The mystery group got together last night and went out to Rick Mofina's signing at the Chapters store in Bayer's Lake. I've seen his name often enough but I haven't read any of his books. Yet. I bought one my group-mate recommended about a lost child, and he told us about the real case that inspired the story. The real-life story had a happy ending. I'm not necessarily counting on one for the book.

In other news, I'm going to my optometrist this morning to see whether my glasses prescription needs to be adjusted. Ever since the laser surgery last week I've felt like my glasses aren't quite right. I have to work a lot harder to focus on anything fairly near me, which could mean I suddenly need bifocals or something. But it happened abruptly right after the surgery. I did call the ophthalmologist's office and they don't think it's a sign of anything wrong, but I wish I didn't have to get my glasses changed again--I just got the new ones last week!

On the other hand, I'm also not going to go around with eyestrain for the next year, either.

It's always something.

Okay. As I mentioned some time ago, my last couple of eye exams showed weak spots in my retina ("lattices," which makes me think of pastry instead of gardening, and in fact gives a whole new meaning to the expression "pie-eyed," but I digress.) This time there was an actual hole, which was obviously a cause for concern, so I was referred to an ophthalmologist for laser corrective treatment. This wasn't LASIK, and my vision was not affected, but it was necessary to sort of... weld everything back in place.

I saw the ophthalmologist a few weeks ago and because I was not seeing flashes or floaters he remarked that in a less myopic person they might not do anything yet, but since myopia plus retinal lattices/holes can add to the risk of a detached retina he wanted to do the procedure soon. When he put it that way I was in total agreement. Actually, since there is no prep and no particular aftercare, he would have done one eye that same afternoon, but I'd had a long wait and the waiting room was still packed and I had no one to escort me home and, okay, I wanted to go to Gloryhound's first Pogue Fado show that night... I ended up declining and making an appointment for a day during my second week of vacation when latsyrk could come with me and make sure I got on the right bus to go home.

And then the doctor got called out of town all that week, so I had to reschedule for yesterday.

Which brings us up to date.

The appointment was for three PM and when I got there it was clear the office was trying to clear the backlog from the missing week. It was wall-to-wall people, and I am sure latsyrk, who is quite a bit younger than I am, thought she had stumbled into God's waiting room. (I think I was the second-youngest person there, which was weird. Age is hell on your eyeballs.) Anyway, I got the dilating eye drops and waited.

For over three hours.

But there were people there who waited for five hours just to have a five-minute recheck on something, and some of them looked like they didn't have much time to waste, if you know what I mean. It was sort of like when you're on a bus in a snowstorm and it takes four hours to get home and by the end of it you're all a community of annoyance and exhaustion and, eventually, giddiness. I think latsyrk ended up trading recipes or something with several people while I went in for my procedure.

( Which, in deference to the fact it's all about eyeballs and laser beams, I shall put behind a cut. )

latsyrk's husband had gotten home from work before I ever went in for the procedure, and he offered to come pick us up. Which was really nice of him since it was raining pretty hard by then (however! Dim and grey is good when your pupils are the size of wagon wheels!) and since we were all hungry we went for pizza. They pretended not to notice the way my eyes kept tearing--I probably should have gone straight home to bed but I was hungry, and the pizza was really good. I was in bed by eight-thirty, on the principle that if I can't read I might as well be asleep.

Today things are more or less fine, although I perceive I am a little prone to eyestrain and that may mean I'll be going home early in spite of a desk shift this afternoon. It's dead quiet in terms of reference questions right now so I don't imagine it'll be a big problem. I was mostly concerned with the class I'm teaching in an hour or so. That, I couldn't hand off or reschedule.

Anyway, all done, not too bad as these things go, and now I fully understand why it's such a bad idea to direct a laser pointer at anyone's eyes.

I assume I'll be fine to go see Mitzi tonight. I'll just have to bypass the section of street where the water main broke and tore up the road.

But that's another story.

I forgot to mention that my laser surgery had to be rescheduled, so I'm going off in about an hour to have laser beams shot into my eye. Nice. The wonderful latsyrk has agreed to meet me and make sure I get on the right bus to come home!

I'm not really worried... but the idea does freak me out a little bit.

