The Eye of the Storm

So last Wednesday, I was at the ophthalmologist for the final check of the bleed in the left eye that was irradiated several years ago. I walked out with a clean bill of health with a appointment for a six month check up. On Friday, I was working at my son's house installing the gas line for his new dryer. When I finished, I bent over to pick up some tools. I stood back up and it looked like an atomic bomb had gone off in my eye again. I called and got an emergency appt with the eye doc. He said it looked like another bleed from the weakened vascular area of my eye. There was so much blood in the eye that he could not see the actual bleed area. They wanted to do a dye scan but realized I had a CT scan that morning and my system was already compromised by the dye from that scan. I came back this Wednesday and my regular doctor said if I wanted to see her again I could just call and did not need to blow out my eye to do that. We both laughed. She said there was too much blood she could not see that area so she injected a med into the eyeball to stop the bleed and I return in four weeks for the dye scan and perhaps a laser treatment to try and seal off the bleed. She said hopefully I would return in four weeks and I would be perfect for the test. I commented that I thought I was perfect whenever I came in for a visit. My wife put her hands out to show the size of my head and ego. The doc got a look on her face that said "Oh boy, is this guy full of himself." I said, "What?" She looked and said "Oh yeah I forgot you can see out of your right eye and you saw my face." We laughed heartily and kept on going. In the meantime, I walk around looking like a pirate because the light in the background is like looking through what appears to be swamp water causing disorientation and nausea.

I am reminded of how fragile we are and that this all started in my eye so many years ago and that I continue to deal with the ramifications of ocular melanoma in so many different ways.

Get out and see your eye doctors and stay on top of what is going on in your eyes!

Peace be with you all!