I received my RK operation in 1985. In 1995 I made my first complaint to the medical profession, stating that I experience extreme fatigue and struggle with staying awake as a 12 hour night shift wears on.

My complaints were dismissed as old age creeping up on me and as evidence they cited the fact that I am now requiring reading glasses. My symptoms mainly focus on the night vision problems including reading problems, headache, dry eyes, glare, starburst, photophobia, night vision loss, ghosting and hyperoptic shift.

At 53 years of age the cumulative effects of 12 hour night shifts and the stress and fear of failure have finally taken their toll. Two weeks ago and at my wits end I asked to see a psychologist at the VA medical Center and was told by him to do some research on radial keratotomy on the Internet and to see what I could find.

What a relief to find I'm not going crazy and I'm not a malingerer and that there are others who understand what I'm going through.

I don't know if I need a lawyer or doctor? What I do know though is that I can not take the night shifts and fight sleep anymore. The sleep deprivation, fighting off the fatigue, is becoming a problem that is a safety issue that should be addressed by the railroad industry.

Tonight 5-11-2002 on CNN they are reporting that two coal trains in Wyoming have collided in a head-on collision. Operator fatigue is rampant in the Railway industry as it is, without me and my RK problem. I don't want to lose my job, but I don't want to live this miserable life only to lose it in a train crash.


It is my hope that in posting to this web site I will bring this matter to the public forum that surgical eyes is hosting and that I will find an ophthalmologist in my area (Rapid City SD) that can help me process my occupational disability claim with the Railroad Retirement Board. The wealth of information that is provided on this web site will surely be valuable and supporting and explaining my claim to the various bureaucracies.

Miles Mulloy

[This message was edited by Miles Mulloy on May 22, 2002 at 09:59 PM.]