Around Thanksgiving in 2017, I started to notice something was a tad bit off with the vision from my right eye. If I closed by of my eyes, I could see a small greyish green circle in my right eye that would start to fade. If I only kept my right eye open, I could tell that everything was becoming greyed/washed out. I use computer monitors every day for my job, so I started to think my eyesight must be going bad. I also thought that maybe I was just tired and I needed some rest.
Two days later, I noticed that, along with the greyish green circle, my vision was also completely blurry in that same area. I was looking at different objects in my house and would notice that I couldn’t tell that object was even there when only looking out of my right eye. This, of course, started to worry me. I talked with my family about this, and they recommended that I stop at America’s Best (a contact/glass company that does eye testing) to get my eyes looked at.
I visited the America’s Best the next day. They ran a lot of test on my eyes and couldn’t see anything that was wrong. The doctor then decided to dilate my eyes so he could get a better look at my retina. Of course, when dilating the eyes, this event can take about twenty minutes for the eyes to become completely dilated. I went out into the lobby to start looking at glasses, so I could pick out a frame that I would like once they figured out what the issue was. As I was looking around, I decided to take the following photo and post it to the social web.
I thought it it was a funny photo. I added the caption: “Getting my eyes tested. Something is wrong with my right eye. But look at the dilation. That is one sexy look. Hahaha.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t leave there purchasing glasses. As the doctor took a closer look into my retina, he discovered that part of the retina looked oddly shaped. He told me that the retina looked like there was a hump in it. He said jokingly: “The good news is, is that you don’t need glasses.” Then in a more serious tone: “The bad news is, we are going to need to have a specialist look at it.”
Two days later, I’m at a retina center to have a specialist look into my eye. This place was busy. I was sitting in a big waiting area awaiting for my name to be called. Looked like there were over 100 people waiting there. I was told they were squeezing me in because they take eye issues serious. I did like the fact that this team was on it. They did a punch of different smaller test on me, then they dilated both eyes this time so I had even a sexier image to post on the social web.
After they dilated my eyes. They had me sit in a smaller waiting area that had about twenty chairs. There were about ten people sitting here waiting to move on to the next step as well. I jokingly said: “Sooo, they move us from a big waiting area to this waiting area. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was a third smaller waiting area next.”
Right after this, I was sent into this very small room. In this room where two chairs, a computer, and a medium sized image capture machine. They lady was preparing something in a fresh needle and asked me to take a seat in front of this camera. As I took my seat, she asked me to lay my right hand on a pad. Then she started to wrap a thick rubber band or something around my upper arm, just above my elbow. I said out loud: “I never thought my first time trying heroin would be at an eye doctor.” We both laughed as she start to tap two fingers on my upper lower arm to get the blood vessel appearing better.
Before she stuck me with the needle, she told me what this solution will help do. Apparently, this solution will travel through your bloodstream, and the camera will be able to capture all the smaller blood vessels easier within the eye. She did tell me there was a negative effect of this solution. She told me to not be surprised if my urine for the next 24 hours came out bright yellow. I thought: “This is going to be odd”. She did her test, then had me wait in a third waiting area. And yes, this waiting area was smaller. Ha. Jokes on me.
Once all the test were done, it was revealed that there was liquid that got behind my retina and it was pushing the retina inward. The doctor then tells me that over 90% of the patients that have this happen, it will go away. He told me that it should heal in about 6-8 weeks. Once healed, I may still have slight blurriness, but it will be much better than it is now. The doctor said to image a pingpong ball that you accidentally put a small dent in. You can pop that dent out, but sometimes you can still tell where the original dent was. That was the same case here, the retina is stretched out because of this liquid behind it. Once the liquid goes away, the retina will settle back but will have a small hump because of the stretching.
I then head back home. I was hungry so I stopped to grab dinner to take home with me. I finished eating dinner and needed to use the restroom. And holy shit, my urine was yellow. It is hard to describe how yellow this urine was. It was super yellow. It almost made my urine look fake. The good news was that by the next morning, it was all out of my system.
6 Weeks Later…
I head back to the eye specialist for a follow-up appointment so they can see how my eye is doing. I could already tell that my eyesight was improving. They dilated my right eye to have a good look at it and take some more photos. Looking at the results, the retina had settled back down and only had a small hump in it. The doctor and I were relieved. He mentions to me that in another 6-8 weeks, my eyesight will almost be as good as it use to be. Then he tells me that 30% of people that have this issue will get it in the other eye at some point. I was thinking: “Great”.
As of right now, my eyes are both working well. I can tell my right eye has improved a lot over the past 2 months. I am thankful for the two practices that helped me to make sure everything was going to be OK. I am truly grateful to them.
If you notice anything that ever happens to your vision, please seek help immediately. Many serious issues can be resolved if the problem is caught early enough.
~robert1ee