In Which My Retinas Rebel and I Require Emergency Surgery... Twice.

You've all had the conversation with your friends -- if you had to choose, would you rather be deaf or blind? I chose deaf, hands down. Sure, I'd miss music, and it might slow down conversations til I got used to lip reading and signing, but I could still read and write without braille.

Did you know that one millimeter of your retina is basically responsible for vision? I do now.

On Thursday, I went to an opthamologist to get my left eye checked out. I'd been seeing a weird flash of light a couple times a day since Christmas, and I thought it might be a sign of a retinal tear.

My doctor decided to check out both eyes, just to be safe.

After numbing drops, dilation drops, one large suction cup-like contact that allowed a microscopic view of my retina, and a whole lot of blinding light, I had my diagnosis.

My right eye, which had no symptoms, had two horseshoe tears. Which are super prone to detachment.

Retinal detachment = blindness.

The bad news: The right eye was my good eye.

My left eye had a 25% detachment.

That's very very not good.

So right then and there, I had to have laser surgery in both eyes to prevent a full detachment and the two tears from joining forces to make a detachment of their own.

Laser surgery = me wide awake, holding both eyes open and remaining completely still as a green laser tattoos around the damaged areas. (Moderately painful.) The laser causes scarring, which acts as glue, keeping the tear/detachment contained. Not the most comfortable surgery, but the recovery time is incredible.

And I'm still allowed to read, watch TV, and type on the computer. (Yay!) Hence, this post.

I went back on Friday so he could check everything out again. More numbing and dilation drops, gigantic contact microscope, and bright lights. One of the tears in my right eye was still iffy. More lasering! (Owww. I'd woken up that morning with my eyes swollen like I'd come out of the wrong end of a fight. This didn't help.)

After a long, miserable night of recovery, I actually (miraculously) was able to attend Janet Reid's query workshop with Frankie on Saturday. (We'll be posting about that soon!)

I have another followup appointment today, and I'm hoping my scarring (which will develop for a month) is progressing nicely. Cross your fingers and pray to your god of choice for me!

Moment of honesty: This whole process has been kinda terrifying. The idea that my retinas could've fully detached at any moment -- which would've required an intense surgery and a monthlong recovery -- scared me silly. That surgery may still be in my future.

I wrote this post as a reminder for you guys not to ignore weird things your body tells you. I put off making an opthamologist appointment for two weeks, and thank God I didn't wait longer. Life is hectic, but you can't take risks with your health.

And just so I don't avoid the question that you're all wondering: What causes retinal tears/detachment? For me, it was probably my nearsightedness. And a family history of retinal problems. Many times it's from head injuries in sports or accidents -- which totally wasn't the reason in my case, since I'm the opposite of athletic. But overall, 7% of people have a retinal tear in their lifetime.

Anyway, I consider myself very lucky. I hope you'll never have to deal with any retinal problems in your lifetime, but please check out the signs of a retinal detachment just in case. My awareness of these symptoms saved my vision!

Any questions I didn't answer? Anyone else out there with rebellious retinas? Let me know!