Hey all, just wanted throw out there something I, really my wife, learned today. This is slightly off topic of hunting, but not really. I’m gonna try and lay out this little story as best I can.
So in 2015, my wife was at her eye dr getting her usual checkup. She had recently switched dr’s and he is very thorough with his exams. Well he noticed during one test, that she had a spot of some sort in/on her retina. He was uncertain exactly what to make of it, so he referred her to a retina specialist.
She sees the dr, who might I add, was about 352 years old, but was an extremely smart man. He told her it was most likely Toxoplasmosis. Most likely given to her from her mom during pregnancy or contracted from cats as a child, but that there was no way of knowing how long she had it. Good news was that it was dormant, and wasn’t doing any type of damage since it couldn’t grow and wasn’t in her “sight path” or whatever their terms are. You could tell by the dark black lines around it, supposedly that meant it was done and couldn’t go further. Said it was nothing to worry about and then sent her on her way. He didn’t go into much detail about it, and we didn’t research it much since she was in no danger.
Fast forward to last week. She goes back for her yearly exam, and since her dr had seen the spot before, he always checks it really close for any additional changes. It’s always the same, until this time. A new spot has formed near the other spot. So again, sent to specialist. Today was that day. We get to the specialist office, find out the other dr she had seen had retired last year, and there was a new dr that had taken his place, much younger. This dr isn’t set in his old ways and seems much more connected to you. Well, the new spot has hazy edges, which means it’s active and growing.
I know you’re wondering what this has to do with deer hunting, and here it is. As soon as he looks at the spot, he asked “do you or someone close to you deer hunt?”. Well of course my eyes got big and she cut her eyes over at me.. I initially think he’s going the “tick bite” route. I told him I did, he asked if she eats deer meat, and of course the answer was yes. He said for the longest time, dr’s thought Toxoplasmosis was only transferred during pregnancy or through cats (scratches, poop, I don’t know), but in the last couple years of his practice, he said all of his patients with Toxoplasmosis has one thing in common, venison..
When he said that, I thought, “we live in the south, 99% of people eat venison, so of course everyone has that in common”. But he said that Toxoplasmosis is a parasite/disease that has recently been discovered heavily in the whitetail deer population. It is unknown if the parasite is killed during cooking or not, so they don’t know if it’s from undercooked meat, or just the meat.
So, now, on top of worrying about the possibility that I’m gonna bring home a tick or something and end up giving my wife or young son some kind of Lyme disease or something, now I learn that just by eating the meat, they could be exposed to a parasite. Now, I haven’t done much research on it yet, but what little I gathered, it typically shows no symptoms to people that have it and up to 50% of the population have Toxoplasmosis Gondii, and don’t even know it (probably me haha). But in very rare occasions, in adults usually, it can cause eye lesions that, if not treated or go dormant on their own, can cause blindness. Go figure, deer meat can make you blind ha. The most common symptoms are in children that are given the parasite/disease by there mother, have difficulties at birth that are usually treatable.
So in short, for giggles, when you go for your eye exam, ask the dr if they can check your retinas pretty good for any type of small lesions or spots. Then you can get some treatment before you possibly go blind, then you won’t be able to hunt the deer that blinded you! Hahaha. Anyways, if you have any information about this, let me know. I’m gonna do some research on it, although, too much internet research can scare the crap out of you ha.
So in 2015, my wife was at her eye dr getting her usual checkup. She had recently switched dr’s and he is very thorough with his exams. Well he noticed during one test, that she had a spot of some sort in/on her retina. He was uncertain exactly what to make of it, so he referred her to a retina specialist.
She sees the dr, who might I add, was about 352 years old, but was an extremely smart man. He told her it was most likely Toxoplasmosis. Most likely given to her from her mom during pregnancy or contracted from cats as a child, but that there was no way of knowing how long she had it. Good news was that it was dormant, and wasn’t doing any type of damage since it couldn’t grow and wasn’t in her “sight path” or whatever their terms are. You could tell by the dark black lines around it, supposedly that meant it was done and couldn’t go further. Said it was nothing to worry about and then sent her on her way. He didn’t go into much detail about it, and we didn’t research it much since she was in no danger.
Fast forward to last week. She goes back for her yearly exam, and since her dr had seen the spot before, he always checks it really close for any additional changes. It’s always the same, until this time. A new spot has formed near the other spot. So again, sent to specialist. Today was that day. We get to the specialist office, find out the other dr she had seen had retired last year, and there was a new dr that had taken his place, much younger. This dr isn’t set in his old ways and seems much more connected to you. Well, the new spot has hazy edges, which means it’s active and growing.
I know you’re wondering what this has to do with deer hunting, and here it is. As soon as he looks at the spot, he asked “do you or someone close to you deer hunt?”. Well of course my eyes got big and she cut her eyes over at me.. I initially think he’s going the “tick bite” route. I told him I did, he asked if she eats deer meat, and of course the answer was yes. He said for the longest time, dr’s thought Toxoplasmosis was only transferred during pregnancy or through cats (scratches, poop, I don’t know), but in the last couple years of his practice, he said all of his patients with Toxoplasmosis has one thing in common, venison..
When he said that, I thought, “we live in the south, 99% of people eat venison, so of course everyone has that in common”. But he said that Toxoplasmosis is a parasite/disease that has recently been discovered heavily in the whitetail deer population. It is unknown if the parasite is killed during cooking or not, so they don’t know if it’s from undercooked meat, or just the meat.
So, now, on top of worrying about the possibility that I’m gonna bring home a tick or something and end up giving my wife or young son some kind of Lyme disease or something, now I learn that just by eating the meat, they could be exposed to a parasite. Now, I haven’t done much research on it yet, but what little I gathered, it typically shows no symptoms to people that have it and up to 50% of the population have Toxoplasmosis Gondii, and don’t even know it (probably me haha). But in very rare occasions, in adults usually, it can cause eye lesions that, if not treated or go dormant on their own, can cause blindness. Go figure, deer meat can make you blind ha. The most common symptoms are in children that are given the parasite/disease by there mother, have difficulties at birth that are usually treatable.
So in short, for giggles, when you go for your eye exam, ask the dr if they can check your retinas pretty good for any type of small lesions or spots. Then you can get some treatment before you possibly go blind, then you won’t be able to hunt the deer that blinded you! Hahaha. Anyways, if you have any information about this, let me know. I’m gonna do some research on it, although, too much internet research can scare the crap out of you ha.
