9 am, out the door, and off to the Spokane Eye Center—had a very fast rush into filling out paperwork, answering tons of questions: no fool I, I brought my previous meds with me so that was one set of blanks. Then we wait 30 minutes for the doc, who runs the usual things the optometrist does, then does a lesion scan with yellow eye drops, a pressure test with numbing drops, and finally dialation drops and sends me off to wait 20 minutes out in the lobby—Jane is in a political argument with 2 locals out there, but alas, I had to leave her, as I was nabbed back to another room to wait for 30 minutes (it is a busy place) and finally to get a really thorough once over: so—I appreciate the doc, who is very willing to talk science and what she’s seeing and how she reasons it: the upshot diagnosis: iritis, or inflamation of the iris. Which, no, I have never been diagnosed with betore: if I had they would worry, but not a big worry. It is an indicator of autoimmune disease, such as lupus, various others, but also arthritis, and I do have a bit of a problem in one finger, not the one I broke, but the one I overuse with the trackpoint mouse.
So the prescription is some prednisone-derivative eyedrops 5 x daily and a blood test for arthritis markers. Well, if that should be what it is, it might be a really lucky break to tag it early. Or it could just be from the contacts. I really hope I don’t have to go over to wearing glasses, but the fact is, I like seeing. And I am impressed this doc knows what she’s doing.
So no contacts, and these eyedrops—plus 2x daily I have to dilate my eyes (yep, the stuff they use) to give the iris a rest and try to calm that down.
So that’s the story. We went out to exchange my cable tv box, which had quietly died the death yesterday: all its little lights had gone out. We got my meds at Freddie Meyers, and we also got our flu shots. We were going to go to Costco, but I had begun to have that kind of ill-defined headache you get from having your eyes messed with and pressure-tested, so I decided we should leave off the last stop and go home.
We have also resolved to use up what we’ve got of carb-type food in the freezer, then go back on Atkins for a few months to get rid of the weight we’ve gained being bad. WE always feel better when we’re on Atkins, anyway, and I think it’s time. I’m going to have to do some shifting about in the kitchen, and we’ve got some things to eat up, (logical, eh) before we diet them off.
I’ve been able to wear contacts despite a scar on the cornea—broke my arm, age 7, was in one of those country hospitals with open windows, no screens, no air conditioning, and they couldn’t find a doctor—and probably couldn’t find an anaesthesiologist. They got a doc from Fort Sill, took him quite a while to get there; then he set the arm once, x-rayed it and didn’t like the set, so he took the cast off, did a re-set, (for which I’m eternally grateful)—but somewhere in this irregular business, the person handling the ether dripped it in my left eye—well, I had HAD pinkeye already. This just didn’t help at all. The eye scarred. I kept having docs running in to look at my eye, and the other doc had to saw the plaster cast open because my hand had turned blue—that hurt like blazes. So I had pinkeye, a scarred cornea, and a broken arm, in a very hot hospital room—and no damn food. They kept trying to give me Jell-o and Malt o Meal, and I could smell bacon. I had my Mum trek down to the kitchen and get me some: they swore I’d heave it up, but they gave it to her. And it was burned, but, boy that salt tasted so good. I think I had an electrolyte problem, as we’d say nowadays…
I spent a month without work because of the eye trouble and two doctors said no to contacts so I’ll probably keep asking but obeying if they keep saying no. Meanwhile I look like I’m cosplaying Velma from Scooby Doo. Nobodys got time for that. 😛
I like my bacon cremated. I always crave salt when I’m any kind of sick and it isn’t nice to smell bacon and not get any. Coconut water is my latest fix all if I feel “off”. Natural sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. I’m usually borderline on all of those when I’m off.
It’s so, so important to have a doctor you can communicate with. I’ve been a medical transcriptionist for 25 years, so they don’t have to dumb it down or “translate it into English” to talk to me. They can use the medical terminology. Some doctors find this situation threatening and don’t deal with it well. But when you get one who will be up front and talk to you one on one, they are like gold! So glad you got one who will do that.
When I had a kidney stone, I got so hungry for tomatoes. I asked my doctor about it and he said “Great!” (They’re acidic) He had some sent up from the kitchen. Whole. I ate them like apples and loved every bite. Two week — TWO WEEKS! — they tried to get me to pass that sucker before they finally relented and went and got it. It was during that episode I discovered I’m allergic to opiods – “real” or synthetic. They make me itch like crazy and if I get enough on board I start talking to people who aren’t there. When I had my shoulder surgery, they gave me morphine and Benadryl (antihistamine) at the end of the surgery, but the Benadryl zonked me so I’d start to fade out, my blood oxygen level would go below 80%, the alarm would go off, and the nurse would have to wake me up and make me breathe. Being allergic to opiods means no Darvon, no Demerol, no morphine, no fentanyl, no anything that ends in “-codone” unless I take an antihistamine with it– and on top of it, I’m allergic to aspirin too. I’m pretty much limited to ibuprofen (Advil), acetaminophen (Tylenol), and naproxen (Aleve).
You might’ve needed the salt and proteins and fats from the bacon. Or you might’ve been craving it because, hey, that smells great! Could well be both.
I’ve discovered if I don’t get enough red meat, I have a lot less energy. So budget and all, more red meat in my diet. I haven’t been eating as many vegetables lately. Can’t figure out if that’s being lazy, depressive, or an actual dietary, biological need. Ordinarily, I think I eat more veggies than many people do habitually. I got out of eating tomatoes much, because my grandmother was on a low-acide, low-fiber or coarse foods diet, due to diverticulitis and meds interactions. (She had Alzheimer’s too.) So a few foods, I have been out of the habit of eating, and when I get them, I either have to adjust, or I get a craving for more.
WOL — I had a medical transcription course and did very well at it. The vocab was no problem. Typing to a recorder meant a heckuva lot of stopping and starting of tape, didn’t have a transcriptionist’s recorder at work or home. …And it daunted my mother, who took the course with me and was an English major and fast typist. I think it bothered her that I didn’t have any trouble besides doggedly pausing tape and typing. (I’m average to above average at typing speed and accuracy. My mother was very fast and very accurate, usually. But she was then in her 60’s and not as strong with languages.) I think if she’d done better, we might’ve done transcription. She didn’t want to get into the ins. coding either.
But that refresher on medical vocabulary *really* came in handy when I began handling health issues for my grandmother. Very glad I had biology as my college science courses, even though I didn’t absorb all of it.
LOL, Malt-o-Meal versus bacon. I like Malt-o-Meal. But with the smell of bacon around, if my stomach thought that smelled great, lol, I could sure see wanting bacon. (This reminds me I bought breakfast sausage Wednesday, better use it.)