Contentment?

What is contentment? One definition of contentment is: To be in a state of peaceful happiness.

We used to hear about contented cows every now and then. It was actually an advertisement for a milk company and it introduced us to the contented cow concept. But, I wonder just how would you know if a cow really is contented?

Are the cows in the above photo content? In a state of peaceful happiness? I guess you could say that they look content. They don’t appear concerned about anything, as far as I can tell, but what do I know? Try forcing those same creatures into a squeeze chute and you will likely witness extreme discontent.

Discontent, then is the opposite of peaceful happiness and it can strike at any time. Discontent may actually be the natural state of affairs. It could be argued that contentment is, in fact, the exception to the rule and occurs rarely and only briefly at that.

The following is the story of one man’s encounter with genuine discontent. It came upon him abruptly, without warning and struck repeatedly.

In this particular time period he had health issues like he had never experienced before. The following is an account of his infliction by Mother Nature (a.k.a. Old Age), which led directly to The Summer of his Discontent.

Of course, names and places have been changed to avoid potential lawsuits.

The Knee

To set the stage, we have to relate a little history.

George, as we will call him, has had trouble with his left knee for several years. I don’t remember exactly when, but it started while he was still working.

George is retired now and only works in his chosen career field for his own pleasure. He will occasionally share his knowledge and experience with friends and family, but he has given up helping clients with their technical problems.

His physical problem began when his left knee would occasionally ‘lock up’ in the ‘flexed’ position, and when it did he would have to work to force the leg to straighten (using his other leg as a lever). When he was able to move the leg past a certain point, though, it would “pop” back into place. Then he could walk on it again. It would hurt like heck while he tried to force it to straighten and then afterward it would be sore for a while, with an dull ache that came from the back of his leg, behind the kneecap. But, then it would gradually feel better and George could go on with his activities.

It happened one day that while George was in the floor under a desk trying to work on a network connection that the knee ‘locked’ on him. He wallowed around for a bit until he could get his right leg behind the left one and force the leg back out. It made an audible ‘pop’ when it moved past the “locked’ point.

That incident made an impression on his co-worker, and Ron has never forgotten how George had to perform the ‘pop back into place’ routine while lying in customer’s office floor. Fortunately, those sorts of incidents didn’t occur frequently, but they still happened often enough to be annoying. George had to be careful about how he positioned his leg when he got down on his knees for any reason.

He never really seriously considered going to the doctor with the problem, though, mainly because he was always able to ‘fix’ it on his own. And then, there would be a fairly long stretch of time before it happened again – and only then after George had forgotten to be careful and allowed the leg to get into an awkward position. The knee would also lock up sometimes after he had gone to bed, when he would toss or turn while the leg was perhaps flexed back a little too far. But, again, it could be ‘fixed’ by straightening the leg back out.

Then, one day while George was bent over picking up some items from his bedroom floor, the knee hung on him. He was in an awkward position, off-balance and he couldn’t get his leg straightened out. George toppled over into the floor on top of the leg, forcing it even further back into the flexed position. This was the worst pain that he had yet experienced with the knee and it was a struggle to get the leg straight and when he finally did, it gave a loud ‘pop’ and the pain just shot up and down the leg.

Then, he found that the leg would not support his weight and because the knee was so painful, he couldn’t move around to get hold of anything to pull himself up and out of the floor. His wife heard the commotion and came to see what was wrong. She was not physically able to help George get up but after a bit he was finally able to get to the edge of the bed and, using his arms, to pull himself up. But, he couldn’t stand on the leg. His wife remembered that they had a pair of crutches in a closet somewhere and went to find them while he struggled to stand.

George used the crutches for two or three days before the soreness eased up and the knee felt well enough that he could get around without them. Since the problem seemed to be resolving itself, George decided against going to the doctor and it was quite a while before he had any more problems with the knee.

Then, one day (several months after the fall-over-in-the-floor episode) the knee locked again – but this time the fully extended position, not flexed back as before. He actually had to force the leg backward to get it to “pop” back into place, just the opposite of the way it was before. This, then, was the condition of the knee for the next several years.

As for overall health, with the (major) exception of a heart attack several years earlier, he has had very few physical complaints.

Now, we come to the year of problems.

The Eye

Sometime around the first of the year (near the end of the previous year, actually) George noticed that something seemed to be wrong with his computer monitor. The images on the screen weren’t as clear as they should have been and the right edge of the screen seemed to be distorted. He wore non-prescription “computer reader” glasses (1.25 power) and the screen has always been very clear and sharp when he used them.

