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Discovered tax. That's. In

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You: A in C

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E.com/discover. The A X.

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Not hi. L

0:53

Everybody welcome to knock. Knock I with

0:55

me Doctor Glock I'm flicking. This is

0:57

your one stop shop for all things

0:59

eyeballs. Take a different topic, a different eyeball

1:01

thing, and talk about it every day. We're doing something

1:04

a little bit different today, though. I. Have

1:06

a guest with me This is this is

1:08

very exciting. a very exciting guess someone I've

1:10

known for a couple years now it on

1:12

on the internet or this is our first

1:15

time meeting. Her name

1:17

is Maureen Johnson. Now have let me

1:19

tell you a little bit about Marine.

1:22

So she is in. and

1:24

twenty Two Thousand Nine. She.

1:26

Was she was voted the most interesting twitter user

1:29

to follow by. Mashup will open web awards as

1:31

you did. Did you know you one that award?

1:33

Were you aware that it's in your Wikipedia? By

1:35

the way, Maureen. Is it I? My

1:37

Wikipedia is really lot. Of really

1:40

weird yet I. I.

1:42

Was reading through it. A you've done a

1:44

lot You you keep writing. It's it's you've

1:46

written a lot of things. It's It's pretty

1:48

relentless. It's also you have no other skills they

1:50

I I don't get to go to the L

1:52

R they don't let me and I try to

1:55

believe me. I try and get outta here. The

1:57

what would you do in the or. Or. The

2:00

the first thing if you walked into an operator and will be

2:02

the first thing you did. Well this said my

2:04

mother as a nurse. There. Are

2:06

areas. She was a nursing professor. She

2:08

was always buff nurse. Ah,

2:11

so I grew up. Like

2:13

sitting. And playing on the floor of the

2:15

North Nurses residents are the nurses would come over

2:17

and study. so it was always nursing her senior

2:19

thing and she still talks to me sometimes like

2:21

I know what the hell she's talking. About

2:23

she's. Like what are the, well, what's a

2:26

cardiologist gonna do about that? And I know. It

2:28

with this is humor I don't know thing I

2:30

don't know the answer will you of a nice

2:33

but if. We always had a he missed that

2:35

in the kitchen that I did. I was shocked to

2:37

find out that was a medical school. I

2:39

don't rate for I don't even have like surgery

2:42

tools in the in the and that's a good

2:44

idea that I should just leave it lying around

2:46

spark up some conversation with the kids. There's. No,

2:48

they're great. They're great kitchen. Famous. Death

2:50

Star's there could be very useful for a lot of

2:52

things are. oh. Yeah, they're great for removing those

2:54

rings around the carton of milk. That's what

2:57

I thought they were for. I've

3:01

never gotten rid of those rings, I just leave

3:03

them on. And the recycling center. Yeah, you can

3:05

pull those off. You can do lots of stuff with the

3:07

Uma said that. it's. A. Great way to do now is

3:09

no es yellow well have a so I'm teaching

3:11

you let's use he fly I'm about to get

3:14

you to some it's so are we are going

3:16

to get into an eyeball thing but a couple

3:18

of hours of first ah I went back and

3:20

looked at our first interaction on Twitter. That's how

3:22

I know you. Yeah we follow each other and

3:24

back when it was twitter. And.

3:27

I went back a ways. So this

3:29

is March. Thirty First Two, twenty twenty

3:31

Two. While I sent you a direct

3:33

message, Ah, Actually, I sent you

3:35

your own tweet. Where. You said, apparently

3:37

I really messed up my eye on the

3:40

plant and have to go back into the

3:42

eye doctor he just another day. I rue

3:44

that doctor Glock and like and does not

3:46

practice in New York City. Yeah sure. What

3:50

happens? I injured my eyes twice.

3:53

Okay, I live in the middle

3:55

of New York City. Or even hear the sirens. And

3:57

I Can Hear the sirens. Yeah, yeah. I live in

3:59

the Man. In line. With. You

4:01

look around, you look out my window those

4:03

boy what day is it like they do

4:05

and Christmas carol and it's all hospitals and

4:07

all people in scrubs look up at you

4:09

know why it and that's where I live

4:11

so that great. But. that

4:13

also means had during coated we were at

4:15

like be beating heart center of. But.

4:18

Oh, a lot of bad that million

4:20

was really like. truly, I don't want

4:22

to get into the infant else but

4:24

it was so day I don't know.

4:26

ten of covert My. Sort.

4:28

Of Puppy Dog. Is. Just really

4:31

excited about what's going on and she

4:33

defends me. She jumps into bed, she

4:35

slides like a baseball side and her

4:37

nail those direct into my i like

4:39

what abzug. I opened my eyes and

4:41

the first thing I saw was a

4:43

dog fighting at me. It was like

4:45

food right into the I. See a

4:47

lot of fingernail injuries to the i assume it's

4:49

common one is bad enough. I was a group.

4:52

But it was covered and I called the act actor and

4:54

he said you really have to commit of. Look.

4:57

I'm not doing that so we're gonna have to figure

4:59

this one out. And I just kind

5:01

of vs. Okay, he survives is. Did

5:03

okay year later. Almost the day almost Saturday I

5:06

was, I was wandering eyes too many plan. I

5:08

was watering a snake but it has

5:10

these very stiff high leave with but.

