Preface I

So my trip to Korea needs a little bit of a preface. About a month before we were due to leave, my eyes started to bug me. One Monday, they felt a little bit itchy; Tuesday, they hurt; Wednesday, they stopped hurting but my vision was blurred, and on Thursday, they were back to hurting AND my vision was blurred. I finally broke down and went to the immediate clinic near our house. It was also incidentally Alana's birthday. (Sorry, baby girl....)

There the PA looked in my eyes, but ultimately couldn't find anything odd. He said that it was best to go to an ophthalmologist and get my eyes dilated. I didn't want to try to find an ophthalmologist on short notice and knew that my optometrist at the local Costco could also dilate and had the necessary equipment. Fortunately, Justin had decided to work from home that day and I asked him if he could drive me over and home afterwards because you're not supposed to drive. Luckily, Justin has the most understanding manager and he just took the rest of the afternoon off. I managed to get an appointment shortly after noon.

I love the optometrist at the Costco because she's has a good sense of humour and is VERY competent. She took a look in my eyes, and I started babbling about how I was pretty sure it was just allergies and nothing, but I just wanted to make sure. She pulled back and looked me straight in my aching eyes and said, "You have granulomas."

I busted out laughing, which she TOTALLY didn't expect because that's not a normal reaction. Pfft, normal is overrated, apparently. I explained my medical history. She told me that the granulomas in my eyes had caused them to swell, which then in turn had my iris get stuck on my lens, which why they hurt and my vision was blurry. I asked her point-blank what's the worst thing that could happen at this point. After hemming and hawing a little bit because she didn't want to tell me, she said that it was possible I would have partial vision loss.

She didn't want to dilate my eyes because she wanted it done in a controlled environment and a ophthalmologist (doh!) to do it because it was likely my iris would tear slightly when forced to contract. I said okay, I'd get on that tomorrow, but no, she wanted it done TODAY. She ended up calling a specialty eye clinic near us and brow beat them into getting me an appointment for 3. She was very nice about it and insisted to the front desk that we didn't have to pay, which made her a hero in my book.

At this point, I have to say that Kübler-Ross clearly knew her stuff. I left the optometrist with a "You have got to be kidding me" sort of attitude that then quickly descended into a "You have GOT TO BE F'ing KIDDING ME."

I had to be at Alana's class at 2:15 with birthday treats for her class, so we dropped off treats and beat a hasty path to the car to drive to the clinic. Justin dropped me off and then drove quickly back to school to pick up the kids while I waited for the doctor to come in. The ophthalmologist fortunately turned out to be very nice. She listened to my history and prescribed me a couple different steroids to put in my eyes 4 times a day (!) and another drop that would keep my eye dilated. She then dropped in some lovely orange liquid that numbed my eyes, and then dilated my pupil. Fortunately, my iris didn't tear or cause any bleeding. She offered me some lovely medical shades (good thing I had my sunglasses) and let me go. By this time Justin had brought the kids over and we were all too tired to try to come up with dinner. So Alana's birthday dinner was sushi, which fortunately both my kids love, Sorry, baby girl. One of these days I'll try not to have food poisoning or strange eye problems on your birthday. The Costco optometrist also called me later that night to make sure I was okay and that my eyes had dilated without an issues. (seriously, hero)

So the upshot was that I've been having to drop steroids into my eyes for the past month, including the time I was in Korea. I also had to come back to the ophthalmologist weekly, but she said the pressure in my eye was safe enough to fly so as long as I remember my drops, the trip wasn't an issue. My last appointment was a week ago, the day after we got back, and the granulomas were gone, so now I'm working on weaning off the steroids completely and getting my life back on track.