George thought that he might have to replace the monitor (or get some new reader glasses, he couldn’t tell which was the actual problem). I don’t know what made him do it, but at some point he covered his right eye with his hand and the screen problems disappeared. He covered his left eye and the problem was much worse – the entire screen was distorted. It was at this moment that George realized that his vision was the problem.

He immediately scheduled an appointment with an optometrist (whoever they have at the local Walmart) to see if they could tell him what was going on with his vision. They did a ‘complete exam’, including ‘pictures’ of the eye with whatever specialized equipment that they have to detect inner-eye problems, and told him that it looked like he had developed a cataract in the right eye. It also appeared that his vision had changed in his left eye and the 1.25 power computer reader glasses would not work for him any more. The optometrist did not mention what they thought that he should do about the problem in his right eye.

George got a prescription for a new pair of reader glasses, and left it at that for the moment. Although the new glasses made the screen clearer for the left eye, the right eye had a “dark spot” right in the center of the field of view and distortion resembling something similar to an ‘hour glass’. It made using a computer (or reading print) more difficult.

This was an entirely unsatisfactory situation because George ‘lived’ in front of his computer screen.

The UTI

Then, one morning George noticed that his urine had a foul odor. This was the first hint that he may have a urinary tract infection. George doesn’t remember if the act of peeing was painful but he does recall that it was not a very good stream and it actually “dribbled” a bit.

George’s urination stream had been a tad on the weak side for quite some time (a few years) and he frequently had difficulty getting the bladder to feel like it had emptied completely. But, he really didn’t think much about it – old people have these sorts of problems, right? George also noticed that on many occasions he would have to return to the bathroom shortly after going, to ‘go again’. He now realizes that that was a sign that the bladder did not empty properly.

George went to the local urgent care clinic to see what could be done about the UTI. Of course he had to provide a urine specimen and they told him that he did, indeed, have an infection. He was prescribed an antibiotic to help get rid of it, and a product called AZO to help with easing the urination process and the associated pain. They also sent the urine specimen to a lab for further analysis.

George had been taking the prescribed antibiotic for a few days when the clinic called to tell him that the lab had determined that that particular antibiotic was not effective for his infection, and that they were switching him to a different antibiotic that should take care of the problem.

During this time George had also been using the AZO product and found that if it relieved any of the UTI symptoms it was very slight but that it was also ruining his clothes. The product contained some sort of dye that colored the urine a bright reddish-orange and if it got on his underpants it would stain them this color and it could not be washed out of them. George had to throw away several pairs of shorts because of the stains.

In the meantime he was wondering if the problem could have been caused by a kidney stone. George had exactly one kidney stone in his life, and that was over forty years previous. He had passed the stone (at the hospital) and never had another problem of that sort. However, the difficulty urinating (he had to really force the stream) and the pain associated with it made him wonder if the UTI issue could be related to a kidney stone.

George’s son told him that he had been prescribed a drug called Flomax when he recently had his own kidney stone, and that it helped him pass the stone very quickly. He had some capsules left that George could have if he wanted to try it. He did try it and found that within a day or two the urine stream had improved, the “dribble” was all but eliminated and he wasn’t experiencing as much pain in the process.

In the meantime, George finished the new antibiotic but the UTI appeared to still be hanging on (the smell gave it away, if nothing else). So, George went back to the clinic to see what they wanted to do. They decided to prescribe another antibiotic, called Cipro, which is much stronger than either of the previous two. Apparently the standard procedure when treating a UTI is to start with the first antibiotic and if that is not effective, to go on to the second one. Then, if that fails to solve the problem to move on to the ‘third level’ antibiotic, which not only is more powerful but apparently has potentially more serious side effects.

While he was at the clinic, George mentioned that he had been using some “bootleg” Flomax and that it seemed to help, much better than the AZO stuff, which was making a mess of everything. It not only ruined several pair of underpants but also a throw rug that was kept just in front of the toilet (the floor gets extremely cold in the winter). The combination of the dribble and the AZO stain was just too much for the poor rug to handle.

The doctor, actually a Nurse Practitioner, mentioned that if Flomax was making a difference than perhaps he was having issues with his prostate. She asked if he had ever had a prostate exam, which he had not, and would he like to have one? Which he politely declined for the moment. She also suggested that George have his blood tested to see if anything would show up there. He agreed to have the blood draw, and the NP actually called in a prescription for Flomax to the pharmacy. She also suggested that it would be good if he would consult a Urologist and would arrange a referral for him.

