Monday, September 24, 2007

Eye Clinic Visit

I couldn't remember if my appointent was at 2 or 2:30, so I went early to be there at 2--thinking if I was early, I might get thru early! HA! Someone said they were backlogged.

When I finally got in to read the chart, the right eye was not doing so hot and I heard the woman doing the test say softly, something must've happened. Not exactly what I wanted to hear! She put me back in the waiting room where this antsy woman tried to start a conversation about some friends of hers with the same last name that I said I didn't know! I felt like saying just be quiet but, of course, I didn't. She was just there with someone and kept getting up to walk around and tried to talk to several people. I'm sure you know someone like that.

When I went back in the exam room, I managed to hit my head on some of the machinery next to the chair I was trying to sit in! Yes, it hurt! One of the doctors came in and started looking at my eye and said I still had some inflammation and a little cyst! He said it wasn't uncommon after surgery and that was why my vision was still not up to par. I thought I was going to get by with not having my eyes dialated, but no such luck! He picked up the drops and said, I know this is your favorite part! Oh yes, I adore having my eyes pulled apart for drops! Which, by the way, I sure am glad I spent all this time wearing sunglasses and putting lotion around my eyes so as not to have wrinkles and now they're getting pulled apart on a regular basis!

So anyway, I was sent upstairs to look into another machine while it took pictures of my eyes. I'd hate to think how much that machine or what it was spitting out cost! It made some pretty color pictures which I couldn't tell were my eyes but he said they were. He showed me what he said was a slice of my retina and the little bumps on it were what was keeping me from seeing better. To get rid of them he might have to give me an injection in my eye! Because I was alone, they put it off till next time in case it clouded my vision! AN INJECTION IN MY EYE, PEOPLE! He said it would just be a little stick---A LITTLE STICK IN MY EYE!! I said the dr that did the lazer surgery last Sept had said it wouldn't be bad....pfttt!

I left alittle after 5:30 to jockey with all the other people headed for home! Woo-hoo! Four lanes of traffic going full tilt with left and right blinkers blinking like crazy! I was content to let all the crazies whip in front of me. I need to make a sign for my car saying I just left the eye doctor! Nah, they probably wouldn't notice!

UPDATE: I got some eye drops that the clinic had "given" me after surgery and unlike the other drops I'd bought for around $4, these were $98.50! And the bottle is tiny! I'll have to squeeze it dry and scrape up any that hits my face!

4 comments:

  1. I used to work for one of those crazy eye doctors, as one of the girls that did some of the testing, although the machines were older back then.

    Was it a retinal imaging camera? Sort of gives back an image (ours was on polaroid type film rather than the new digital stuff) that looks like an orange/yellowish/reddish ball floating around. It was one of my favorite tests to give- just for the photos it produced... although NO ONE liked getting it done.

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  2. There was nothing much to the retina testing other than watching the one dot while other blinking dots went by on a bright red-orange background and then a computer printed out what it saw. The pictures were green, yellow and other colors. Very colorful but looked nothing like an eye! It's the other testing that is done everytime that I'm not that fond of! However, I'd like to see what they see!

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  3. You'll have a driver for your next visit and the needle stick, so brace yourself with whatever high-proof adult beverage you may like. If they produce some more of those pretty color pictures on the computer screen ask if they can print them out and give you copies of them. As advanced as that technology is they should be able to do that.

    You may be a bit disappointed with the results so far, but at least you weren't told that there's nothing more that can be done to improve your vision. Best of luck!

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  4. Don, thanks but my cousin will go with me next time. The only reason she didn't go yesterday was because I was not expecting anything more than a check-up! I feel quite sure the pictures they printed out were expensive but I might ask about it. When the dr said clearing that up might improve my vision, I was very relieved and if it takes a shot in my eye, so be it. Before he said that, I was afraid he was going to say more surgery! I would just like to get this over and done with.

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