The Vent and Rant Thread

[PeterT]

Well saw the Doctor today. He was pleased but when I asked about the Silicon oil he made it sound like for me it will be permanent.

When asked about recovery he was not very reassuring, saying that the main objective now is saving the eye, and that vision is a secondary matter, and that I shouldn't expect a great deal

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[poohbear_nc]

Sorry to hear that man -- you are living out one of my worst fears ... all digits crossed for your vision

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well saw the Doctor today. He was pleased but when I asked about the Silicon oil he made it sound like for me it will be permanent.

When asked about recovery he was not very reassuring, saying that the main objective now is saving the eye, and that vision is a secondary matter, and that I shouldn't expect a great deal

Ouch - Let's hope he's wrong

Best wishes.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well saw the Doctor today. He was pleased but when I asked about the Silicon oil he made it sound like for me it will be permanent.

When asked about recovery he was not very reassuring, saying that the main objective now is saving the eye, and that vision is a secondary matter, and that I shouldn't expect a great deal

Wow, he needs to review Bedside Manner 101. That’s terrible. I’m hoping there’s an element of miscommunication there. Vision is hardly a secondary manner. But what struck me is that perhaps, based on my own experience, he wasn’t clear ahead of time and as a result, you didn’t know what to expect. I was surprised to see upthread that it was opined that silicon oil would be replaced, which wasn’t suggested as an outcome when I was faced with the possibility of silicon oil. The doctor said as a result my vision would be somewhat murky. I was lucky and I’m so sorry you weren’t, but perhaps that’s what he meant by not expecting a great deal? It still stinks, but you can get along.

My sympathies. This has been a horrible ordeal and it’s ongoing.

[PeterT]

I'm hoping that next time I get to see the actual specialist, and NOT one of the Fellows in the retinal department. Yes the specialist was present during the surgery, but I believe most of the procedure was done by the Fellow with guidance from the specialist.

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[monophoto]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I'm hoping that next time I get to see the actual specialist, and NOT one of the Fellows in the retinal department. Yes the specialist was present during the surgery, but I believe most of the procedure was done by the Fellow with guidance from the specialist.

Actually, that may not be bad. That's how Fellows grow up to be specialists. Years ago, those senior doctors were doing surgery under the supervision of their gurus. I have no problem with a Fellow doing surgery as long as the senior person is standing next to him the whole time watching and guiding what he does.

When I had my vitrectomy, the surgery was done by a Fellow with the senior surgeon standing across the operating table watching what he was doing. When I met with the surgeon the next morning, I complimented him on doing that. I'm an engineer, and I understand all too well that much of what the experts in all professions know and understand isn't taught in school, but rather is knowledge that can only be acquired through mentoring

[monophoto]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well saw the Doctor today. He was pleased but when I asked about the Silicon oil he made it sound like for me it will be permanent.

When asked about recovery he was not very reassuring, saying that the main objective now is saving the eye, and that vision is a secondary matter, and that I shouldn't expect a great deal

I remember having those conversations with my surgeon.

Re silicone, there is a potential risk of neurological issues later on, so whether they decided to do the 'oil change' and remove it later really depends on the patients age. If you are old enough, they figure something else is likely to happen before a neurological problem could happen.

The likelihood of retinal reattachment surgery being successful in restoring normal vision depends on a lot of factors, especially the severity of the detachment and the amount of time that has elapsed between the detachment and when the surgery is done. The way my surgeon put it was that in my case, the best he could promise was to restore 'walking around vision' which he described as enough vision to be able to walk around without bumping into walls.

You are born with two eyes for a reason - if something happens to one, you have a spare. My doctors have all made it very clear that with extremely compromised vision in one eye, I need to take special precautions to protect the other eye. So while I only really need readers, I choose to use bifocals instead so that I have physical protection for my good eye. And when using tools, I always use safety glasses.

