Well, I lost the sight in my left eye when I was about as far along in my diabetes as you. The veil across my left eye worsened and improved over the next few weeks. I saw local ophthalmologists who sent me to one of the gods of ophthalmology in Toronto. I can’t remember the exact sequence of events, but I believe he did a couple of photocoagulation (i.e. laser) treatments, at about 200 to 240 burns per treatment. A few weeks went by, and he told me it would be a good idea to do a vitrectomy - to remove and replace the fluid in my eye. So, a couple of weeks later, I was in an operating room.They did this under general anaesthesia, and next morning I could see out of the eye although it was a little blurry. This improved over the next week or two, and I could see perfectly well out of the eye. By the way, the surgery was almost without discomfort, and the laser treatments didn’t hurt at all, although after any laser treatment It took most of the day for the vision to come back. My eye didn’t move during either the laser or surgical treatments because they stuck a needle in under my eye and froze the eye muscles. That part was unpleasant, but only briefly.
I continued to go for laser in the left eye, then I lost the sight in my right eye, and went through the same sort of process with that eye. I can’t remember the exact sequence of events, but I was without eyesight in either eye for a week. Talk about scaring the hell out of you! The entire process took several years, but in that period I was able to drive a car, do my job, and perform most of the functions of daily living without discomfort. (Except for the short time I was blind in both eyes, of course.) So, I ended up having 16 laser treatments and two vitrectomies. I like to say I’ve taken more laser fire than the Starship Enterprise. For all this, in practical terms I don’t even notice the missing retinal spots. Your brain is pretty good at filling in the blanks, and I am not in the least blind. I regularly pass field ttests, so I can keep my driver’s license, and I went to a firing range just for the heck of it and found that I am still a pretty good shot. I do have floaters, but I can live with that.
Since then, I have had both lenses replaced due to cataracts, and now have an interesting condition that causes me to have vertical double vision. I blame these problems on my diabetes, not on the treatments for diabetic retinopathy. All of the surgeries and treatments I have had have been free of real pain, although I’ve had some brief discomfort. The last time I was given a laser treatment was about 24 years ago. You can survive this, but don’t put it off. A young lady I knew delayed getting treatment and by the time she saw an eye doctor, there was nothing they could do. She went blind.
My problems began more than 30 years ago (I’ve had diabetes for 50 years) so I imagine medicine has gotten even better than it was for me.
Best wishes for a good recovery.