Quincy Reporter

Blessing Health System issued the following announcement on Apr. 15. 

As is the case for other people, Stacey Mudd began having trouble with her vision when she reached the age of 57.

“So, I went and had my eyes checked and got a pair of glasses,” the pharmacist with the James Cary Cancer Center, Hannibal, MO, said.

That is where her similarities with most other people her age ended.

“After a few months, the glasses didn’t help anymore,” Stacey shared.

Over the next two-and-a-half years, she would have to buy five new pairs of glasses.

“My vision kept deteriorating,” Stacey stated. “It was getting worse, and worse and worse.”

Stacey described seeing flashes of light, “wiggly” lines, floating dots, and, in the middle of her right eye when she looked at something, Stacey saw a dark circle.

As her search for answers to her vision problems continued, one day she stopped by a new optometry practice house within Hannibal Clinic, Family EyeCare.

“They looked beyond selling me glasses,” she exclaimed.

 “The eye is the window to the body,” said Jason Kvitle, OD, who performed Stacey’s examination. “We look for systemic reasons for vision problems.”

After a thorough eye exam, Dr. Kvitle found excess fluid at the back of Stacey’s right eye, the area that contains the retina. The retina sends information to the brain through the optic nerve, enabling a person to see.

“Without advanced treatment, she is likely to have a scar form as a result of this situation and could permanently lose a significant portion of her vision,” the doctor said.

He also found retinal tears.

Dr. Kvitle immediately referred Stacey to a retinal specialist.

At the time, Blessing Health System has recruited the area’s first retinal surgeon, Sean Hendricks, MD. Stacey became his patient.

Dr. Hendricks began by asking Stacey a series of questions to get the reason behind the fluid leakage in her right eye. Among the facts uncovered is that Stacey was a kidney cancer survivor.

Bingo.

While a biopsy was not possible due to the danger it would pose to Stacey’s eye, Dr. Hendricks uncovered what appeared to be a formerly cancerous tumor on the macula, a part of the retina, in Stacey’s right eye. He believes it came cells that likely broke free from her kidney cancer, diagnosed in 2018, and settled in her eye.

While the tumor in the eye had died, apparently as a result of her kidney cancer treatment, it had done its damage.

“If the retina is damaged, it is essentially like having damaged film in a camera,” Dr. Hendricks explained. “You can get all the focusing lens you want (Stacey’s glasses), but it won’t help because the film (the retina) is damaged.”

Now that he knew the source of the problem, Dr. Hendricks could fix it. He used a laser to repair the tears Dr. Kvitle had found in Stacey’s retina and then, over the course of several weeks, Dr. Hendricks injected medication into Stacey’s eye that helped drain the excess fluid that formed as a result of the lesion.

He also communicated his findings to Stacey’s oncologist, as part of her ongoing care.

“It’s just a matter of being thorough,” Dr. Hendricks stated. “I don’t know that there is anything heroic here.”

Stacey respectfully disagrees.

“I will be forever grateful for the gift of my vision being restored,” she exclaimed.

“They changed my life,” Stacey said of Drs. Kvitle and Hendricks. “I’ve had exceptional care. The caliber of excellence of both doctors is fantastic.  They go above and beyond.”

Stacey Mudd is an employee of Hannibal Clinic, a member of the Blessing Health System. Family EyeCare is affiliated with Blessing Health System.

Original source cam be found here. 

Source: Blessing Health System