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Last year at this time I got some fairly surprising news about the health of my eyes, namely Posterior Vitreous Detachment, or PVD, in the right eye. Fortunately nothing ever came of that aside from annoying blind spots coming and going in various places in my vision. I actually had the same thing happen in my left eye over the course of the past year without the fireworks I had in my right eye.

I had my annual eye exam scheduled for last Friday. The Tuesday before, one week ago today, however, I had to take a day off from work to deal with a mild ear ache. Nothing I'd normally go to the doctor for, but Kathy and I will be taking a vacation to Hawaii soon, and I didn't want anything to go wrong. Turns out it was just excess wax.

They took my blood pressure before and after removing the wax. Before, it was 164/114. Waaaay over normal. After it had come down to 140/94. More acceptable, although still high. I got the diet and exercise lecture, and thought little more of it.

Which brings us to the eye exam on Friday. The University Eye Institute is a place on campus at the University of Houston where students learn by doing the exams themselves, and then have an instructor check their work by doing the same exam again. Kathy and I like the fact that this basically results in two sets of eyes looking for bad stuff.

And, this time, it paid off.

The student didn't find anything. In his defense, they were expecting a normal eye exam, and then I hit them with "hey, I've got PVD and have had a few minor spots in my eye since". So when the instructor came back in, she looked in there and almost immediately began rattling things off. Microaneurysms. Flame-shaped hemmorrhages. After a few more tests, Hypertensive retinopathy was the diagnosis, and spiking blood pressure the probable cause.

All I wanted was a new prescription for lenses. And now I've got flames in my eyes.

Wait a second... How cool is that! Fiery eyes! That's way better than being a pirate.

So today, I visited with my doctor again, with the blood pressure running at 146/110. With the readings they have taken plus the changes in my eyes, it's become official: I have high blood pressure. They're screening for other things just to be safe, with EKGs, blood samples, and an ultrasound.

I really shouldn't be surprised. It runs in the family, so it was very likely I'd end up with it at some point or another. The best thing is that nothing serious has happened, and now I can take steps to keep the blood pressure under control. And I'm sure a trip to Hawaii won't hurt, either.

Labels: Life, Vision

Monday, June 14, 2010

"Eye" Yi Yi
Posted: 6:28:00 PM 0 comments

So it was two nights before my 33rd birthday. I was up late, tinkering with some things in Caesary, when I noticed something odd. As my eyes wandered around the web page, there were various letters coming in and out of my right eye's vision. Little tiny spots obscured my vision. It was late, but I figured I was just a bit too tired, so I went to bed, thinking it would be gone the next day.

Nope.

I got to work and noticed them again immediately. It scared me enough to see an eye doctor the following week. What they found was a little unnerving.

Vitreous detachment is a rare event for people under the age of 40, and in extreme cases can lead to retinal detachment, which can only be repaired with surgery. Fortunately, that is very low chance, and the fact that I still have 20/20 vision in my right eye gives me a measure of relief.

The process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks to complete, so apparently there's a good chance that I'm going to be in for a visual show before all is said and done. For now, there's nothing good that can come of worrying about what might happen, so it's still business as usual.

But I must say, becoming a one-eyed pirate does have some appeal to it. Yarrrrrr.

Labels: Life, Vision

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Vision
Posted: 4:00:00 PM 0 comments

Now playing: Gopher - 3: Meeting - The Gathering of Arms (6:39)

Heh... this is a first. I woke up from a short nap, and have been reading online and coresponding with people for a good hour and a half. My eyes glazed over for a moment as they often do when I'm tired... I went to refocus, and began to think how incredibly clear my glasses were! They were scrubbed today, so there was good reason to think this. Unfortunately, the bad reason to think this was the fact that they were sitting, not on my nose, but on the coffee table by where I had napped.

I got glasses several months ago to correct the difference in vision between my left (20/20) and right (20/15) eyes which had been bothering me for some time. I've liked them so much, I wear them almost all the time, and the difference is remarkable. I've since noticed that I usually strain slightly at my ridiculous 2048x1536 resolution when I'm not wearing them, though this isn't the case today.

In any case, I'll have the glasses back on for sure tonight when I head out with a friend of mine who I haven't seen in a couple years. I'm not even sure he's aware I have them yet, so the reaction should be rather amusing.

Labels: Life, Vision