One reason a person loses track of their blog is because they lose the ability to read. In my case, it was thanks to a corneal ulcer just over the pupil in my right eye.
Last Tuesday around noon, my right eye started became light-sensitive and had stabbing pains regularly. It was bad enough that I couldn't drive. Concerned I was about to get a migraine, I went with my standard remedy: a handful of Tylenol and hot showers in the dark. My eye didn't get better. That night, I was writhing in pain and wishing I could just stab my eye out.
The next morning, my eye was red and swollen. I spent the night constantly tearing up and trying to sleep. I managed to get an ophthalmologist appointment late in the morning on Wednesday, despite UW Health always being super-busy and my status as unemployed and uninsured. The exam results worried the doctor quite a bit; I ended up getting forwarded on to a corneal specialist with the university.
Several hours later, I had my preliminary diagnosis and my first treatment: Vigamox. All in all, this was pretty horrible thus far; not only did the disease involve shit growing in my eye (disgusting in and of itself), but the doctor had to scrape my eye to get a test sample. And I got to live out one of my own (minor) fears: eyedrops. Yes, I am very uncomfortable with the idea of things being in my eyes, even if they're for my own good.
So every hour, I put eyedrops in. When I'm sleeping? Every two hours. So not so much with the sleeping.
The next day (Thursday), things felt a little better. I was still light-sensitive, but the pain was much less and my eye was less swollen. More doctor appointments, and I met another corneal specialist who was helping with the case. By this point, I had been to three UW eye clinics.
My eye continued to improve into Friday, and another doctor's appointment saw some return of my vision as well. The every-two-hours-at-night Vigamox treatment was called off, instead replaced with a nightly eye cream. The cream - called Bacitracin - is inserted under my lower eyelid at night and rolled around my eye before sleeping. It's nowhere near as fun as it sounds.
But now, my vision is good enough that I can come back to the blog and also run Nexus. And so I shall.
Before I end the blog, I have a couple more pictures and facts to share.
This is a bottle of Vigamox:
That costs $90. It lasts roughly three days.
This is Bacitracin:
That costs $75. I have no idea how long it lasts yet.
And somehow I'm supposed to be able to afford these medications (not to mention the doctor visits) to save my eye while being uninsured with no real income. What a wonderful system we have.