George had just started using the new antibiotic (which they eventually doubled from a five-day treatment to ten days) when the clinic called to ask him to come in and receive an injection of another, even stronger, antibiotic. He went in the next morning and got a shot in the right butt cheek of Rocephin.

The combination of those last two antibiotics eventually took care of the UTI. However, George got the lab results back and learned that he an abnormally high PSA reading. Normal would be something less than 4 and his was 40. However, as he learned more about the testing process, he found that the raging UTI could have influenced the test results.

After a couple of weeks George had heard nothing of his urology referral, so he called the clinic to see what he needed to do about it. They checked and found that they were using an old, discontinued cell phone number as his contact phone, so they updated the primary contact number. He asked if they could tell him who they had referred so that he could call them directly, but he was told that they use a ‘referral service’ and that they couldn’t give him that information, but that urology clinic should be in touch within a couple of weeks at the latest.

Right.

The Knee, Again

It was Easter Sunday. George still had not heard anything from the urology referral. It had been well over two weeks since his last conversation with the clinic about the referral and he was a little irritated with the lack of action in the matter.

George’s family had come to his home for Easter dinner and afterward they gathered in the yard for the ritual Easter Egg hunt for George’s toddler great-grandson, Finch.

As the afternoon progressed and everyone became bored with repeatedly ‘hiding’ plastic eggs for Finch to find, one of George’s older grandchildren, Waldo, suggested that they all play a little baseball. Waldo had found some baseball equipment in a storage building so it was decided that they would take a little batting practice, hitting baseballs off a tee into a large open area of George’s yard.

Finch had received a toddler bat and tee for Christmas but had not been able to make much use of it indoors, so it was set up alongside a ‘big kids’ batting tee so that he could hit the baseball while the adults showed him how to do it.

Some of the baseball gear that Waldo had found included a couple of George’s old wooden baseball bats, including one that was a very heavy 1954 model. Most of the family had played ball at some level and enjoyed the chance to swing a bat once more.

George even joined in and took several healthy cuts off the tee. It was nothing like he could have done a few years earlier, but it went better than he expected. It is important, though, to note that neither his back nor his knees bothered him at the time nor immediately afterward.

The next morning, however, George woke up to the discovery that his left knee was throbbing with an ache, which seemed to be just behind the kneecap. His lower back was sore, too. Usually these early-morning aches and pains would ‘wear off’ in a short while after he got up, but this time it persisted all day.

George had some Bio-Freeze type pain relieving gel and he rubbed that in all around the knee area and also took some Ibuprofen. That seemed to help some, but the soreness was back in full-force that afternoon.

The Chiropractor

George’s joint pain persisted for several days without letup. It was weeks, actually, because he kept thinking that it would eventually calm down and go away, like it always has. It was really becoming a problem, the knee pain was almost incapacitating at times. Eventually, George’s daughter suggested that he see a Chiropractor to find out if they could help with the pain, especially if it was originating in his back.

It was difficult to say exactly what was going on because the lower back was sore, much like he had experienced from time to time when he over exerted himself, or made motions and used muscles in a way that he had not done in a long time. But, the left knee ached too.

The act of swinging a baseball bat involves rotation forces that can affect the lower back if person is not conditioned for it and the batter hits against a firm front leg, in George’s case that was his left leg (and left knee). So, there was a strong suspicion that the aching pain was a result of this physical activity.

George made an appointment with the local chiropractic clinic to see what they could tell him about his back, and knee.

On the first visit to the chiropractor’s office, George received an x-ray of his lower back and then the Chiropractor, Dr. Alexander, performed an evaluation of his condition. He concluded that George’s spine was in need of corrective adjustment, and showed him images of the x-rays that indicated that George had a right-leaning curvature.

The doctor thought that George’s joint problems may be a combination of actual knee damage and lower back issues. Dr. Alexander told George that he couldn’t fix an actual knee injury, but he felt that spinal adjustment treatments could help alleviate some of the discomfort in the leg because back pain can actually ‘radiate’ down into the leg area.

George was inclined give it a try to see if it would help. If it kept him out of the Orthopedic clinic it would be worth it, he thought. George knew that if he had to turn to an orthopedic specialist for help that it would likely be an ordeal.

