Long story here, but I had a fabulous laugh after visiting the specialist eye doctor’s office on Monday.
Background: I’m nearly ten years post-Lasik, with previously-existing dry eye problems, which are currently kept at bay most of the time with punctal plugs and regular use of drops,
(dry eyes which nobody involved thought to mention to me as a possible counter-indication for Lasik – not that I’m not exactly bitter or anything ).
I’m age 68 now, having had previous retinal problems called PVDs (Posterior Vitreous Detachments), potentially leading to sight-robbing retinal detachments; but they were caught in time and pro-actively treated effectively. Anyway, given my history, I now have to visit the “the retinal doc” at least once a year to be sure that other retinal (back-of-the-eye) problems are not getting worse. Specifically, ARMD = Age-Related-Macular-Degeneration, which comes in two forms: the slowly evolving “dry” form (not surprising at my age, and usually not all that serious), and the quickly vision-depriving “wet” form (which equals crisis, crisis, crisis). In the waiting room I met a fellow, more than ten years younger than myself, who has gotten over twenty injections INTO his eyeballs
trying to stave off the problems relating to his "wet" Macular Degeneration.
So my retinal doc brought in an observer-doc at Monday’s visit.
After I had already been majorly dilated, I was subjected to the usual brief but painful exam:
magnifying glass headpiece with mega-bright light, plus acrylic push-stick probing my eyeballs.
My-doc looked up to his observer-doc and said, “Hmmm.”
Observer-doc said “Dry?”
My-doc said “Yes.”
Observer-doc said “Oh, good.”
Having spent so much time here and on other internet places where “dry” = bad, I chuckled all the way on the 30-minute drive home,
appreciating that in this case I had a condition where “dry” equals good, good, good !
Background: I’m nearly ten years post-Lasik, with previously-existing dry eye problems, which are currently kept at bay most of the time with punctal plugs and regular use of drops,
(dry eyes which nobody involved thought to mention to me as a possible counter-indication for Lasik – not that I’m not exactly bitter or anything ).
I’m age 68 now, having had previous retinal problems called PVDs (Posterior Vitreous Detachments), potentially leading to sight-robbing retinal detachments; but they were caught in time and pro-actively treated effectively. Anyway, given my history, I now have to visit the “the retinal doc” at least once a year to be sure that other retinal (back-of-the-eye) problems are not getting worse. Specifically, ARMD = Age-Related-Macular-Degeneration, which comes in two forms: the slowly evolving “dry” form (not surprising at my age, and usually not all that serious), and the quickly vision-depriving “wet” form (which equals crisis, crisis, crisis). In the waiting room I met a fellow, more than ten years younger than myself, who has gotten over twenty injections INTO his eyeballs
trying to stave off the problems relating to his "wet" Macular Degeneration.
So my retinal doc brought in an observer-doc at Monday’s visit.
After I had already been majorly dilated, I was subjected to the usual brief but painful exam:
magnifying glass headpiece with mega-bright light, plus acrylic push-stick probing my eyeballs.
My-doc looked up to his observer-doc and said, “Hmmm.”
Observer-doc said “Dry?”
My-doc said “Yes.”
Observer-doc said “Oh, good.”
Having spent so much time here and on other internet places where “dry” = bad, I chuckled all the way on the 30-minute drive home,
appreciating that in this case I had a condition where “dry” equals good, good, good !
Comment