Okay, so the ophthalmologist appointment yesterday was no big deal. I do have some weak spots on my retina (I have no idea why I was so sure it was the cornea we were concerned about, but it's the retina. Retina, retina, retina. I do know the difference between the two!) but everything else looks fine and the doctor said if I wasn't so nearsighted we might not even bother with the lasers. But severe myopia (by which I mean that if I take off my glasses and you wear a grey sweater, I wouldn't be able to tell you apart from Coney) is one of the things that can make these weak spots more likely to cause trouble. And also: hole in my retina!! So I'm spending at least one vacation day getting laser beams shot into my eyes.

Aside from that prospect the only thing I can complain about is not only pupil dilation, but local anesthesia, which not only froze my eyeball but the lids as well. It may have been the same freezing agent the vet uses on Coney when his eye acts up, in which case I am all sympathy, big guy.

By the time I got home my pupils were the size of dinner plates and I had that look cats get when they're about to pounce on an unwary mouse (or, in Coney's case, raspberry.) The cats were slightly freaked out, but reassured when I told them I had no intention of pouncing on anyone and went to bed. (If you can't see, you might as well nap.)

By about eight the effects of the drugs were pretty much gone, and I was well rested to go out. So really, bonus all around. More on that in the next post!

I have an appointment tomorrow with the kind of eye specialist who ends up wielding lasers. It's not for Lasik or anything, just a consult that will eventually lead to laser surgery to repair a hole and a bunch of weak spots in my corneas.

You may recall that Mitzi is prone to eye infections, Coney to corneal ulcers, and even Vlad has had one bout of squinch-eye a while back.

I'm beginning to think I should ask everyone who comes near me to wear protective goggles or something, because it has to be me.

I'm sure it'll all be fine, I'm just ever-so-slightly freaked out by the whole concept.

As antibiotics, I mean. I just had Coney to the vet and she was much more concerned about the scratches on his nose (Bojo? Or Vlad?--who sometimes hits the one he's with instead of the one he's mad at) than she was about his eye. In fact, the eye is apparently perfect again. And as long as there's no steroid included in the eyedrops, it's okay to use the people kind if you're home on a weekend with your pupils the size of dinner plates and don't feel like it's safe to drive to Dartmouth. Whether it was an ulcer or a scratch, whatever it was has totally cleared up so I can stop pestering the poor dear.

And I can start pestering Bojo about trimming his claws. Just in case it was him.

I started the day off with an eye appointment and pupil dilation. My brother kindly gave me a lift home afterward. Turns out I have a hole in my right cornea so at some point fairly soon I'll have to have laser corrective surgery, not to fix my vision but to ensure nothing falls out. Nice.

And Coney got another of his stress-related eye problems over the weekend. I gave him some Polysporin antibiotic drops and he seemed to respond well, so I'm taking him in to be checked tomorrow evening but I think he's fine. Although the tech who answered the phone at the vet told me they don't recommend those drops as first aid "because they aren't antibiotics or anything, they just make them more comfortable." Okay, if they're not antibiotic drops, why are they allowed to label them antibiotic drops and recommend them for treatment of minor eye infections?

I am going to have to start insisting on talking to a vet when I call my clinic, for though I love my vets, I have gotten some mighty conflicting information out of the front-line staff. One of the vets has a message to give me a ring this evening so we can talk real quick about the problem. I mean, if what I did was wrong I won't do it again, I'll just take him straight to the emergency clinic, but I don't think I believe what I got from the person I spoke to this morning.

Argh. However, as I say, he's not squinting or in any distress so I think the problem is clearing. I just want him checked to make sure it is, and get proper drops if not.

...the vet called back. He specifically told me that in anterior uveitis (please don't tell me there are many kinds, I know it has many causes) there are particular changes inside the eye that Mitzi doesn't have. Her issue is always with the conjunctiva, which leads him to suspect that the cornea in her left eye is less sensitive than it should be and she doesn't always blink when she should. I'll take it.

I'll also ask that she wear her mask when she's outside, and if TeePee rips it off I'll get her another one.

More ointment for the weekend, a little more bute, and if it happens again he'll definitely have another look inside the eye. If I explain it's only for another few days, maybe she'll keep on not stomping on me. (Matt Mays's sore eye looked much worse, but I bet he didn't need to be held by the nose to be given eyedrops. Still, I doubt he was any better patient than Mitzi.)