5:13

Twisted the and they're on this little point. And.

5:15

I put them in the shower. Because. I'm

5:17

sad and I live in New York. Separate all my plants

5:19

in the shower to make them think that I want them

5:21

to feel what rain is like. I feel bad for them.

5:23

So I'd your. Variable. How a person? You know that.

5:26

They get English or it when you know of an

5:28

experience. and then I went to pick it up and

5:30

I bent over and that thing went directly into that

5:32

zoop. right into the I. Man.

5:34

Yeah. You got them injuring a spell

5:36

lox. its notes as the same or different. I.

5:39

Different. I. I I'm gonna go

5:41

to able to. I'm glad you have

5:43

vision still that's that's that's frightening. They.

5:45

Both heard a lot. Yeah well well

5:47

it's and so so I I'd I'd talk to you

5:49

about their back in the I to go back and

5:52

remind myself as a oh yeah yeah to have hurt

5:54

yourself at the plant. And

5:56

since then. We. Talking about a variety

5:58

different things and I want to. You

6:00

a lot of credit here because you

6:02

have are the reason that the Jonathan

6:04

Prayer Candle exists. As passionate about

6:06

that. To tell the people.

6:09

Eyelids as soon as I watch your videos

6:11

even know I am not a doctor I

6:13

I just see you know there are a

6:15

lot of not of doctor us out there

6:17

watching because it's interesting like it's always. To.

6:19

Does it Do is a to inside baseball as

6:22

soon as I am or I'm afraid that it's

6:24

like. My. Eyes to the too much

6:26

jargon. L A So. It. May partially

6:28

be due to the growing up with all the

6:30

nurses around. So it you know just knowing that

6:32

what kind of doctors do what? I'm always excited

6:35

when I know what they do on my that's

6:37

a kidney doctor and then he was a very

6:39

proud of yourself like I did a thing. But

6:43

it's interesting. But I think it's always important

6:45

to know how doctors feel. Know.

6:47

I was like you know used to go in and

6:49

use yeah seems so smart You know any mean you

6:52

going you like Look at all the stuff you can

6:54

do and all the things they let you do and

6:56

you can cut people have been a move things around.

6:58

About very specific things as

7:00

common law but well as

7:02

as the tommy. So how

7:04

did you. Have. Come

7:07

up with the or think that. This.

7:09

Jonathan, my little scribe own that we needed

7:11

to pray to him. Right? T is

7:13

just A. He's A. He's A real I

7:16

can. And.

7:19

Just I like a I Like An Inspiration

7:21

candle. Other people have had them as part

7:23

of their march as a popular kind of

7:26

book. I never would have a oh is it

7:28

because I never thought about that and never thought

7:30

about it. But it's our best seller. Like by

7:32

yeah. I have a Cv next one. Okay

7:34

or I'm. I've had a judy

7:36

blume one in the past like you that people

7:38

give them to me constantly a guy at why

7:40

and one time I had about so. I

7:43

know and I know that everybody that say

7:45

they're going off to medical school or they're

7:47

going to take a test them they disappear.

7:49

A nice area to sit also has C.

7:51

Jonathan to smiling I could he has it

7:53

imparts confident. You know any me

7:55

when did on it and smiles I'm like I feel

7:57

like I can do that because Jonathan a smiling. Gives you

7:59

a little. like a little head nod to like keep going.

8:01

You can do this. I need to know something. Why

8:04

do you get a scribe and not other doctors?

8:07

So ophthalmologists are not the

8:09

only ones that use scribes.

8:11

Scribes are seen in cardiology

8:13

and emergency medicine. It's

8:16

you got to pay for them, but a

8:19

lot of time, especially in like high

8:21

fast paced environments, like outpatient

8:23

medicine where we're seeing 40, 50

8:25

patients today. Yeah, like you got to see

8:28

a lot of patients or emergency medicine where

8:30

you're seeing a lot of patients. You

8:32

can actually see more patients and

8:35

have a more meaningful interactions

8:38

with patients if

8:40

you're not documenting. So like

8:42

I could sit there and like literally look at my

8:44

patient and talk with them for three minutes and it

8:46

feels like I've talked to them for like 20, because

8:49

I don't have to type anything. The scribe's over there

8:51

doing it. Now like some

8:54

some specialties, some clinics, they don't want to

8:56

pay for it. They can't afford them or

8:58

so. So I'm very fortunate that I'm in

9:00

a situation where we can have scribes. So

9:03

I do feel bad for people that like

9:05

they don't that haven't experienced the joy of

9:07

having a scribe of a Jonathan. So but

9:10

as far as the Jonathan prayer candle

9:12

goes, I very few hate emails about

9:14

that. So it's really a it's a

9:16

home run. It's great.

9:19

Just a couple. Just a couple people

9:21

that I was like that so sacrilegious.

9:23

What are you doing? It's a candle.

9:25

So the other we got

9:28

to get into our and our eyeball stuff here

9:30

because people are right. Come on, let's do what

9:32

I want to get the eyeballs. But one last

9:34

thing is I just want to plug your truly

9:36

devious series. So you're you're you've done a lot

9:39

of is exclusively young adult fiction

9:41

that you write for now. Yeah. Okay.

