I think that to make this site, and disease, easier to follow I should fill in some of the beginning details as best I can. Forgive me if I jump around a bit or repeat myself. I’m doing the best I can, really.

Fall 1999

The first vision troubles I had started in the fall of 1999. I was at work, in a retail store environment that had a lot of bright fluorescent lights, and began having headaches. A lot of headaches. I was OK at home and on my days away from the store but at work after about 30 minutes I’d start to get a headache and after an hour or so it would reach migraine potential. Many times afterward I’d have to go home sick, leaving my shift early. I made an appointment with a local optometrist and was seen rather quickly because of the headache symptoms. What he noticed was that my left eye (the one now with cancer) was irregularly shaped. Instead of the normal eye curvature it was more elliptical. And that was causing my headaches due to the change in vision. So I ended up with prescription glasses that I had to wear all the time to correct the vision in my left eye. It may be important to note that my right eye was still 20/20 vision, and is still to this day. The headaches subsided with continued use of the eyewear and life was good.

March 2003

As I’ve said previously the first indication of eye trouble was March 28 2003, a Friday. A night I’ll never forget. My wife and I were at a retreat/conference. I remember clearly reading from a book in front of me, and the feeling of a sudden change, almost like a light switch being turned on. I looked up and my vision was blurry. I looked down again to my book and I couldn’t read it, the letters were all blurry. I turned to my wife and said “I think something’s wrong, my vision’s all blurry”.
I persevered though the remaining of the evening but ( since it was a retreat conference from Friday until Sunday) on the next day, Saturday, we left. My vision was still blurry and my wife had to drive us home. I made an emergency appointment with my optometrist to check my vision and when he couldn’t see a reason, other that a possible anomaly in the eye, he scheduled an appointment for me with an ophthalmologist, the next level of specialized eye treatment.

Spring 2003

I’m really not sure when the first visit to my ophthalmologist was, but it was only a month or two after being referred so it couldn’t have been too long.
This doctor noticed a growth behind the left eye. It was fluid and solid, nothing definitive either way. The retina was stretched ( an edema) because of the growth and that was what was causing the blurred vision. I was at that time put on the 6 month test list. He wanted to see me every 6 months to follow up on the changes to my vision as well as on the changes to the growth behind my eye. And so began my journey of not knowing what was wrong with my vision. Not knowing what was the growth behind my eye.
Not knowing a lot of things. The next several months, and couple of years, would not greatly expand on that knowledge. But I ended up having to quit my job (August 2004) and begin working at home.

Summer 2005 and Current

I started wearing an eye patch as I worked on my computer ( I maintain several content websites)  during the summer of 2005 and now I wear the eye patch full time, working at the computer, watching TV, even driving the car.
My vision was always getting worse, little by little, but my right eye was able to make up for it. The beginning of this year (2006) was the turning point. My vision started to get very poor and was only corrected when I was wearing the eye patch. By June I decided that the best thing was to wear the eye patch all the time and I find that I am much better throughout the day. I can more easily go from light to dark rooms. I do not lose perspective or feel as if I am losing balance as much. Who would have thought that by limiting my vision from two eyes to one eye I’d be better off? 

Today is August 13 2006. (Despite what the timestamp says! I’m just working through this thing.)

Not that I have a fear of triskaidekaphobia but it seems to be a fitting day for my first post to a website dedicated to a condition that is changing my life.

My name is Rob and I have been diagnosed with ocular melanoma.

I was diagnosed with ocular melanoma on July 4 2006. That was after 3 years and 3 months of a marked loss of vision in my left eye with no explanation from any of the doctors I had seen in the months following this change in vision (March 28 2003). My opthamologist found an unexplainable, unidentifiable growth behind my left eye. I should add that I am in Kamloops, BC, Canada and even though I have a great local doctor (one of the best in BC) he is not an oncologist so I am traveling every few months to Vancouver BC to be treated.

A hint for you: if you go and see a specialist referred by your opthamologist and he says “I don’t think it’s a freckle” find someone that has a definitive answer. Fast. Who knows how much of my vision may have been saved if this was caught 3 years ago.

I don’t expect many visitors to this little spot on the Internet. After all, about 7 people out of a million are diagnosed with this type of cancer every year. That means, in Canada, about 200 people will be told they have ocular melanoma this year. And the next year. And the next. Sadly, about half of these people will die from the melanoma because it won’t be detected or it will be detected to late.

And they won’t understand what to expect and their doctors will not be able to fully prepare them because they see this particular type of cancer so infrequently. So hey, you’re an odd duck… like me.

I will be sharing links, information and my own story as time progresses. After all, since you’ve read this far, we’re in this together so I look forward to you visiting regulary and sharing your comments with me.

Even if just to say “Hi” or “Hang in there!”.

I appreciate it, really.

PS. I’d like to thank my family doctor for inspiring me to create this website.

PPS. Get your eyes checked at least every two years, even if your vision is fine.