So, now it was a question of ‘will health insurance pay for the chiropractic treatment’? George learned from the chiropractor’s office staff that his insurance, Medicare and Medipak, would only pay for actual treatment (spinal adjustment) and not for any ‘therapy’ or any of the preliminary exams and x-rays.

And, furthermore, the Medipak secondary insurance plan would not pay for any Medicare deductible amount. The staff could see that George still had $30 left before his deductible was satisfied. The first charges for the x-rays and evaluation totaled more than $250, but eventually Medicare would cover the cost of the treatments. That seemed doable.

However, George had to have three treatments per week for three weeks and then two weeks of two treatments per week and then once a week thereafter. Or Medicare would not pay. Those are the rules, he was told. George thought that was a bit odd, but probably necessary to keep people from ‘gaming the system’. He agreed to the plan and was scheduled begin the next week with three treatments, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

On the first day of his treatment he found that the it consisted of an ‘adjustment’ to his spine. George was directed to lie on a treatment table, face down, while the doctor pushed and pulled on his back. He then turned onto his left side and then his right while Dr. Alexander manipulated his legs in a prescribed manner.

Immediately before the spinal adjustment treatment, though, George underwent a ‘therapy’ session where electrodes were attached to either side of his lower back and his left knee. Then, the electrodes were connected to an electronic device which sent pulses of energy into the muscles where the electrodes were attached. The therapy session lasted about fifteen minutes.

It was an odd sensation, much like a very mild electric shock. George was not exactly sure what this was about, but he later learned that it was called a TENS unit.

TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, which uses low-voltage electrical currents to relieve pain. The unit is a small device that delivers a current at or near the nerves to block pain. Wires connect the unit to electrodes imbedded in sticky patches (that look like EKG patches) that are then attached to the skin in the vicinity of the painful area. The current is delivered in pulses that can vary in intensity. A timer can be set to automatically end the session after a given time

As George learned, Medicare doesn’t pay for this therapy and it costs about $50 per session.

George continued the treatment schedule for the next three weeks, but after the three weeks were concluded, he honestly couldn’t tell much difference in the way he felt. It may have been a little better immediately after the treatment session (which lasted about another fifteen minutes, tops) but it was hard to tell.

However, after the first week of ‘therapy’ George declined any further TENS sessions. He didn’t think that he could justify spending $150 per week.

Besides, George’s son had loaned him a personal TENS unit that he had picked up somewhere or other, and it seemed to deliver exactly the same sensation as the unit that they used at the chiropractor’s office. George even bought a newer unit from an online seller (cost less than $40) and at one time he was using both units at the same time (four patches across the lower back and four patches around his knee). Again, if there was any relief from the pain, it was extremely temporary – mainly while the unit was actually running. George eventually stopped using the TENS units altogether.

A reputable clinic web page says that TENS units are used to treat a range of conditions, including osteoarthritis, tendinitis and fibromyalgia. Ok, George didn’t see any great benefit, “But what do I know?”, he thought.

The Cardiology Clinic

In early June, George had an appointment with his cardiologist, Dr. Caldwell, at the cardiology clinic for his 6-month checkup. He was also scheduled for lab work just before the appointment with Dr. Caldwell for a cholesterol check.

The Cardiologist told George that his EKG, blood pressure and other vital signs looked good. There was also no evidence of swelling in the lower extremities. From the cardiology standpoint it looked like George was ‘good to go’ for another six months.

The reason that George was consulting with a cardiologist was that George had suffered a heart attack about twelve years earlier and had undergone cardiac bypass surgery. Since then he had been under the care of a cardiologist. George’s original cardiologist, Dr. Donaldson, had died unexpectedly and George (and his wife, who had cardiac problems of her own and used the same cardiologist) had been forced to select another physician.

They settled on Dr. Caldwell, who is a fine physician in his own right and had assisted George during his hospital stay, before and after his surgery. But, George and his wife sorely missed their former cardiologist whom they considered to be their friend as well as their doctor. Dr. Donaldson had treated George’s wife for over thirty years, through some very difficult times.

George received a letter from Dr. Caldwell in about a week telling him that the lab results showed that his cholesterol levels looked good.

The Eye Clinic

Immediately after his cardiology appointment George decided to try to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist to see if anything could be done for his right eye. The City Eye Clinic is only a block or two from the cardiology clinic, so George made a quick detour on his way home from the cardio clinic to set up an appointment.

