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.