Back in 2010
I did the most stupid thing, I briefly got an eye lash separator aka “ weapon of cornea
destruction “ as I now call it (and I think my Mum does too) into my right eye
which caused a corneal
abrasion. I already had a cataract forming in
the same eye that my ophthalmologist had discovered just a few weeks prior
(that really shocked me abit … but remember I am getting to be an old cat
here).
Fast
forward almost 5 years later. I’ve been
noticing lately that I always seem to have sand in my eyes, and I put it down
to air quality, heat. I use eye drops
once in awhile, and even use Muro
128 that is meant for this type of eye problem when I “remember” to you
both the eye drops and gel. See note below what I had been using had been recalled –
yikes!
Come
Halloween night, I had a pretty teary and red eyeball that seemed to just come
out of the blue. It made for that extra scary affect as I swung open the door
and demanded to know what they wanted (some kids coming up the doorstep said my
house creeped them out … jezz Louise … this is Halloween!!! Boo to you little
cute Princesses, etc. etc.).
The next
day, I was in agony. Eyes welling up with tears and I was even feeling
depressed or down like I have been lately.
My eye was just leaking on its own accord and PAINFUL!! Light made me feel like I was a vampire,
wanting to seek shelter in the ground.
Sadly, I can’t do that, and even worse, working my shift with a lit up
terminal was agony.
Because of
my fear of going into a walk-in clinic like I had back in 2010, I called up the optometrist I was going to see
for my yearly diabetic exam in December ( free for us in this province when it’s diabetes
related – otherwise like in this case – I paid for each visit of $35). I've been wearing glasses since Grade 5 and I’ve never been to an optometrist for diabetic
eye check ups except for vision testing ( you pay for this in most provinces of Canada). I’m hoping that if my optometrist can’t help me
with a problem that is diabetes related, that he will refer me to an ophthalmologist,
and at that point, I no longer pay out of pocket. If anyone from Ontario is reading this,
correct me if I’m wrong.
Unlike
Quebec though, where trying to see someone right away is impossible which is
what occurred to me in 2010 … this optometrist office said get here stat. Luckily, it’s within a 5 minute walk since I
wasn’t fit to drive a car with this wacko eyeball affecting the other one, so
off I trotted.
Long story
short? I had a pretty serious corneal
abrasion that meant wearing a temporary clear contact lens for at least 24-48
hours (it was a bitch to put in by the optician since according to him I’m 1 in
100 that has very small eyes for my age and he had to use a child’s contact in
the end). Also, an antibiotic drop was
given for 4 days to be on safe side along with keeping the eyeball bathed
in gel drops for AM/PM use and other drops that will keep my eyeball encased in
fluid (hang on a moment – off to put in some drops).
The one
thing he mentioned is what I have is very common in children and women due to
our rubbing our eyes (which I don’t – so I’m wondering if part of the problem
was from using the Muro 128 gel that had been recalled). Also, this problem of dry eyes is seen in
women in their menopause period of life, and can go on for … well like forever
is the way I am understand him. Time to
buy stock in Alcon or Bausch & Lomb!
With a few
follow ups over the first 2 weeks after the initial visit I’m now diligently
putting those drops in my eyes and due to the seriousness of the abrasion, I’m
on a tetracycline antibiotic for the next 3-6 months in order to save the
cornea from further damage (hey wonder if my teeth will discolour
like one of my friends did as a teenager when she had to go on them for skin
issues). Anyway, vanity aside of my
pearly whites because I don’t use my teeth to see J . The best thing about this optometrist is he's is up front and honest saying that
it was serious and stated that if anything unusual occurs in the eye in the meantime,
get myself either to his office STAT when it’s open or go to ER. He gets right to the point with no sugar coating.
Now, if I
lived back in Quebec … the land of waiting waiting waiting … I might not be
writing this out today because my eyesight would be badly compromised at this
point. So far, this move to Ontario has been a good one, despite my home sickness for Montreal and friends. Medically speaking, even with what occurred at Cornwall Community Hospital in September, along with recent endo appointment, all is good in my little world of medical practise.
So, shout
out to Dr.
Steve Bacher of Cornwall (gotta love his recent post on his wall about the 20-20-20 rule)!! My
eyesight has been saved … and even better … it’s not due to diabetes!! Whoo! Whoo!
Note: I only discovered when writing up this blog today that the Muro 128 eye gel drops I am using have the serial number that had been recalled back in June
18, 2014! I have been using
these gel drops since July of this year, which is sort of when I started to notice problems with something in my eye. Why the pharmacy (Costco in Laval) that distributed these drops
didn’t inform patients of this problem is abit frightening because I would have continued using them!
