I Don't Look Too Good...

What a day! Long story in a minute, short story: retinal tear.

Read what a retinal tear is HERE!

YIKES! YIKES! YIKES!

It started on Thursday evening when I noticed a black thing streak by. I thought it was a bug, fly or something and I kept swatting at it, as it was near my right eye. I don't know if you get any of those gray floaty things in your vision, I do, but this one was black. Weird. I read up on the internet about floaters,and the article I read said that they could get more noticeable in bright light. I didn't think much about it...until Saturday. I went to Albuquerque to meet Josh and Alison to take them their Christmas gifts. They had been at our house on Christmas, but left the following day to fly to Las Vegas, NV to spend time with Josh's mother. I didn't want them leaving all their gifts in the truck parked at the airport for a week, so I told them I'd meet them when they got back. We met at Olive Garden, I got out of the truck to hug Josh hello and then my eye went berserk. It was as if someone had dribbled black paint on my eyeball. What I was seeing was blood from the tear on my retina. The sunlight aggravated it and made it seem really bad. It didn't hurt and when we went in the restaurant it seemed to clear up. As I was leaving Albuquerque, I noticed my sight was hazy and it seemed like I was looking through a screen or netting. There were billions of gray and black tiny little dots. Only in my right eye. Once I got home, I told Jack about it and then worried that I had a detached retina. Does anyone know the symptoms of a detached retina? I looked on the Eye Associates web page to see if they had something about it. They did, I felt that I had some of the symptoms and I got scared so I called their local number to see what they would say about an emergency. I got in touch with their answering service who notified the Dr. on call, he called me back and we discussed my symptoms. He didn't think it was a detached retina as I did NOT see flashes of light or have the feeling of a curtain in front of my eyes. I asked if one could see through this curtain and he said no. I could see through whatever was happening in my eye. He said I needed to call the local office on Monday and tell them he said I needed to be seen right away.

I called this morning, got an appointment for 11:10...sat in there for 30 minutes...someone took information...I sat longer...they dilated my eye...I sat longer and finally got to see Dr. Bratton, a most wonderful, funny woman! She looked in there and, sure enough, there was a horseshoe shaped tear on my retina. She called the Santa Fe office to see if I could get in to see Dr. Wyant (Mom's usual Dr.) who is a retina specialist. They wanted me down there PRONTO! By now it is 12:40 and they wanted me down there within two hours, so I took off, dropped my moral support friend, Trishie back at work, picked up Jack and away we went. We got there around 2:20...and I waited...someone took information...I sat longer...they dilated my eye...I sat longer and finally got to see Dr. Wyant. He's really great, too. He said he needed to fix the tear with a laser. If I hadn't gone in, he thinks I would have ended up with a detached retina and then it would be surgery. So they numbed my eye, added more dilation drops and shot me with the laser. YIKES! That was very weird! It's more of an ache than pain, but hard for me to stay tuned in on the flashing red light with my left eye. Dr. Wyant said I did good! We finally got out of Santa Fe about 5:30. Now I have to be patient. I cannot do ANY exercise or READ! for a week. The lack of exercise I can deal with...but NO READING?!? That will certainly destroy me! I go back next week for them to check it and make sure the laser fixed the tear. This whole thing is an age (ICK!) related thing that can happen to people over age 55 with nearsightedness. I resemble those comments! I'm OK! I'm OK! I just feel like I'm falling apart. First I have that surgery to remove my stupid tooth, then my bunionectomy and now this! I hope this is it for a while!