Ol' Gimp-eye

Yesterday I noticed a spot in my vision (right eye). It looks like when someone takes your picture with a flash camera, you know how that little spot stays there for a few minutes, then goes away? Well, it was there all day yesterday - and nobody took my picture. While eating dinner, I noticed a second one had popped up as well, so now there are two camera-flashes in my right eye.

So I decided to head to the eye institute this morning. They ran all kinds of tests - first an intraocular pressure test (not the air-puff one, the kind where they put the yellow numbing stuff in your eye and then TOUCH YOUR EYE with the little machine. TOUCH YOUR EYE!), then they dilated my eyes. I waited for a bit in the blinding lights of the dimly-lit waiting area, then the Good Doctor took me back and did an exam where he shined a light so bright into my eyes that I kept squinting, and when he was done, everything was green. He said my retina and cornea looked good, he couldn't find anything wrong. Except the pressure in my right eye was 24 and my left eye was 20. Normal is 10-21. So they did the visual field test. This is way fun if you've never had one. They put a patch over your eye (I couldn't resist saying "AARRRRR!!!"), then you look into this big white bowl-shaped thingie and focus on one orange light in the middle. Then little lights sparkle in your peripheral vision, and you click a button each time you see one. I passed with flying colors.

He suspected that while I don't have glaucoma, it could be the beginning stages of it in my right eye. So he gave me some drops to put in once a day, and I'm supposed to go back in a week to see how it's doing.

Here's the hilarious part. The drops are made from prostaglandins! Y'all know my job, and one of the substances I hate are prostaglandins. It's the stuff they put next to the cervix to get it to dilate. There are gentle ones, like Prepidil and Cervidil, and nasty ones like Cytotec. I've always said I will never let prostaglandins NEAR my body. And look - I'm now putting them in my EYE! MY EYE! (howl)

So, please say a little prayer for my gimp-eye, that it responds well to the drops, and that the pressure decreases. I really don't want to worry my pretty little head about going blind this early in life!