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So about half an hour ago I had emergency eye surgery!
On Sunday, I noticed what they call a "floater" in my left eye - a bit of interior gunk that looked like a cobweb, which can move around, and which is a bit distracting. Then the next day (yesterday), I noticed in the shower that I had a bright white light at the periphery of my vision when I moved my head to rinse my hair. I looked online for reassurance that these things are normal, and they were basically saying that they can be normal but they can also be symptoms of a retinal tear, which can lead to retinal detachment, which causes blindness. YIKES. So they say to see a doctor right away.
This afternoon, since both symptoms were still there, as soon as J. was home from his trip to N.C. I called the eye doctor, and he had me come in. In the exam, everything was great about my eyes, except... it did have a little horseshoe-shaped tear in the retina. So then J. drove me to the retinal specialist, just 8 blocks away, and he repeated the exam and came to the same conclusion. The first exam was by far the least comfortable eye exam I've had, what with all the prodding the doctor had to do to get a good view. The second doctor, being an expert, was better at it, and I was better prepared for what to expect too. Lots and lots of numbing drops, and moving my eyes in various directions while being prodded.
The actual procedure involved using a laser to basically weld the tear into place, and it was just like having the eye exam except for the very bright green light, so bright that when he used it for extended periods I would get a jolt of headache. But it passed quickly. The entire laser surgery part lasted about two minutes. And then J. could drive me home.
If I hadn't done all that, I could have been blind in one eye, for the rest of my life, within the near future.
Book club is in an hour, and I'll be able to tell my story - assuming I see well enough to get there, what with my eyes dilated and wearing my 30-year-old glasses instead of my contacts.
On Sunday, I noticed what they call a "floater" in my left eye - a bit of interior gunk that looked like a cobweb, which can move around, and which is a bit distracting. Then the next day (yesterday), I noticed in the shower that I had a bright white light at the periphery of my vision when I moved my head to rinse my hair. I looked online for reassurance that these things are normal, and they were basically saying that they can be normal but they can also be symptoms of a retinal tear, which can lead to retinal detachment, which causes blindness. YIKES. So they say to see a doctor right away.
This afternoon, since both symptoms were still there, as soon as J. was home from his trip to N.C. I called the eye doctor, and he had me come in. In the exam, everything was great about my eyes, except... it did have a little horseshoe-shaped tear in the retina. So then J. drove me to the retinal specialist, just 8 blocks away, and he repeated the exam and came to the same conclusion. The first exam was by far the least comfortable eye exam I've had, what with all the prodding the doctor had to do to get a good view. The second doctor, being an expert, was better at it, and I was better prepared for what to expect too. Lots and lots of numbing drops, and moving my eyes in various directions while being prodded.
The actual procedure involved using a laser to basically weld the tear into place, and it was just like having the eye exam except for the very bright green light, so bright that when he used it for extended periods I would get a jolt of headache. But it passed quickly. The entire laser surgery part lasted about two minutes. And then J. could drive me home.
If I hadn't done all that, I could have been blind in one eye, for the rest of my life, within the near future.
Book club is in an hour, and I'll be able to tell my story - assuming I see well enough to get there, what with my eyes dilated and wearing my 30-year-old glasses instead of my contacts.