He scheduled to see a cataract specialist, Dr. Masterson, in late June. The ophthalmologist is the same surgeon who took care of his former associate, Van’s cataracts.

Urology

George finally got an appointment with the Urology clinic. He received a letter in the mail informing him that he had missed his appointment, which was back in February, and asking if he wanted to reschedule or what?. This was news to George. He had been waiting for weeks to hear from whomever he had been referred to. In fact, George was just about to call that very clinic to see if he could get an appointment on his own when he received the letter. So, George called and set up an appointment with a urologist, Dr. Cruz.

George also learned that the urology clinic still had the wrong contact phone number. They were calling his old cell phone number, which he had discarded a couple of years ago. That’s why they couldn’t get in touch with him. The urgent care clinic that referred him to the urology clinic was supposed to have updated the contact information, but apparently someone didn’t get the word.

This time, though George made sure that the urology clinic corrected his contact number, so they shouldn’t have that problem again. In fact, they were also given George’s email address so they can communicate that way too, which they did within 24 hours of scheduling the appointment. And, thanks to 21st century technology, he was able to take care of the new patient paperwork online, before his first visit.

George met with Dr. Cruz in mid-June. Of course, the doctor had to perform a ‘digital’ prostate exam (the first one of George’s life). The doctor told George that the prostate seemed a bit enlarged but that there were were “no bumps” on it, the presumption being that there were no obvious tumors detected. But, the outrageously high PSA was not good and the UTI was likely an indication of a larger problem. George had to concede that he had prostate issues, the question was “What kind of issue?”.

If prostate cancer were present and if it had spread it would be very bad news. Further testing was needed to determine just what they were dealing with. With that in mind, the first step would be to obtain a blood sample, so George was sent to the clinic’s lab for a blood draw (venipuncture as it’s known in some circles).

When George returned to the exam room, Dr. Cruz’s nurse told him that the doctor wanted to see if George’s bladder was emptying completely, so he had ordered an ultrasound test to check on it, which the nurse administered. The test indicated that the bladder had not emptied even though George had given a urine specimen just before he was shown to the exam room. His bladder should have been empty.

On learning this, Dr. Cruz then increased the Flomax prescription dosage to twice per day to help with the problem. He also asked George return to the clinic in two weeks to see if the increased medication dosage would make any difference. Dr. Cruz would be out of the office at that time, but George was scheduled to see a nurse practitioner in late June.

George had been wondering if the Flomax drug could have been contributing to his joint pain. He had started using the drug a few weeks before the Easter event that had brought things to a head. George had read on an authoritative drug web page that joint pain was a possible side effect of the drug Flomax, but the Urologist discounted the likelihood, saying that it was an extremely rare occurrence and that George was only the second person who had ever asked him about it. Ok, rare but still possible? If they were doubling the dosage and Flomax was a factor in his joint issues, would George be in for more trouble? It would be a ‘we’ll find out soon’ situation.

Urgent Care, Again

Even before the Urology Clinic visit George’s knee problem had entered a new phase. Instead of hurting mostly during the day, and actually easing up some if he lay down, the pain and discomfort began waking up in the middle of the night. The ache would run from across his lower back down through his hip and upper left leg to the knee and then all the way down to his ankle. It was a throbbing ache and there was no position that George could lie in that would ease the aching pain.

It was impossible to make it past about midnight, or 1:00 am at the latest, before the pain would awaken him. George would get up and take some pain relievers and smear some of the topical pain-relief gel on his back and knees (both knees actually hurt), but it did little good. He tried sitting in a recliner and in his office chair but it still throbbed.

This persisted for several days.

On a Tuesday in mid-June George had another chiropractic appointment. Immediately after his session with Dr. Benton, George went back to the local urgent care clinic and told them about the nighttime issues with the back and the knee and that he needed something to help him sleep.

Of course, they wanted to take a look, so he was given a series of x-rays of his left knee. That’s when George first found out that he was “bone-on-bone” in that knee. Of course, he was advised to contact an orthopedic specialist for treatment.

However, George did receive a prescription for some ‘extra-extra strength’ pain medication, which is the main reason that he went to the urgent care clinic.

As soon as George got home, he called the State Orthopedic Clinic and set up an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Smith. Shortly after that, he received a call from the urgent care clinic informing him that a radiologist had spotted what looked like a fracture in the bone at the base of his left knee. They told him that he didn’t need to waste any time in getting in to the orthopedic clinic. Gorge informed them that he had an appointment set up for that next Friday.

