Sunday, December 2, 2018

Grrr...

(Source)
So I'm sitting at work Friday, working off of two computers, an unclassified laptop with a small screen and a classified system which has two big monitors. (The laptop is for emails and such, the other is where I do the bulk of my work.) As I'm toiling away, I noticed something in the field of vision of my right eye.

Yeah, the one that didn't get operated on.

Not really thinking about it, I just used some eye drops, hoping to wash away whatever it was. It's really annoying while looking at a light screen to have this thing right there, but not really there, when you try to look at it directly, it just darts away.

Now this isn't the first time I've had this. One day in Germany I was reading and I kept seeing something cross the page. As it was summer I figured it was an insect of some kind. Then I noticed, I could control its movement. So yeah, either I had become able to control insects with my mind, or there was something in my eye. I mean inside of it, not on the surface.

Went to the doc, where I learned about "floaters" in the eye. The vitreous humor is a gel-like substance which can develop these floaters as you age. They are solidified bits of the vitreous (to keep the explanation simple) which cast a shadow on the retina. They can appear fairly solid or nearly transparent. But you can see them, and they are annoying. Eventually the brain learns to filter them out. Which my brain had done with the ones which developed in Germany.

The new one though appears to be a ragged ring, concerning as it was rather large and very noticeable. Doing a bit of research, I learned that I shouldn't worry as long as there were no other symptoms, like flashing lights which only I could see.

After work I stopped by the store to pick up a couple of things. When I got back to the car and sat down, I had to wait for someone behind me to clear out. That's when I noticed that there was a light flashing somewhere to my right. Hhmm.

I looked that way, nothing. Turning my attention back to the dash and preparing to back up, there it was again. Wasn't anything that anyone else could see. But still, I wasn't all that worried.

When I returned home, I turned off the vehicle and moved my eyes side to side, quickly, Flashing light around the periphery of my right eye, a semi-circle which I could see with my eyes opened or closed. Damn. Noting that it wasn't 5 PM yet, I called my eye doc.

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm at home, just got off work."

"Can you come right over?"

"Sure."

As I put my coat back on, with the feline staff wondering just where I was going as I hadn't fed them yet, The Nuke called. She asked me what I was doing (she was driving up to Annapolis) so I told her that I was headed over to the eye doctor.

After I explained why, she asked where her mother was. "Out visiting an elderly friend of hers." (Lady has Alzheimer's, a sad story there.) The Nuke indicated that she would call her mom and have her meet me at the eye clinic. Yeah, she was a bit concerned.

At any rate, my doc saw me, did a very thorough exam and saw nothing to be overly concerned about. As she put it, "These things happen as you age."

Seems the vitreous humor was pulling away from the retina (which had happened in my left eye but the vitreous didn't let go) and was pulling slightly on the optic nerve (had traction, as she put it), which caused the flashing lights which only I can see. She told me that it should separate cleanly in a few weeks and not to worry.

Sure. First one eye, then the other?

While I am a bit freaked out, the flashing lights have lessened, though they're still there. If anything changes I have a virtual "get in to see the doc NOW card" (my eye doc is very good) and believe me that card will get played if anything gets weird.

For now I've got this floating thing in my right eye which makes it awkward to read, and type on the computer. I just have to make no sudden movements (computers can sense fear) and it isn't that annoying I suppose. But damn, it is annoying.

Getting old, it's always something.

I suppose it beats the alternative.




46 comments:

  1. My wife has floaters also, but not to the degree which you describe. I'm glad that you have a doctor who is responsive to your needs, one hears of doctors who brush off their patient's issues.

    Please keep me/us posted on this issue.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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  2. Ya...... that phone number to call the eye doc 24/7 is no laughing matter, I have that number too because of the floaters " when they change".
    " Change how doc?" " You'll know when they change"........ eeeeekkkk.......well that's what happens when you don't get the extended warranty. Not much you can do except stay the course eh Sarge?

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  3. Damn. This stage of life ain't getting any easier. I see what you see.