9:43

Yeah. That's you've done a lot of

9:45

that. And I tweeted

9:47

this out not too long ago. I bought

9:50

my 12 year old the first book

9:52

of the truly devious series and

9:55

gave it to her and she could

9:58

not have cared less. Like

10:00

it was it was like that's

10:02

what I'm going for whatever. So I

10:05

so I know you know this story I took

10:07

the book. I was like, yeah, I was so

10:09

excited because I can know this I was like,

10:11

do you know that I know who wrote this?

10:14

I've actually had conversations with this author Nothing.

10:17

There's absolutely nothing. And so

10:19

I took the book that she had to you know

10:21

ruthlessly discarded into a pile And I put it on

10:23

her bookshelf in her room It

10:26

really That's okay And

10:29

I so I put the I put it on a bookshelf in a room and

10:31

then like two or three months later Sure enough.

10:33

I find her reading it and she

10:35

like reads it for two days straight and

10:37

and and then she just the

10:40

other day She came and she put the book

10:42

in front of me. It's like get me the next

10:44

one. Thank you Truly

10:48

devious series everybody if you have like a young

10:50

adult in the house I don't

10:53

know what that means a young someone who is in the at

10:55

least 12 years old range And

10:58

that you're supposed to have not want like also

11:00

check your walls. Just make sure that there's not

11:03

just one hasn't gotten in Yeah,

11:05

check it out. It's fantastic. All right,

11:08

so we're gonna get into your eyeball

11:10

problem The reason I want you to

11:12

come on is because you you told

11:14

the world I'm not like forcing you

11:16

to divulge your medical information Anything you

11:19

you have an eyeball problem and it's fascinating.

11:21

So let's talk about it Let's take a

11:24

quick break and we'll come back and get

11:26

into it Everybody

11:30

old news, but good news. We're

11:33

coming back to the Irvine improv

11:35

on Sunday March 24th for our

11:37

show Wife and death, right?

11:39

We're gonna talk about the time you died and came

11:41

back to life It'll be a

11:44

tragic comic multimedia memoir stage

11:46

show Extravaganza and

11:48

some of my characters might show up too

11:50

You'll have to come and check it out

11:52

and see for yourself to buy tickets Click

11:54

the link in the description below or you

11:56

can visit Glock and flaking comm slash live.

11:58

We'll see you there All

12:04

right, we are back with Maureen Johnson. All

12:06

right, so Maureen, tell us. Let's

12:09

start from the beginning. Tell us

12:11

when your eye issue started. I

12:13

can first off say that I have excellent

12:15

vision, and generally aside from poking myself with

12:18

snake plants and dogs, have never had eye

12:20

issues, ever. I've always been

12:22

used to extremely, extremely clear vision.

12:25

And I- It's a lofty place to

12:27

start from, right there. That's where I begin with

12:29

this. I was editing a book. I was sitting

12:31

there. It was just a couple of

12:33

days after Christmas. I was on a heavy deadline,

12:36

and I was looking at the screen. I was

12:38

down at my parents' house, and

12:41

I was working away, like, it was real long days.

12:43

And then I just, oh, there's something in my eye.

12:46

I've just gotten an eyelash in my eye. Wow,

12:49

there's really something in my eye, because everything

12:51

from on the left eye, and I believe

12:54

it's towards the nose, about that third

12:56

or half of that eye was very

12:59

fuzzy. So I

13:01

went in to the mom, the nurse, and I said,

13:03

can you see if there's something in my eye? Because

13:05

it really seems like there is. She looked, she even

13:07

flushed it. She's like, I don't see anything. I

13:10

said, oh, it'll go away. It never did go away.

13:12

It never stopped. It never got worse.

13:14

It never got better. It doesn't hurt.

13:16

So I went to the eye doctor where they put me in many interesting

13:18

machines. This was something in your

13:20

vision, but you were seeing this. But when

13:22

you look at, when someone looked at your physical

13:25

eye, they couldn't see anything there. Correct.

13:28

This is something you were seeing when you look at things in your

13:30

field. Yes. And it's a field, not a spot. It's

13:33

like I'm looking through a frosted

13:35

pane of glass. Could you,

13:37

if you were, if I were to give you

13:39

like a sheet of graph paper or something, or

13:41

just a piece of paper, would you be able

13:43

to draw this, the shape of this area? No,

13:46

it's more of a field. It's just a

13:48

large. It's large. A large part of your vision.

13:50

Okay. So it's like a half or a third of the eye.

13:53

Gotcha. What about when you look straight

13:55

at something? Like if I'm, if you're like looking at me

13:57

right now, is it my face? it

14:00

off to the side of my head. It's your face. My

14:02

face. Sometimes when I

14:05

look far off, it's not as bad, but

14:07

reading is very hard. And sometimes

14:09

screens are very hard. And this is

14:11

just one eye? Just one eye,

14:13

just the left eye. It never changes in any

14:15

way. Has it gotten better over the last

14:17

couple months? Nope. All right,

14:19

so you go into the eye doctor. Yes. First

14:22

of all, how difficult was it to get an

14:24

appointment? I call,

14:26

as I live near the NYU

14:28

complex. There's a large

14:30

eye center and sometimes you call and you say, hey, I

14:32

got a thing. Please

14:35

can I see whoever has an appointment? And

14:38

my actual eye doctor, who I

14:40

only see on occasion, that would have taken

14:42

about three months. Gotcha. So I

14:45

said, can I just go in and see somebody? And

14:47

it turns out I think I got a retinal specialist.

