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Do not look in laser with remaining eye.
Mar. 13th, 2003 08:02 amOK, saw the specialist in uvitas yesterday. The cool thing is that Dr. H_ is a Deadhead. The uncool thing is he really likes his job, and insisted on telling me all the things he was doing to my poor eyes.
I showed up for my appointment at Cal Pacific Medical Center a little early, which was good because I had completely forgotten who I was supposed to see! Luckily, they are more together than I am. I had to fill out some forms, which was really interesting seeing as how I can't bloody read in the dim light they use in their waiting room. But, I muddle through somehow.
After a fairly short wait, I get called back. Go through my entire medical history to the assistant (who is impressed) and get the basic vision tests.. again. Of course, this includes getting my pressure checked for the third time in two weeks. Then Dr. H_ comes in, and we hit it off immediately.
I find out that about 25% of the lens in my left eye has adhered to the iris, which explains the utterly crappy vision in that eye. Dr. H_ explains that he's going to mix up a cocktail of drugs to dilate my iris to the maximum possible width. Of course, this cocktail will be delivered by soaking a piece of cotton with it and placing said cotton under my eyelid for 20 minutes.
Major Ick!
Dr. H_ tells me to think of Hawaii, I point out that I was stationed there, and didn't like it much. We agree that I should imagine a Dead show, then spend a little time discussing the perfect second set. I almost forget that there is a bloody great wad of cotton pressed up against my eye. I'm also feeling very mellow, since I had been anesthetized. Whee!
After the wad had been removed, I had more exceedingly bright lights in my eyes. I wasn't seeing spots, My entire field of vision was one big spot. You'd think after almost eight years of this sort of thing that I'd get used to weird medical procedures!
Dr. H_ decides that he wants photos of the backs of my eyes, so I am sent next door to an optical lab. I don't know if anyone reading this has ever done this; but you sit in front of a machine that looks like it should be in the hands of Ming the Merciless. You stare at a needle, or follow the tech's directions "look up! look all the way to the right! open your eyes wide!" Then they take a flash photograph from less than an inch away. I think that blinking is my new hobby. We did about ten shots this way, and it was fascinating to see what the insides of my eyes look like. I'm a sucker for learning all about my body, and actually seeing things like my heart on a sonogram, or my eyes, is pretty cool.
It was decided that we needed another set of photos with fluorescent dye. After getting the usual list of what the dye could and would do to me, Dr. H_ did a really good job of punching me (Doctors normally aren't the best at doing infusions;) we took another dozen or so pictures. The back of my eyes look remarkably like Mars.
In the end, Dr. H_ told me that he has no idea why my eyes are doing this. I went down to the labs for blood work and a chest X-ray. Seems that it is somehow related to my compromised immune system, but we don't know why. So once again I'm doing the STD, TB, HIV dance.
Oh, and my dosage of Prednisone has been increased eight-fold. Hehehehehee....
Of course, along with the insanity and mood swings, I'll also be dealing with nausea and poor sleep. Bleah.
I showed up for my appointment at Cal Pacific Medical Center a little early, which was good because I had completely forgotten who I was supposed to see! Luckily, they are more together than I am. I had to fill out some forms, which was really interesting seeing as how I can't bloody read in the dim light they use in their waiting room. But, I muddle through somehow.
After a fairly short wait, I get called back. Go through my entire medical history to the assistant (who is impressed) and get the basic vision tests.. again. Of course, this includes getting my pressure checked for the third time in two weeks. Then Dr. H_ comes in, and we hit it off immediately.
I find out that about 25% of the lens in my left eye has adhered to the iris, which explains the utterly crappy vision in that eye. Dr. H_ explains that he's going to mix up a cocktail of drugs to dilate my iris to the maximum possible width. Of course, this cocktail will be delivered by soaking a piece of cotton with it and placing said cotton under my eyelid for 20 minutes.
Major Ick!
Dr. H_ tells me to think of Hawaii, I point out that I was stationed there, and didn't like it much. We agree that I should imagine a Dead show, then spend a little time discussing the perfect second set. I almost forget that there is a bloody great wad of cotton pressed up against my eye. I'm also feeling very mellow, since I had been anesthetized. Whee!
After the wad had been removed, I had more exceedingly bright lights in my eyes. I wasn't seeing spots, My entire field of vision was one big spot. You'd think after almost eight years of this sort of thing that I'd get used to weird medical procedures!
Dr. H_ decides that he wants photos of the backs of my eyes, so I am sent next door to an optical lab. I don't know if anyone reading this has ever done this; but you sit in front of a machine that looks like it should be in the hands of Ming the Merciless. You stare at a needle, or follow the tech's directions "look up! look all the way to the right! open your eyes wide!" Then they take a flash photograph from less than an inch away. I think that blinking is my new hobby. We did about ten shots this way, and it was fascinating to see what the insides of my eyes look like. I'm a sucker for learning all about my body, and actually seeing things like my heart on a sonogram, or my eyes, is pretty cool.
It was decided that we needed another set of photos with fluorescent dye. After getting the usual list of what the dye could and would do to me, Dr. H_ did a really good job of punching me (Doctors normally aren't the best at doing infusions;) we took another dozen or so pictures. The back of my eyes look remarkably like Mars.
In the end, Dr. H_ told me that he has no idea why my eyes are doing this. I went down to the labs for blood work and a chest X-ray. Seems that it is somehow related to my compromised immune system, but we don't know why. So once again I'm doing the STD, TB, HIV dance.
Oh, and my dosage of Prednisone has been increased eight-fold. Hehehehehee....
Of course, along with the insanity and mood swings, I'll also be dealing with nausea and poor sleep. Bleah.
