with my Rudy Project glasses.

I cannot say enough how great it is to see two cars up ahead and know there really are two cars, and not have to choose which white line to follow.

Can you say Supraventricular Tachycardia?

In a previous post I shared my growing frustration with my heart. I am not referring to romance, nor am I dreaming up titles for a country western song. To recap, every once in a while my heart rate goes really high. I notice it most often while running, but sometimes it happens on the bike. Never during normal activity. Right after that last post I went to my GP. He insisted there is nothing wrong with me, but since, in his words, "This is the third time I have complained about it" he decided it was time to refer me to a cardiologist.

Talk about luck. I keep hearing stories about doctors who do not understand the active lifestyle, whose advice is often to slow down and just accept the fact you are getting old. This cardiologist was a serious runner and understood completely what I was describing because he had it himself.

Diagnosis is not a 100% sure thing. As is so often the case we treat what we think is most likely going on, and if things don't improve we move on down the list of possibilities. What makes supra whatchamacallit -- SVT -- hard to diagnose it it only happens on rare occasions. Naturally the good Doc ran an EKG during my examination, and it looked perfectly normal. 

This is when I got the first good news. A company named AliveCor makes a portable EKG device called Kardia that connects to your smartphone with Bluetooth. The Doc said to carry it with me on every run and bike, and when I have an episode, pull over and record. I then mail him the file and he can confirm the diagnosis. I paid a little extra for a nice carrying case. The whole thing weights about 50 cents.

 

Then I got the second piece of good news. I have high blood pressure. Nothing much but given my family history I need to take reasonable precautions. The cardiologist saw that I was taking a calcium channel blocker, and one treatment of SVT is a similar but different medication. So we switched. If it works, I will never have another episode of SVT. Which means I will never get to use my new toy. If it does not work, there is a simple surgical procedure.

Naturally the next day after I started the new meds I felt like superman. Amazing what a little confidence boost can do.