14:49

Oh, that's good. That's exactly

14:51

who you needed to see. Yes. I

14:54

think they fit me in. She

14:56

looked exhausted. She looked

14:58

exhausted. And at one point she

15:00

was running down the hall yelling to

15:02

somebody about her schedule and how they'd

15:04

done something terrible. So I felt really

15:06

bad. Do you have any idea how many patients they see?

15:09

Like I think I see a lot. I see maybe like

15:11

40 patients a day. A retina specialist

15:13

will commonly see 70, 80 patients a

15:15

day. She looked like she

15:17

was about to cry. That doesn't

15:19

surprise me at all. I also think she

15:21

was pregnant and maybe about to give birth at

15:24

any second. Like she looked tired. Had a

15:26

lot going on. Yeah. So

15:28

you come in to make her day worse. Yes. And

15:31

I always say, I'm sorry. That's the first thing I do when I go into

15:33

a doctor. I'm like, look, I'm really sorry. Like,

15:35

I know you don't need this. I know you don't need

15:38

me. They test me.

15:40

They put me on all the machines. She had

15:42

all the machines. All the machines. They look like

15:44

a... They took pictures. They

15:46

all... Many, many pictures. The

15:49

worrying of the machines and the looking

15:51

at the little man and the little thing.

15:53

Like they tell you to focus on

15:55

certain areas. Yeah. Lots of

15:57

machines with dots and green. Probably

16:00

things and the of ah than me. I

16:02

think the resident must have come in and

16:04

looks. I other than one year.

16:07

For. Knock, knock and them.

16:10

Then she came in build a resident. Yeah

16:12

and these they also she was nobody

16:15

there. We can't see anything. To.

16:17

This way attending. Now this is

16:19

the out the the boss, the

16:21

pregnant stressed lady, Yeah as

16:24

a they. They went through everything with

16:26

me and then they started asking me a series

16:28

of questions. Did I

16:30

have a cold recently? Or

16:32

take cold medicine? Know I'm.

16:35

Do. I use cocaine. know. I'm

16:37

then they said do I drink a

16:40

lot of coffee and I said earlier.

16:43

Because you're on a deadline. I was on

16:45

a deadline and I was doing a lot of

16:47

like. There was a lot of personal stuff as

16:49

take care my family. I was doing so many

16:52

things that I had just ratcheted up. To

16:54

about maybe six cups a day. I. Was

16:56

sounding. Occur.

17:00

And that was recent. That was probably within that last

17:02

month that I was just because we had to go

17:04

to England to see my husband family ammo. So I

17:06

was doing all of this stuff and I was just

17:08

trying to stay away. In a recent

17:10

analysis, Loyal. Cold

17:12

covered blue, nothing. New. Like

17:15

I had covered for the first time in January of

17:17

last year. So when you raise

17:19

your hand like yes, I am a

17:21

terrible caffeine, a better. Oh

17:23

was that like that was there

17:26

with the reaction? Nuggets? Yeah, that's

17:28

a surplus. Eternal resident said i think

17:30

she's a candidate for. This.

17:33

Acute Mack Killer near

17:35

apathy. Neuro. Retinopathy Neuro at

17:37

night without you we call it a

17:39

Am in a cute Mack you learn

17:41

narrow retinopathy Yes so Amanda's with obviously

17:44

Abigail Ugly Mack Killer is the is

17:46

the place in the I the part

17:48

of the in that the anatomical structure

17:50

that it affects. And the

17:53

neuro retinopathy? Well, that's that's it's

17:55

affecting the nerve fibers and in

17:57

the retina and so discovered at

17:59

all. term. Yeah,

18:02

so that's what you were given, that's the diagnosis you were given.

18:04

And then what happened after you were diagnosed? Well,

18:06

they said we can't see it on the photograph, but

18:08

if it happens again, please come back immediately so we

18:10

can take an image of it, is what I was

18:12

told. Oh, interesting. And

18:15

then I was told to just sort of like, well,

18:17

good luck with your thing. Like there was nothing really

18:19

that anybody told me to do about

18:21

it. And I was kind

18:23

of wandering the world ever since with this big foggy

18:25

pane of vision going, well, I'm not really sure what

18:27

to do now. I'm not even sure if they know

18:29

that that's what it is, but that was their best

18:32

gift. Right. And they were

18:34

like, there's really no treatment

18:36

for it. Right. Right. Okay. For you, let

18:39

me give you, were you generally,

18:41

did you leave feeling confused?

18:43

Were you angry? Were you

18:45

disappointed? Were you content? I'm

18:48

curious. I was kind of neutral.

18:50

I'm never, I'm very really angry leaving

18:53

a doctor. I'm very, I just, I

18:56

sort of think it through, call the

18:58

nurse mother, run the words by her.

19:00

I'm just like, always check with the

19:03

nurse. Yep. The nurse

19:05

mother. Okay. Well,

19:07

she's boss, she's a nurse practitioner.

19:09

She is like always everybody's boss. So she's like,

19:11

okay, what did they say? Well,

19:14

you want me to tell you what I know about this

19:16

disease? Please tell me everything. Let's talk about it.