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  4. When I was young (No comments are necessary. I know that dinosaurs still roamed the Earth) the parents of the young lady I was romantically involved with were, in my opinion, two old fogies. Her mother had cross stitched a pillow that said "Old age isn't for sissy's." I thought that was really dumb. Now I would like to go back and share an adult beverage with the parents and apologize. How right they were!

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  5. Keep the windows open as long as you can. I had a friend that bent over to pick up a little box, interocular pressure pulled the retina off. Laser surgery brought his vision back. It was touchy for a while, but he made it okay. He's in his late 80's now. Still doing well.

    I'll be praying it doesn't cause any long term issues. I've got the little spots, too. I can usually look left then right and swoosh them outta the way. No lightning in my eyes yet. Fingers DEFINITELY crossed.

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  6. A similar situation occurred with my dad last year. I'll definitely keep you in my prayer intentions this week.

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    1. Thanks David, I need all the prayer I can get.

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  7. Beats a mouth full of dirt any day.

    But I get you. Getting old sucks.

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  8. Floaters, yah, they come and they go. Weird, isn't it?
    I also get ocular migraines from time to time - no pattern that I can discern. No pain, not like a "real" migraine headache. Rather, ...you know how on a Tv screen they can pixilate a face to hide identity? That's what I "see" in one eye. it starts as a pinpoint of pixilation in the center of my vision, that increases in size into a "C" form of pixilation, and that slowly slides off the side of my vision field. And then, poof!, it's gone until the next time.
    Really freaked me out the first time it happened. ...was told 'twas bothersome, but harmless (I sure do hope so!)
    The human body holds surprises for us that we only have to endure long enough to experience....

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    1. That does not sound pleasant. Hopefully the weird ocular migraines stay away from your vision!

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  9. Yeah, flashers and/or floaters can really get your attention when they first pop up!

    Word of the day- "Vitrectomy"- fluid change for the eyeball.
    Basically (and simplified so I can understand it)- stick a needle in and suck all the old vitreous out and squirt in new replacement stuff. This gets rid of floaters. Sounds horrible, but painless in and out in an hour procedure in the office. At least that was the way my wife's procedure went. Get to look like a pirate for a day or two and then all better with follow up to make sure they got the "tire pressure" in the eyeball right.

    Detached "vitreous" is apparently common cause of flashes, and not a really big deal. However a detached "retina" IS a BIG deal, so listen carefully and be sure of which they are talking about.

    Older and tougher, we are.
    John Blackshoe

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    Replies
    1. Had the vitrectomy on the left eye two months ago today. That event managed to damage the retina. Doc fixed me up, things are improving but my vision is still squirrelly in the left. I'm operating at about 75% with the two eyes as is.

      The flashes are caused by something rubbing against the optic nerve. The brain interprets that as random light on the periphery of the eye. Trust me, it's weird. I go back in a few weeks for a follow up. They don't think it's serious but they want to make sure.

      I like that about my eye doc.

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  10. Gee, boss. From "Sage Historical" to "Zombie body parts," you need to get control of yourself. Go stand in front of a mirror and properly tell yourself to quit it. May need application of alcoholic fortitude to get the message across, but not too much else you might crash the mirror.

    Floaters are weird. I've had one or two, allergy related of course.

    But I get Slimers (as I call them.) Think animated globs of mucus, like flatworms or mucus leeches, that slip all around the outside of the eye. You can feel them behind the eye, and, of course, right when you need to see something important, one comes sliming all over the front and blocks your vision. I have become quite adept at modifying paper clips and scraping the little, or not so little, beasties out, though it did freak out my doctor when he asked me how I handled them. (Same technique used to remove metal dust from eyes way back when. Maybe not the best thing to do but it worked.)

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    1. Field expedients are good, as long as no one loses an eye. (Or other body part.)

      Yeah, man, I hit 65 and blooie, things get weird.

