never a dull moment

For as long as I can remember I've had ocular disturbances. They are constant annoyances in my field of vision that I've just learned to live with.  In an attempt to try and show others what I see, I found some amazingly accurate illustrations of two of the disturbances I have.  It's surprisingly comforting to know that I'm not the only one who deals with these.

floaters

Entopic Phenomenon

I finally had my eyes checked in college to make sure that the floaters and bright, fast moving streaks of light that I was seeing on a regular basis didn't indicate something terrible like severe eye issues or a brain tumor (hypochondriac, remember?).

I was given the all clear and haven't been to an eye doctor since.  13 years.  Probably not the smartest idea not to get my eyes checked on a regular basis but after today, that's going to change.  These puppies are going to get yearly check-ups.

For the past two days I have noticed something different going on, something I've never seen before.  Today it scared me enough to think that there might be something wrong with my retina.  So, I googled.  What I found sent me into an instant panic and there was nothing else for me to do but contact a Retinal Specialist.  I bypassed the normal route (having a normal Ophthalmologist check it out first) and got an appointment with the specialist at 1pm today (they don't mess around when you describe retinal detachment symptoms).  The receptionist's tone indicated she thought I was a crazy person but you know what?  Better safe than sorry...and blind.

I sent my manager a quick e-mail "emergency eye doctor appointment, gotta go!" and off I went. Long story short, after a thorough exam, the doctor didn't see a tear, which was what I was worried about.  So, I got the all clear.  It's a little hard to swallow because I still don't know what that new symptom is, but I'm trying not to worry, he said I was fine, I need to believe him.

I spent the next few hours recovering from numbing eye drops and the really fun ones that make your eyes do this...

I literally couldn't see anything clearly within 2 feet of me for about 4 hours after the evaluation.  Trying to send coherent text messages to my concerned mom was challenging. But I'm comforted in knowing that my eyes are a-ok and I can stop freaking out, well...at least about this.