19:18

Let's talk about it. So acute macular

19:20

neuro-retinopathy, it's pretty rare. It's

19:23

in fact, I remember in all, in

19:26

all of my years, I sound like I've been doing this, you

19:28

know, for 20 plus years, but I've

19:31

been in practice for

19:33

eight years now. And I've

19:35

seen one patient with this. And

19:37

so it's, you do fit

19:39

the profile. I will say that. It's,

19:42

it's most commonly seen in women

19:44

in their third decade of life,

19:47

roughly. Okay. So it's a lot

19:49

of people in the 30s. I

19:52

guess that'd be fourth decade. What? Depending on it. Yeah.

19:54

One, two, three, four. I don't, you know, someone in

19:56

the 30s, basically. So Much more

19:58

common in young women. And.

20:00

Then you you have this the

20:03

sudden vision change dislike you noticed.

20:06

Typically. It's. What?

20:08

Was that the sign that you see

20:10

is is what we call up Paris

20:13

Central Skirt Toma. So. A skirt

20:15

toma. Is. An area

20:17

of your vision that you're missing. So.

20:19

If we were at map out your visual

20:21

field which we do this we do. In

20:23

fact if you haven't had a at automated

20:25

visual field you could have that done where

20:27

you hit a button when you see a

20:30

light and it maps out your entire peripheral

20:32

vision and your central vision and so if

20:34

the light comes on and a place where

20:36

you have no vision you won't see it

20:38

in their know as a little map out

20:40

that area and so with a a man

20:42

often people have a Paris central school tomo

20:44

which means it's not right dead center in

20:46

your vision. Maybe. A little bit off.

20:49

So. You years is is it's it's

20:51

a part of your vision and sounds

20:53

like is actually my be affecting more

20:55

of your central vision. But so usually

20:57

it's close to the center of your

20:59

vision that maybe not quite dead center.

21:01

still obviously close enough to the center

21:03

that it really bothers you right? Yeah,

21:05

it's noticeable. And

21:08

so you can have. One. Or

21:10

multiple of these. The. Underlying

21:12

etiology for what you're gonna love.

21:14

This answer for why this happens.

21:17

We. Don't totally know to.

21:19

right? Isn't that great to hear the don't

21:22

you want to hear that from a doctor or

21:24

we don't know why this happens a your that

21:26

haven't We have a cardiac arrest actually. As

21:28

the eyes, Is that a cardiac

21:30

arrest? I had all the testing,

21:32

nothing came up and they're like

21:34

oh, that's it's and it's always

21:36

hard to hear that right? You

21:38

don't wanna? You want to have

21:40

an explanation. Is as I

21:42

said, double edged sword a little bit

21:45

because like on the one hand, you

21:47

don't have some like devastating life threatening

21:49

thing that's gonna kill you in five

21:51

years, right? But. On the other hand,

21:54

like why would you don't know why it happened

21:56

So it's It's like eat out at my heart's

21:58

fine. But. Which is. Rape. but I

22:00

don't know why it happened and could it

22:03

happen again. So it's always hard to hear

22:05

that as a patient right arm and so

22:07

we don't. Totally. Know exactly

22:09

why we have guesses. Saw me tell

22:11

you what the current gases are. We

22:14

know it's gotta be something vascular. So.

22:17

The. The. Retina.

22:20

including. The mack yellow where where

22:22

this is occurring. Has this

22:24

net. This network of capillaries throughout.

22:27

And. The what we think happens. Is

22:29

there some kind of. Thing. That

22:31

happens that put stress on

22:34

those capillary networks. And.

22:36

Temporarily, it happens very quickly.

22:39

Those. Those. You just lose

22:41

blood flow. For. One reason or the other.

22:44

He. Loses blood flow which causes a part

22:46

of the retina. To.

22:49

For. Lack of a better description Like die

22:51

Auf die out right? It just is

22:53

not functional anymore and you get this.

22:55

Skirt. Toma this area vision of seeing

22:58

now why my you lose blood flow.

23:00

While. The reason the caffeine thing is

23:02

because that serve as as sympathy memetic

23:05

get colored. You can raise your blood

23:07

pressure a bit because it's a stimulant.

23:10

And. So you're You're pounding caffeine. You're trying

23:12

to reach a deadline. Endure the little

23:14

blood vessels in your retinas like screaming

23:16

at you. Like. Slow down Maureen,

23:18

what do you like to do, you

23:21

really need all this caffeine, it's it's

23:23

kind of getting harder to function of,

23:25

yeah? That's. That's the theory

23:27

of what of what happens with and

23:29

why caffeine is a risk factor for

23:32

this disease that makes sense. Yeah.

23:34

Does it? does it matter now that my blood pressure

23:36

is usually quite quite low? There's

23:39

Act is not as actually not a

23:41

one to one relationship. It's when a

23:43

plethora of the I Am blood pressure

23:45

know that we just no caffeine is

23:48

a is a sympathetic sympathetic stimulator so

23:50

we know. It. So it's and

23:52

the other thing with with these bull

23:54

tiny capillaries as they don't auto regular

23:56

very well on your blood vessels will

23:58

auto regulate. If if your

24:01

blood pressure's to high it'll

24:03

the vessel your vasculature will

24:05

adjust. To. To protect the

24:07

organs right or if you bought precious

24:09

too low and we the vessels world

24:11

constrict a little bit to try to

24:13

push blood into the into the into

24:15

the organs. So. You have this

24:17

auto regulation that's constantly happening throughout

24:19

your body. Will. This is one

24:22

area where those muscles don't have auto

24:24

regulation. Self. As any kind of

24:26

insult to it and he can a major

24:28

issue. They don't have the ability to protect

24:30

themselves or the tissue. That. That

24:32

blood for fuses. They have no

24:35

coping strategy. They don't cope well. they

24:37

don't there was. they're not very resilient.