      To top things off one of the feline staff had a medical emergency this morning. She's okay but it was scary, the feline staff is aging as well. Life comes at you fast.

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    2. Man, the hits keep coming, don't they? Hope Kitty issue was just a scare. Always hated the scares. One time, when we had a cattery (yes, it's a real thing) I woke up to one of the cats with a huge hole in her neck (she had a deep tissue infection that blew, taking out chunks of flesh and all that. I freaked, got dressed, tossed cat into carrier and raced to vet, with visions of dead cat on my hands. Get to the vet, pull cat out of carrier and vet says "What's the problem?" Oops, grabbed wrong cat. Race home, get correct cat, race back (okay, race maybe a tad dramatic, I was driving a Ford E150 Sexual Predator van (okay, a Ford Work Van) and I could get it up to 80 on a flat stretch if I pushed it hard.)) Get cat to vet, vet says, "Well, perfectly normal. Next time just wash it out and keep it clean, wounds on cats like that will just heal up. Here's some Sulfa powder."

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    3. She's doing well, has a urinary tract infection, no kidney involvement apparent. She's on antibiotics. When we came home she had quite an appetite, seems okay now, but at 15 you worry.

      And yeah, I knew there's such a thing as a cattery. Cats are pretty tough.

      Delete
  11. I used to laugh at the thought of there being a $6,000,00 man. Although not now near that amount, I seem to be increasing in accumulated worth if you count $$$ federally invested in me at the doctor's. All that money is going to my well-being, ain't it?

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    Replies
    1. Of course it is!

      And we're all glad to chip in!

      Delete
  12. Off topic i know....but Sarge, what were you doing in Seattle yesterday?
    Otherwise, I'm hoping your floaters go away soon.

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    Replies
    1. I was bored...

      Seriously, that guy could be my doppelganger!

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    2. Chase this - https://hotair.com/archives/2018/12/02/seattle-cop-reporter-antifa-rally-youre-inciting-conflict/

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  13. Go to Hotair and look at the picture of who's behind the cop in the pic.

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    Replies
    1. Guy looks enough like me that I was starting to wonder if I was in Seattle the other day!

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  14. Sarge, if eyes are the window to the soul, then yours are a triple pane. Or some other homophone!
    At least your "floaters" are not the ones they talk about on the cop shows!

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    Replies
    1. Or the scatological kind, as The Nuke pointed out.

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  15. Ha ha. On tuesday, I go in for surgery on my eye, to remove a cyst. Maybe we can be pirate buddies?

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    1. Ouch, good luck with that a bear!

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    2. I mean, OF COURSE I come down with a raging sinus infection-thing so they won’t do the surgery. Several MORE weeks of constant someone’s-jamming-a-finger-in-my-eye-sensation for me, yay!

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  16. I have always had floaters. In the idle moments, nap time I used to wile away the hours looking at paramecium etc. They are not there when the eyes are focused for long vision, only when they look for floaters.

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    Replies
    1. I've had some since Germany, it was weird trying to read and those things darting across the page. Now I get to do it again, yay me!

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  17. Sorry about the other eye. Hope it is as minor as the doc has stated. No-eyed Pirates are no fun.

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  18. floaters have entertained me since I was a child. and yes, 65 is right at the precipitous drop point of ageing. anyhow, a life well spent, i think. had to give up the motorcycle and flying as a vision risk. had retinas lasered to pin them down. looking at graph paper is like looking into a boiling pot of spaghetti noodles. now I have a great excuse for never reading the fine print.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, graph paper, I'll have to try that. Might be semi-entertaining as long as I don't think too much as to the why.

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  19. Also, why do they call it “vitreous humour” when IT’S NEVER FUNNY?

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    Replies
    1. Funny you should ask...

      Actually comes from Latin humorem, means moisture. Or so Google tells me, they wouldn't lie.

      Or would they?

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    2. Ah yes, the latins and the body humours. Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood, and umami.

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    3. Ah, it's such a pleasure to have such an educated audience here at The Chant.

      :)

      Delete

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