Blind Via Facebook?

I found out this week I'm legally blind in one eye. But that's not the topic of this entry. Because the blindness is a "no big whoop" thing because the "legally" part means "according to the books". I see, read and all's good for the most part in that eye; I simply have (very) limited vision; it's not new so I'm already adjusted. Yay.

The cool part of the "blind" revelation is how I found out.

Messing around on Facebook I found an old high school mate/ex-neighbor. We exchanged greetings and caught up; I'll call him "George" (because that's his name). Turns out George graduated Harvard Med School and practices opthamology and specializes in glaucoma in San Francisco.

Hey! I lived in San Francisco! I wrote back. And I have advanced glaucoma!

George asked for details. And wondered why I haven't had surgery.

As luck would have it, I had an appointment with my glaucoma specialist the same week. So I posed George's question to him. And funny thing is, my doc knows George's name from the American Glaucoma Society. They're both members.

And so my doc explains that when I came in to see him the 1st time, I was legally blind then. And he and his glaucoma surgeon colleague (consulted on my case) chose not to operate because they fear a drop in pressure during surgery will kill off remaining live fiber optic nerves.

Mystery solved.

The breakdown:
By way of a childhood classmate from Cincinnati who now lives in San Francisco, a person in Israel who used to live in San Francisco discovered details of her medical condition through another specialist living in Israel who studied in Chicago (Northwestern).

All thanks to and via Facebook. Tres, tres cool. Welcome to the New World.