24:39

they need to tell you they need

24:42

training. just starts crying to act immediately.

24:44

Exactly exactly so. there's other things though,

24:46

such as caffeine like there's There

24:48

was a recent thing about a year

24:51

ago, a case series of patients who

24:53

had told it. And.

24:55

That of it as a ton. we don't know that cove.

24:57

it rises all kinds of. Of reports

24:59

about the of the way it affects

25:01

your vasculature but. The idea but

25:04

pete patients came in at the Were after

25:06

having a coven infection. They had this a

25:08

cute back to a neuro redknapp. The. And

25:11

so this probably some vascular issue

25:13

there. Of of people who

25:15

take oral contraceptive pills, that's another

25:17

risk factor. People. Obviously

25:19

with with them clotting disorders like they

25:22

clocked too much. Obviously that can be

25:24

a respect or there's all kinds of

25:26

things pregnant people can. Can we see

25:28

this in? like pre eclampsia? Some some

25:31

pregnancy related issues are so it's There's

25:33

a lot of things that can cause

25:35

this for you. It's just so happen

25:37

to be. The. Caffeine,

25:39

It. Was the only thing on the

25:41

list of things that apply to. I'm sure

25:43

they ask, but they are. They ask you a ton of

25:46

questions, right? Yeah, Like all about. Atheists know eight

25:48

ten things that they asked. About that's a

25:50

lot of questions for for an ophthalmologist asked.

25:53

His veto he has ill we we also

25:55

only eyeballs for us and Israel yeah we

25:57

we we exhaust are questions pretty quickly. So.

25:59

It's. If you know if your ophthalmologist

26:01

asked you more than like five questions something's going

26:03

on Yeah, they asked they

26:06

did ask they asked a number of questions. And

26:08

so and The all the pictures

26:10

you got they were taken pretty in depth. Did they

26:13

show you the pictures they took of you? They

26:15

were they're probably in my NYU record Yeah

26:18

one of the one of the coolest things about

26:20

about Ophthalmology is all the imaging that we can

26:22

get so we can we can

26:25

actually take pictures of I guess like we

26:27

know this is happening In the macula in

26:29

the retina we can actually

26:31

take cross-sectional images of every single

26:33

layer of the retina And

26:36

we can see the areas of

26:38

inflammation the areas of lack of

26:40

perfusion That that we

26:42

that that are classic in this disease.

26:45

And so so there is a very characteristic

26:47

what we call a Petaloid

26:50

because it looks like petals on a flower a

26:54

pattern to The

26:56

affected retina so it has a classic

26:59

appearance and and so

27:01

the diagnosis itself is Relatively

27:04

straightforward to come to which is why you were

27:06

able to be diagnosed that day So

27:10

so I guess I would ask you then but

27:12

what what does one do with it? good

27:15

question so Unfortunately,

27:18

there's no there's another thing you're gonna love

27:20

to see here like there's no treatment for

27:22

this You

27:25

get used to it your brain figures it out.

27:27

Yeah. Yeah, so the good news here's

27:29

the good news is that

27:31

please give me good Yes, the good

27:33

news is that You'll

27:35

lead a normal life Like

27:38

disagree like for different reasons

27:41

From a vision standpoint, okay great

27:44

like you it this

27:46

this won't long-term It won't limit you like

27:48

you might not be able to be a

27:50

fighter pilot I hope I

27:52

hope that's not in your list

27:54

of hobbies that you potentially might

27:56

enjoy That that might be

27:59

out of the question Other than that, you

28:02

can do everything

28:04

that you need to do. And

28:06

your brain, the brain has this

28:08

remarkable ability to neuro-adapt. It really

28:11

does. It's the same reason why

28:13

people have really extensive floaters. Do

28:16

you have floaters in your eye? I've had one

28:18

or two. Yeah. Some people

28:21

have really extensive floaters. They

28:23

can last for a while, but eventually the brain will kind

28:25

of learn to filter them out and just

28:27

don't notice it as much. Now what's

28:29

going, for you, the

28:32

great thing is you have one eye that's

28:34

completely normal. Right. Right? And

28:37

so your brain will just, it'll

28:40

focus, I don't want to say focus because it's

28:42

not really a focusing thing,

28:44

but it'll pay more attention to that

28:46

eye versus your other eye. Yeah,

28:48

you'll notice if you cover one eye and look with

28:51

your bad eye, like, oh, there it is. But

28:53

then over time, just doing your

28:56

normal binocular vision, it's not even going

28:58

to occur to you after a

29:00

while because it's just going to be your new

29:02

normal. I'm

29:04

kind of getting used to it. It's sort of

29:06

like I'm trying, because obviously my job requires a

29:08

lot of reading and staring at

29:12

screens. And I was in a very

29:14

heavy period of that. So it was 10 to 12 hours

29:16

a day. And I was like,

29:18

how the hell do I see? Do I, I was leaning

29:20

in. I was doing this. I was

29:22

just doing all kinds of moves. I was like, maybe if

29:24

I move this closer and make this bigger, no, it doesn't

29:26

like big. It's like I'm trying to read through a ghost,

29:29

you know, a little bit. I'm just trying to see through

29:31

a cloud. Right.

