Darrell KSR
08-10-2013, 05:23 AM
Had a crazy day and evening yesterday.
Slept poorly Thursday and was still tired yesterday, so my productivity was not great. I went home and was going to mow the lawn and do stuff that didn't require me to think very well. When I got home, I had a headache around my eye area and my vision was a little cloudy in my left eye.
So I took an ibuprofen, and removed my contact lens. Laid down and thought that might clear it up. At 5:30, I got up, and knew something wasn't right.
My wife began going through the phone book to see if there was an optometrist close to me (there are a bunch) who happen to be open til 6 on Friday I could go see quickly. At 5:45 she spoke to the Schaeffer Eye Center and they told her the one at the Colonnade was open til 6. She described what was occurring and they said they'd wait for me.
Highway 280 is a mess right now, but somebody was looking over me. I caught one red light the entire distance on it, traveled 60mph the rest of the way, and made it there before 6.
With a little history given, they did an eye pressure test on both eyes, which is what I suspected was the problem.
If you know somebody with glaucoma, or with that potential issue, you'll appreciate what I'm about to tell you.
"High normal" reading is 21. They like to see numbers below 20. My right eye was 20 at the time. Fine. Usually is around 16 for me, but that's normal.
My left eye was an "all-time record" for young Dr. Schaeffer.
74.
The charts only go to 80. This was like, umm, really, really, really bad. He said the number in front of his nurse, who uttered, "Oh My God" in front of me. I suspect that's not taught as an appropriate thing to say in front of a patient.
He left to call the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital to make sure I would be treated immediately, gave me two separate drops to lessen pressure, "It probably won't help, Mr. Cartwright, but I have to do something," and I was sent on my way without billing, paperwork, etc. done. We will do it later. "You have to get to the hospital, not later today, but now," he told me.
I arrived at the Eye hospital again in record time. I don't know why Friday afternoon/early evening traffic on one of the worst congested highways I know was flowing like a dream, but somebody was looking out for me.
Without boring details, the staff at the hospital took very good care of me, with the resident being ultra-attentive and the fellow spending plenty of time making sure the pressure got down with pills and power-drops. Even a diuretic (hey, it gets rid of fluids all over, including those in your eyes). I bet I had 30 drops placed in my eyes yesterday, spread out over a few hours. (For the record, when I arrived, it was down to 65, so the pressure drops given to me by the optometrist did some good.) About 10:30 last night my pressure was "down" to 47 and what would ordinarily have been a number that would have scared the pants off me was a number I was celebrating. There was no optic nerve damage done, and should be no lasting effects.
Hit my 24-hour pharmacy on the way home--which took longer, at 11 p.m., than it did at 6 p.m.--picked up two prescriptions and went home to eat dinner.
There's a history behind what occurred yesterday, and a great deal of stubborness on my part that led to what occurred. When I was 9 years old, I was hit in the eye with a rock by a 13-year old kid who threw it. I lost sight in the eye with a trauma-induced cataract until I was 26, at which point I had an artificial lens implant put in and could see for the first time in 17 years. Sometimes an injury to an eye--and I had two "injuries" of sorts, including the artificial lens implant surgery--will create glaucoma, and that is what occurred. For years my pressure has run high--into the 30's, and numbers that should bother me, but I kept a close watch on it, had pressure drops prescribed that worked, but bothered me, and lots of other stuff.
No more. I will be a faithful user. That was more than scary.
Thanks again to the two medical staffs, from the receptionist at Dr. Schaeffer's office, to his tech person who said they'd keep the doors open for me, and to the terrific staff at the eye hospital. Man, they were great yesterday.
Slept poorly Thursday and was still tired yesterday, so my productivity was not great. I went home and was going to mow the lawn and do stuff that didn't require me to think very well. When I got home, I had a headache around my eye area and my vision was a little cloudy in my left eye.
So I took an ibuprofen, and removed my contact lens. Laid down and thought that might clear it up. At 5:30, I got up, and knew something wasn't right.
My wife began going through the phone book to see if there was an optometrist close to me (there are a bunch) who happen to be open til 6 on Friday I could go see quickly. At 5:45 she spoke to the Schaeffer Eye Center and they told her the one at the Colonnade was open til 6. She described what was occurring and they said they'd wait for me.
Highway 280 is a mess right now, but somebody was looking over me. I caught one red light the entire distance on it, traveled 60mph the rest of the way, and made it there before 6.
With a little history given, they did an eye pressure test on both eyes, which is what I suspected was the problem.
If you know somebody with glaucoma, or with that potential issue, you'll appreciate what I'm about to tell you.
"High normal" reading is 21. They like to see numbers below 20. My right eye was 20 at the time. Fine. Usually is around 16 for me, but that's normal.
My left eye was an "all-time record" for young Dr. Schaeffer.
74.
The charts only go to 80. This was like, umm, really, really, really bad. He said the number in front of his nurse, who uttered, "Oh My God" in front of me. I suspect that's not taught as an appropriate thing to say in front of a patient.
He left to call the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital to make sure I would be treated immediately, gave me two separate drops to lessen pressure, "It probably won't help, Mr. Cartwright, but I have to do something," and I was sent on my way without billing, paperwork, etc. done. We will do it later. "You have to get to the hospital, not later today, but now," he told me.
I arrived at the Eye hospital again in record time. I don't know why Friday afternoon/early evening traffic on one of the worst congested highways I know was flowing like a dream, but somebody was looking out for me.
Without boring details, the staff at the hospital took very good care of me, with the resident being ultra-attentive and the fellow spending plenty of time making sure the pressure got down with pills and power-drops. Even a diuretic (hey, it gets rid of fluids all over, including those in your eyes). I bet I had 30 drops placed in my eyes yesterday, spread out over a few hours. (For the record, when I arrived, it was down to 65, so the pressure drops given to me by the optometrist did some good.) About 10:30 last night my pressure was "down" to 47 and what would ordinarily have been a number that would have scared the pants off me was a number I was celebrating. There was no optic nerve damage done, and should be no lasting effects.
Hit my 24-hour pharmacy on the way home--which took longer, at 11 p.m., than it did at 6 p.m.--picked up two prescriptions and went home to eat dinner.
There's a history behind what occurred yesterday, and a great deal of stubborness on my part that led to what occurred. When I was 9 years old, I was hit in the eye with a rock by a 13-year old kid who threw it. I lost sight in the eye with a trauma-induced cataract until I was 26, at which point I had an artificial lens implant put in and could see for the first time in 17 years. Sometimes an injury to an eye--and I had two "injuries" of sorts, including the artificial lens implant surgery--will create glaucoma, and that is what occurred. For years my pressure has run high--into the 30's, and numbers that should bother me, but I kept a close watch on it, had pressure drops prescribed that worked, but bothered me, and lots of other stuff.
No more. I will be a faithful user. That was more than scary.
Thanks again to the two medical staffs, from the receptionist at Dr. Schaeffer's office, to his tech person who said they'd keep the doors open for me, and to the terrific staff at the eye hospital. Man, they were great yesterday.