Considering this turn of events, George thought, “Ok, so maybe Flomax has nothing to do with my joint pain”.

In an ironic twist, while the prescription pain medication did help ‘take the edge off’ of the aching leg, it adversely impacted George’s ability to get to sleep. Instead of making him drowsy, as he had expected and other people seemed to experience, he could not fall asleep. George would just lie in bed and watch the hours would roll off the clock.

If he went to bed around 10:00 PM, for example, he would still be awake at 3:00 AM. He would get up and try to find something that he could take that would make him drowsy, usually an antihistamine like Benadryl or something similar (more on that later), but that only produced mixed results. If George did fall asleep, it was only to doze for a short while and he woke up frequently. This was unsatisfactory.

The Orthopedic Clinic

In late June George had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Logan Smith at the State Orthopedic Clinic. This clinic was the same as George and his wife had taken his late mother-in-law after her ankle surgery, so he had been there before (although no farther than the waiting room).

At the clinic George was given another series of x-rays of his knees, with particular focus on the left knee. During the visit with Dr. Smith, George was told that he had arthritis in both knees but that it was worse in the left knee. Dr. Smith showed him the x-rays where there was little or no cartilage between the bones of his knee. That was why he was in so much pain. The doctor said that a total knee replacement would be necessary to ‘fix’ the problem and cure the pain.

George told the doctor about his pending issues at the urology clinic, which would likely take priority, and Dr. Smith offered to give George an injection directly into the knee which should help alleviate some of the pain, at least for a little while. George agreed and received the injection, which he believed to be cortisone. The injection did not hurt at all in spite of the vicious-looking needle and it was over and done with in about two seconds. Dr. Smith said that the medication should ‘knock the pain down a level or two’ but that it was not a cure for the problem. However, George can receive another injection in three months, if necessary.

Since the doctor didn’t mention a fracture, George asked him about the issue and Dr. Smith said that George did not have a fracture in the left knee area, and that if he did he would not be able to walk on that leg. He even looked at the x-rays again to make sure. Nope, no fracture.

So, what was the call to George from the urgent care clinic informing him of a fracture all about? It turns out that it was misinformation.

Be that as it may be, another question that could be asked is: Was the fact that this painful problem started just after George had participated in the ‘batting practice’ at Easter just a coincidence?

Like a nearly completed jigsaw puzzle, George’s health picture was taking shape. Just a few more pieces to fall in place and George would understand what kind of ordeal that he was really facing. The discontent was building.

Back to the Chiropractor

George had an appointment for an spinal adjustment treatment with the chiropractor the next Monday. George had completed the three-a-week and two-a-week commitments and was now only going to the office on a once-weekly basis.

George told Dr. Benton about what he had learned from the orthopedic clinic about the cause of the pain in his knee. The Chiropractor agreed that no treatment from him would help with that particular problem but that continued spinal adjustments could still be beneficial.

George placed future appointments on hold until he could see what the urologist was going to need in the way of time demands.

Ophthalmology

George’s appointment with Dr. Masterson at the City Eye Clinic was on Tuesday, June 25. George had initially made the appointment to have the ophthalmologist check on the suspected cataract in his right eye and tell him what could be done about the vision problem.

Before George saw Dr Masterson, though, a technician performed some tests on his eyes. Her comments made George think that there may be something more sinister about the blurred vision that he was experiencing in the right eye.

Dr. Masterson’s examination confirmed that George had more issues than just the cataract, which he did have (and which he apparently also had in the left eye, even though it’s wasn’t yet apparent).

The doctor showed George ‘pictures’ of the eye from the tests that indicated that he had a problem in his retina, with the macula, specifically. Dr. Masterson showed where it looked like that there may be some ‘leakage’ from blood vessels in the back part of the eye. This is a serious situation and requires immediate attention.

So, as a result George has been referred to a retina specialist, Dr. Buffer of the State Retina Clinic (same clinic as his late mother-in-law used for one of her eye many eye problems). George had an appointment set for July 15. His list of specialist physicians was beginning to grow.

One thing that crossed George’s mind was the question of whether this condition was something that an optometrist should have been able to detect and then refer him to an appropriate specialist? She did say that he appeared to have a cataract in the right eye, but did not mention a problem with the macula or suggest that he seek advice or treatment from a specialist. George took that action on his own, and several weeks after the initial eye exam.