29:33

And that cloud doesn't move. It's always

29:35

right there, same place. Sometimes I

29:37

perceive it as a little bit bigger. And

29:40

sometimes it seems to read a little bit smaller,

29:42

but that has to do with light levels and

29:44

colors, I guess. And the

29:46

natural history of, I

29:49

guess, the prognosis of this

29:52

is we don't

29:54

ever see full, complete resolution

29:56

of this spot you have in your

29:58

vision. I want to say that. Apartments feel that

30:01

know would you describe the field. But.

30:04

There is some improvement

30:06

over time. That. We usually

30:08

see. I. So a profit the

30:10

I would not expected ever be completely

30:12

normal, completely go away. But.

30:15

Maybe have a little bit of improvement over time.

30:17

I think it's also important if you have any kind

30:19

of medical issue to to try to put a positive

30:21

spin on it. And said some issues

30:23

in the patent it. So it's try to

30:25

think positive. So I'm trying to think of

30:28

this is like my eye as if there's

30:30

a ghost. It's haunted. It's like I have

30:32

a haunted lighthouse for an eye or so.

30:34

Little foggy and I'm like that's my soggy

30:36

cloud and I have to see through. I

30:38

love it. Is is your right near next

30:40

book right? Just yeah. There's little. My

30:43

my my whole body and soul wants me to

30:45

see this year that going to all live together

30:47

through a little bit of a soft focus. There.

30:50

You go it alone. What if I load of

30:52

us a little misty? put a little romantic

30:54

messina so for the whole thing. Affects

30:57

a good. When you think about it, anything

30:59

can be made pleasant. That's it. As

31:02

the As I admire your positivity and

31:04

your optimism, I think that's that Spent

31:06

exists or easy, right? The Me: A

31:08

is like you said, you've had. Perfect

31:10

vision all your life is all the sudden

31:12

you have to deal with this. That's a

31:14

big change and you're only at the beginning

31:17

of this rights. Been a couple months, he

31:19

had spent about a month and a half

31:21

and so you're You're just give yourself time

31:23

and islands and you're gonna have good vision.

31:26

Going forward and you'll be able

31:28

to write although the weird goes

31:31

lighthouse keeper stories with you on

31:33

I'm gonna get. All the that.it's I

31:35

probably should have called. Are these ambulances? Without.

31:38

Strike. Preemptive Ambulance. I'm

31:41

a patient, unethical out of face and maybe have

31:43

this attitude that you know. This is

31:45

all very wonderful stuff. Look at like you

31:47

walk in look at this building full of

31:49

my sis wonders. All these people that have

31:51

worked so hard the came in here to

31:53

date at try to help everybody is like

31:55

all the great machines that are doing all

31:57

this cool work. It's a wonder what that

31:59

does. That. Seems nice and that it just

32:01

seems like a real positive place to me.

32:04

So you know the I'm really excited when

32:06

I see medical people doing their job. I

32:08

gave as great a great you know how

32:10

to do that. Thanks for doing that! That's

32:12

really awesome! Fully. Appreciate that. That's

32:14

how it always. Felt I really felt like

32:16

wow this is a hard job and you

32:18

see really good at it and this must

32:20

be tiring. So thanks for showing up and

32:22

we'll figure it out. His. I.

32:25

Agree I we a me, we do

32:27

our best and it's it's I've had.

32:29

I've had difficult conversations with patients you

32:31

know about. Obviously vision is very important

32:34

and so yeah you see all the

32:36

equipment in the technology and stuff and.

32:38

Of. The but in the end it's

32:40

still for a lot of patience, mostly those

32:42

with with major I problems. It's it's the

32:45

relationships. you know that that they really stick

32:47

with you in. And. So of tell

32:49

him so someone they've lost all their

32:51

vision or they're going blind or friend.

32:53

You know that says never easy but it's

32:55

It's so nice to have someone with

32:57

a positive outlook on life like you

32:59

to. I. Just think it's just great. You

33:01

know there's no money thing at it's things

33:04

that sort of. Thing. Sound out

33:06

all the time. And yeah, well,

33:08

maybe that's maybe zoos. Yeah

33:10

that like he went on there that I want to

33:12

go and help people learn all this stuff and learn

33:15

about eyes you another weird and greasy and. It's

33:17

been a migrants. I'm like why is it when

33:19

you rub your eyes and has to make several squishy family.

33:22

Home School That's A. That's because it's

33:24

the mucous membrane on grass. Some offer

33:26

mucous membranes that is all kinds of

33:29

mucus in their early. So you see

33:31

set up one day in cod services were no

33:33

get really get into mucous membranes. Oh actually

33:35

it was. It was very late in med school

33:37

I went to medical added know look at doctor

33:39

wanted to be re I know wanted to be

33:41

a doctor or your school I like science of

33:43

what else was I gonna do those kind of

33:46

part of it for mass ah and then eventually

33:48

I was like the know what kind of a

33:50

weirdo I like I best now that's that's half

33:52

the battle right there. If you don't think eyeballs

33:54

are gross like. What else should

33:56

you be? I guy honestly like that's that's

33:58

half the battle. So. They were, well,

34:00

I bet. Thank you so much for

34:03

sharing a I think that was hopefully

34:05

enlightening for everyone. And

34:07

of and so is really a. He.

