Hi!
my dad had a stroke in January to which he lost vision in his right eye that day.
recently in a few weeks ago (April), he complained that the right eye is hurting him and it was red. After taking him to the hospital, they said he has a vitreous hemorrhage. The doctor mentioned a pretty big blood clot on that eye’s vessel.
I don’t know much about it and I know even less about eyes in general. My dad is 75 and does not take his prescription medications. No blood thinners, no blood pressure medication (he has hypertension), nothing for his heart condition (he has coronary artery disease), he has COPD as well.
he has cataract and I think they mentioned glaucoma too.
can or will this blood clot break off and cause a brain stroke? I don’t know what to think of all this..
Smoking so much--ugh. My SIL (Dr. Joe) says that the 2 top things you can to almost insure a shortened lifespan are A: smoking and B: alcohol use. Even one drink per day over the course of 50 years causes irreparable damage. After those two are morbid obesity & genetics. He's a GI doc and treats liver patients almost exclusively.
You can't 'beat' genetics, but you can forestall the others. Probably the heart and lung issues are related to the smoking. Nothing can be done about that now.
My DH had a motorcyle wreck 10 years ago, He had a bleed in the vitreous space of his eye. It is just a big black blob, I guess. It can be removed, but he hasn't seemed too bothered by it.
As it isn't 'attached' to his circulatory system it isn't going to break loose and give him a stroke. It's just another annoying thing.
Good Luck with this. I have no idea how you force a 75 yo man to be compliant in his own care.
If he is simply a reckless man who is in denial, then the next time he complains of a health problem, just throw up your hands and say, "Oh well!" and walk away. I know it sounds awful to do that, but what he's doing to you is even worse. And it won't get better as time goes on. You can't want him to have good health more than he wants it himself. You can't have his recovery for him. Allow him to have what he's planned for by not doing basic things like taking his meds.
Has be had a cognitive or memory exam lately? Has he assigned a DPoA? Hopefully so. If not, please encourage him to do so...soon.
My DH is 71 and while he's not as fresh and vibrant as he was when he was 25, he still takes his meds and is pretty good about taking care of himself.
Sad, 75 is NOT old, but if you don't care for yourself--well, it can sure age you quickly!
I agree with you, 75 is not old. But, my father looks well into his 80s, he walks very slowly, and cannot walk for more than 10 minutes anymore. He has a lot of health issues that have surely taken years out of his life. He has COPD, coronary artery disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy, hypertension, dyslipidemia, peripheral vascular disease, he's had two heart attacks in his lifetime, an abdominal aortic aneurysm and a recent ischemic stroke, and has smoked 2 packs of cigarettes for more than 60 years (though I forced him to quit as of his stroke in January 2023). Now he has that blood clot on his eye vessel, his blood tests show some possible issues with his kidneys.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14206-retinal-vein-occlusion-rvo
Are you getting this information from him? You (or someone) need to be talking to his doctors about this because it obvious that he is not able to understand or manage his own care. The vitreous bleed and clot are likely related to his untreated high blood pressure, it's okay if he chooses not to treat his many health conditions but I bet nobody explained the possible consequences.