July 24, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Vance Thompson Vision.

After decades of serving with the Emery Volunteer Fire Department, Mark Schulte knows what it means to help someone.

“I’ve saved lives before,” he said.

Yet when it came to a life-threatening vision diagnosis, it was Schulte who found himself in need of saving.

“To tell somebody that they’ve saved my life, it’s kind of humbling.”

In early March, Schulte began experiencing strange symptoms.

“When I stood up, I would sometimes feel lightheaded and dizzy,” he recalled. “I had a lot of brain fog and was easily agitated.”

These issues persisted for weeks and grew worse as they began to impact his eyesight.

“If you put your fingers and your thumb together, make a circle and hold it out from your face, I could see everything on the inside of that circle, nothing on the outside,” Schulte said. “It was all gray.”

During a routine physical, Schulte mentioned his symptoms to his primary care doctor, who then suggested consulting an eye doctor.

“(Years ago,) I had cataract surgery done through Vance Thompson Vision, so I called them,” Schulte said. He spoke with ophthalmologist and retinal disease specialist Dr. Jed Assam, who urged him to visit the clinic immediately.

“His primary care doctor was noticing some new changes to his vision that didn’t seem explainable from their general medical exam,” Assam said.

When Schulte arrived at the clinic, it was determined that he had poor circulation in the blood vessels connecting to the eye, which was affecting the vision and causing early damage to his retina.

“He was having some dropouts in his vision,” Assam explained. “In the retina space, we call that transient vision loss.” Schulte also had a scotoma, or blind spot, in his vision.

The ophthalmologists at Vance Thompson Vision used ocular coherence tomography to see the anatomy of Schulte’s retina.

“The retina has a different layering of systems that help process information and send it to the brain,” Assam said. “Mark had a weakened spot in one of those layers.”

When people experience vision changes like this, Assam said it can be linked to a larger issue. Concerned, he set up an appointment for Schulte at North Central Heart. The results of Schulte’s CAT scan revealed that a carotid artery in his neck was almost completely blocked.

“We always have to be on guard for the biggest, most eye-concerning, vision-concerning or life-concerning things that can affect a patient,” Assam said.

Thanks to advanced technology, doctors now are able to analyze nerve tissue and blood vessels without invasive means. They even can detect subtleties that may not be readily identifiable in a routine clinical screening exam.

“The eyes are windows to the soul and a lot of other things,” Assam said.

After discovering Schulte’s blocked carotid artery, the doctor at NCH scheduled him for surgery the next morning. The vascular surgeon performed a carotid endarterectomy on Schulte and successfully removed the blockage.

“The doctor told me that I probably wouldn’t have lasted a week before I had a full-on stroke,” Schulte said. “I credit Dr. Assam for saving my life.”

Assam considers Schulte’s lifesaving care a team effort.

“It’s a constellation of things; we were in one of the positions to be able to help detect it,” he said. “The whole system works together to help protect and preserve not only sight but life.”

This isn’t the first time Schulte has been grateful to the staff at Vance Thompson Vision. “(Years ago), I went in for a cataract surgery,” he said. Schulte was part of the FDA studies to have the procedure approved in the United States.

“My ophthalmologist told me that I was the second person in the U.S. to have this surgery,” he added.

At the end of the day, Assam said it’s the patients who entrust Vance Thompson Vision with their vision and health needs that spark a fire under him.

“That’s a relationship that we deeply respect and want to honor,” he said.

“I was very pleased,” Schulte added. “The doctors at Vance Thompson Vision treat you as a person, not a number.”

If you are experiencing similar issues with vision or are concerned about eye stroke, call your eye doctor right away or learn more through a consultation at Vance Thompson Vision. To schedule, call us at 605-361-EYES (3937).