34:09

Oh thank you for for gone into the know. And

34:11

if it ever your doctor nurse listen to the thank

34:13

you for doing it I hope i your patience or

34:15

nice you and they should be and they should bring

34:17

it cookies. They. Should bring you could say

34:19

something nice for you and I show up and

34:22

I bring. I'm like here. I went to Veneer

34:24

with the Italian cookie. Place has some cookies. Safety.

34:28

Of them as that's the place I gotta go

34:30

next time I'm in New York. I was in

34:32

your family and I'd I'd I'd didn't get all

34:35

the places I wanted to go to about that

34:37

looting meet you I was like oh like I

34:39

target I'd I'd messages like and Mexico let's let's

34:41

get together with me and and you're in Mexico.

34:43

Salads. And max skill. It added literally doing the

34:45

thing that they make fun of writers for doing

34:48

where you're like, literally somewhere and you're like. Am

34:50

finishing a book on a beach? Yes I was. I

34:52

was being that first and I was at a big

34:54

writers are to with like ten other an awful. Muslims

34:58

basing. Oh yeah, It's. Great! Listen, my

35:00

job. I have a real cushy jobs

35:02

and I'm really thankful for. It. So

35:06

we we always are. Before we go we

35:08

always have to do have a don't do

35:11

that eyeballs tip of the week. Okay great.

35:13

And so I think we probably know exactly what I

35:16

don't do that. I wanted to the weakest this week.

35:18

Maybe. Like a little bit of moderation with

35:21

the caffeine use. You think? You.

35:23

Think that you think that's a good as it

35:25

is impossible. It's a great. But I am. I

35:30

used to water the plants now. Oh

35:33

the go you! So she just

35:35

pulled out some really nice save

35:37

a Dallas's three dollar liability goggles.

35:40

The so you're don't do that, I will to. How

35:42

about this about? How about don't. Don't

35:44

water your plants without safety glasses

35:47

letter. Sounds silly but they they

35:49

will get you. It's true, It's

35:51

true. I've seen I've seen plants get a

35:53

lot of people. More plants is a big

35:55

one. Gather the Dodgers gallo the you for

35:57

have you for be a plants. Their.

35:59

Business. Milky white substance

36:01

gets in your eyes. It's

36:03

horrible. Obsolete. Horrible. So yeah,

36:05

be careful plants, they can really get some.

36:08

Yeah, place and safety idols. And there you go

36:10

from a staff. Can I add though obviously the

36:12

way I just described it to people is I

36:14

drink so much coffee my I exploded. The

36:17

As a you can. That's the great thing about

36:19

your own health as you can discover any way

36:22

you want. Devo make a sound interesting a like

36:24

drink. So much coffee. I see ghosts. Will

36:28

again! Thanks so much for joining us those

36:30

fascinating and ah it's up to have you.

36:32

come on with the up for a knock

36:34

knock hi episode with me and my wife

36:37

we can talk about Far Man and all

36:39

the L E. I have I ever

36:41

great story about some weird stuff that

36:43

to me when I used to do

36:45

presentations and it involves tigers same as

36:48

comedians insert disarray empire. Eyes are closed

36:50

areas that were living in a bag.

36:52

Next I'm. An ex President,

36:54

a very famous comedian lives

36:57

tires pyrotechnic answered disallowing shit.

36:59

Man. as

37:02

something incredible story or I went. Super job

37:04

like mine. you have. you done a lot of stupid things

37:06

to make money along the way. While.

37:09

You're coming back where it is as as okay.

37:11

Can you can me to guarantee people I like

37:13

about a yard with I wanted. To tell you

37:15

guys about the Big Pharma saying where I had to

37:17

deal with sites. Like

37:19

everybody wants to Your that are right. Well

37:22

as that's it for knock, knock. I thank

37:24

you so much to Maureen Johnson. Go check

37:26

out our books! By the way, Like really

37:28

fantastic. And you go it

37:30

does. She have an ios have a book coming out and feel I

37:32

have. A new one coming out. another card doesn't morning house.

37:34

I was working on it will. My eyes flicked it. Is

37:37

this is as part of the truly devious email

37:39

or that in different cities? Standalone mode and

37:42

alone mystery. I don't I look

37:44

back on that. coffee. That they

37:46

go. Are they summary and a

37:48

thank you all for joining us that

37:50

that the observed for today. Thank you

37:53

to our producers Rob Coleman, Santi Broken

37:55

Arrow Corny thank you to Er Etter

37:57

name's near decent. Parties are in our.

38:00

is by Omar Bintvi. And let

38:02

us know what you thought of the episode. Do

38:04

you want... Do

38:06

you have an interesting eye thing? Maybe I shouldn't

38:08

like just throw

38:10

completely like blast out

38:12

that I want people to tell me their eye problems.

38:19

But if you have a suggestion, I always

38:21

like hearing stories, right? So if you have

38:23

stories about your own eye conditions, let me

38:25

know a topic you

38:27

want me to talk about. I'm all ears

38:30

and eyes and we'll see you next time.

38:32

Take care.