Sometimes those discussions seem brutally frank. Some patients will hear what they want to hear and not what the doctor is actually saying, so frankness may be necessary to get the message across. I've often thought that was one of the more difficult things about being a physician - it's sometimes necessary to deliver bad news, and I suspect doctors have to be pretty tough-skinned to deal with the emotions that can be involved.

[PeterT]

Oh and I did ask about the Silicon oil; seems the plan is to leave it there. I was told it was to help salvage the eye...

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[4691mls]

I'm setting up an online account that requires you to set up answers to security questions. Half the available questions are things like "what city did you get married in" or "what city did you honeymoon in" . Never been married, so that rules out all those possible questions.....

They also have the typical stupid questions like "who is your favorite actor". "Favorite" anything is a stupid question. I may not actually have to use these for quite some time and by then my favorite could be different and I won't remember what I put here....

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I'm setting up an online account that requires you to set up answers to security questions. Half the available questions are things like "what city did you get married in" or "what city did you honeymoon in" . Never been married, so that rules out all those possible questions.....

They also have the typical stupid questions like "who is your favorite actor". "Favorite" anything is a stupid question. I may not actually have to use these for quite some time and by then my favorite could be different and I won't remember what I put here....

I despise predefined security questions. See this. If I'm forced, I just put down a nonseqitur answer and then note it down in my password manager.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I despise predefined security questions. See this. If I'm forced, I just put down a nonseqitur answer and then note it down in my password manager.

Good multifactor authentication is both easier and far more secure. And, like you, I just make sure to note down what silly answer I gave to their stupid questions in my password manager. And hope that the next iteration of their silliness includes an MFA solution.

[ApK]

Yeah, I've been explaining to my kids that they don't need to give accurate answers to security questions. You can answer "green" to "where did you honeymoon" as long as you remember what you said. You could, for example, just always answer "green" to any question about marriage, or any other formula you care to make up.

And I don't mind MFA as long as it doesnt slow me down too much, and as long as I don't need a dozen different authenticator apps on my phone.

"Good" MFA should be pretty easy in the age of smart phones, and yet people manage to screw it up.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ApK

"Good" MFA should be pretty easy in the age of smart phones, and yet people manage to screw it up.

Yes, it should be pretty easy, and yes, there are those who can manage to screw it up. Though I remember my first experience with MFA, an app called AuthAnvil that a buddy of mine wrote. It had a special keychain thingy that you pressed a button and it displayed 6 characters. Was great except that it was a pain to read in a dark room. Was much easier when we moved it to smart phones or special USB sticks. (Boy was I glad when we shipped off the very last of those dongles -- they were a royal PITA to program, and there were only 2 of us allowed to do it.)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, I've been explaining to my kids that they don't need to give accurate answers to security questions. You can answer "green" to "where did you honeymoon" as long as you remember what you said. You could, for example, just always answer "green" to any question about marriage, or any other formula you care to make up.

And I don't mind MFA as long as it doesnt slow me down too much, and as long as I don't need a dozen different authenticator apps on my phone.

"Good" MFA should be pretty easy in the age of smart phones, and yet people manage to screw it up.

I mostly object to it because they're clearly written by students yet in college. Favorite this (teenage whatever). Where'd you meet such-and-sch. Where'd you go to High School. Name of HS football team and the like.

For crying out loud, ask me something I've thought about in the last half-century.

Hitch

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I mostly object to it because they're clearly written by students yet in college. Favorite this (teenage whatever). Where'd you meet such-and-sch. Where'd you go to High School. Name of HS football team and the like.

For crying out loud, ask me something I've thought about in the last half-century.

Hitch

Well, they are supposed to be long term memory things that won't change over time, and are unlikely to be obvious to any random person you encounter. So it might be more correct to say they were written by people who are aware that many people had been students at one time

Also, it's worth noting that security questions and MFA rarely serve the same function. MFA is to make routine authentication more secure than single factors like just a pin or a password and so should be no more inconvenient than a password if possible. Security questions are typically a backup recovery mechanism only used if you lose access via the primary mechanism, like you forget your password, and so can be a bit more cumbersome and inconvenient.