Eye trouble

This morning the vision in my right eye was seriously not okay. I was seeing everything as if through a uniformly dirty window, or a milky haze, and also there were a million black specks swimming before that eye. If both eyes had been that bad I would not have been able to drive or read, even with my glasses. I've been very nearsighted all my life; this was something entirely different, and pretty distressing. Pro tip: Do not google "sudden impaired vision in one eye" and expect to find anything encouraging. Top contenders include advanced diabetes, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and a brain tumor.

After a couple hours in which nothing got better, I called my eye doctor. She said to meet her in her office shortly - the office was closed, but she was on call. After a thorough examination she explained that the floaters and milky haze are from blood inside my eye; this is not so bad in itself, but it's important to know what is bleeding. The culprit in my case is a small retinal tear. This happens because as we age (phooey), the vitreous shrinks and pulls away from the retina, and sometimes it sticks and tears it a little. It is very important to treat retinal tears immediately, because if left untreated they can worsen and let fluid collect behind the retina; this is a detached retina, which is a medical emergency with real risk to your vision. So she called her favorite retinal surgeon, who said he'd meet me in his office in an hour for a quick procedure. Really? Well, fortunately, our plans for the rest of the day were flexible. And I seemed to have made the right decision calling a doctor right away.

The goal of the laser surgery is to zap little spots around the tear to kind of tack the retina in place, so that the tear can't worsen. I am still amazed at the procedure. After examining my eye further to locate the tear as specifically as possible, he placed a special lens onto my eyeball so I was like a cyborg: this lens had mirrors on it to direct the laser. I sat in the usual optometrist chair with my face in the usual device, and he blasted about a dozen quick shots of the brightest light I'd ever seen - so bright it almost hurt, but not really. It was like looking into the Eye of Sauron, only green.

Then I went home! The whole thing was only four hours from start to finish. There is no pain or discomfort. (I'm a little wiped out, but I think that's mostly from the drama.) My vision is still hazy in that eye because the blood is still floating around in there, and it might take several days or even weeks to clear, but it will clear eventually. I go back for followup in a few days. Over the coming months I might have more such events so I need to keep an eye out (ahem).

The whole afternoon was kind of amazing. I am awed to think of all the systems that are working so well on my behalf for me to get this kind of treatment. I have great medical insurance, a longstanding relationship with a good optometrist five minutes from my house, access to an optometrist on call who showed up right on time to help me, and access to a retinal surgeon ten minutes away who also came in just to take care of me. The doctors are supported to come in on a Saturday afternoon when the office is closed to attend to an urgent patient, and both of them used extraordinary technology to address my problem. They also taught me what I need to know so that I can continue to take good care of myself. I am grateful for the people, machines, and systems that are working on my behalf, and feeling very aware of how different things could be if even one of these things were not available.