Well, That Was Fun!

As of last update, I was in the emergency department at Ben and Jerry's Hospital getting worked up for an episode of double vision. After a normal CT scan and MRI, I had to wait overnight for a visit from the eye doctor and for an echocardiogram to make sure there wasn't a big, floppy blood clot throwing off bits and pieces into my brain.

That was the day before yesterday. They put me in a room in 'observation' (part of the emergency room where they keep you if you are there for more than a few hours, but they don't want to admit you). Surprisingly, if you have your own room and are hard of hearing like me, you can sleep pretty well in the ER. You take your hearing aids out, put in earplugs, and it's pretty quiet. There are pluses to bad hearing. K, on the other hand, slept terribly, worrying about me.

Yesterday, late in the morning, a technician wheeled in her ultrasound machine and got an echocardiogram of my heart. This involves the tech rubbing a microphone covered with KY Jelly on my chest. Those of you who have been pregnant may be familiar with a similar experience. It's a rather slimy. To everyone's relief, there is not a great big blood clot flopping around inside my heart waiting to fly off into my brain!

Finally, the ophthalmologist came by. He examined my eyes. I'm always jealous of ophthalmologists. They have all sorts of cool equipment to look into eyes. I only get to use the wimpy kind of ophthalmoscope primary care docs get. It makes me feel inferior. Thankfully, he did not rub it in.

The ophthalmologist agreed that the most likely explanation for my episode of double vision is that my extreme fatigue had amplified the inherent weakness of the muscles that move my right eye.* I had been really tired that day. Not only was there an early-morning meeting at my office, the night before, I had a migraine and had foolishly treated it with caffeine in addition to ibuprofen. I slept terribly that night.

Shortly after the ophthalmologist left, K showed up. I was ready to go home. Sadly, because someone had to put an official read on the echo and various notes had to be written, I had to wait until late afternoon to go home. Still, I had time to take the dog for a walk. It was a pretty short ordeal for a Tumoriffic episode.

That's all, folks!

T





* The muscles that move my right eye (extraocular muscles) are weak due the radiation and surgery I received in 2005. Generally doesn't bother me unless I look down or way to the right.

** I have been getting migraines lately, probably because I just got progressive lenses, and I'm not used to them.

Saying 'goodbye' to the ER and 'hello' to my new friend.