Eye Eye, Sir

Monday afternoon, I found myself swatting swarms of gnats and here and there a fly away from my face.

I never once hit one.

Floaters. In my left eye. It was very disconcerting.

Tuesday, the floaters were worse. Along with flies and gnats, I now had the most unusual inky looking swirling lines that changed in pressure and varied from black to sepia. I thought, "Well this is kind of beautiful and not at all annoying." But the swirls were quickly gone, leaving only the gnats and flies.

Wednesday, when I noticed that, in addition to the floaters, the vision in my left eye had become slightly cloudy, I remembered that San Geraldo had recently had a similar experience in his right eye (the floaters, not the cloudiness). He didn't describe his as anything so interesting or beautiful (but then, he wouldn't). He went to the ophthalmologist and learned that he had a vitreal detachment, a common problem with sometimes dangerous results. He was fortunate that his required no treatment and has gotten less noticeable with time.

I thought, "Well, maybe I should call for an appointment."

Then I told San Geraldo about the cloudy vision, and he said, "We need to go to Urgent Care."

Well, I didn't just have a detachment, I had a torn retina (probably a result of a violent sneezing fit early Monday) needing immediate surgery. The tear was medium in size and went far back, which made it difficult for the doctor to reach it all during laser repair. But so far so good. I have to go back Tuesday.

The worst part of all this — other than the fact that I can't do any kind of physical activity for two weeks, although the doctor did tell me I could "stroll" if I liked. (I don't know how to "stroll"! There's fast and there's less fast.) — Anyway, the worst is that I lost my mobile phone somewhere between the hospital and home and had to buy a new one today.

There is a lesson here: I probably should listen more to San Geraldo. Oh Captain, My Captain!

MY PUPIL IS STILL DILATED... IT REMINDS ME OF MY UNIVERSITY DAYS!