heartrunes

I've been having trouble with my eyes for a while. Because of it, I've been wearing my glasses more than usual for reading and working on the computer.

The last week in the evenings, I've been having sharp throbbing pains from the inside corner of my left eye all the way to my left ear. The pain has only been in that area. None above or below that would indicate a sinus infection.

Thursday night, I finally had enough. I got a friend to watch the kids and went to the ER. When I described what was happening, they had me read the basic eye chart and then did a CT scan (?!!). The results of the CT scan were clear. Nothing wrong. So, the doctor called the eye surgeon. He had them numb my left eye and do a touch test (?). The numbers on it were good. So then they dilated both my eyes to look behind them. Nothing. I left the ER several hours later with the expectation of a consult with the eye surgeon at a later date.

Friday morning on my way to work, I got a call from the eye surgeon. He would see me as soon as I got there. Dropped the kids at school, turned the keys over to my nurse and headed for the Naval Hospital.

The eye surgeon did a color test and a basic read of my eyes and my prescription glasses. It appears that my glasses are way to weak for reading/computer work. The left eye needs to be nearly 3 times stronger.

The problem is, when most eye doctors examine my eyes, they assume that because I am dominate right eyed and my left eye is so weak that I can't see out of the left eye corrected. It's like they totally ignore the left eye.

So what has been occuring is that my left eye is trying to work (as in for reading) and because the lens isn't the right strength, the muscles of my eye kept adjusting trying to get the eye in focus. This is causing the pain behind my eyes.

He wrote out a new prescription for reading/distance glasses. the easiest way (and possibly the only way) to correct my vision is for me to wear a contact lens in my left eye and then have a pair of glasses to get me to reading strength.

He also recommended I see a civilian eye doctor to get the prescription in the event I have glasses made and there is a problem.

I called TRICARE to see if I could get a new eye exam. NOOOOOOOO. TRICARE only pays for one eye exam every two years. But your prescription is good for only ONE year. Hello? Do you see a problem? They told me I would need to visit my primary care physician and get a referral.

I visited my primary care physician only to discover that he quit taking new clients five years ago and I couldn't see him. Back to the hospital I went to see the TRICARE office. They set me up with a different doctor in the same office and I was set.

Back to the doctor's office to set up an appointment for Monday so I can get a referral to an eye doctor.

Guess it was overdue. I've not had an exam in about seven years. Yeah, I know. Bad Deb.

All the time I'm doing this running around, my eyes have been dilated.

The eye surgeon had dilated them with the regular drops they use for that and then used another kind of drops to cause them to dilate even more! Before I left he told me they would be dilated for up to 6 hours. This is why I got a day off. I couldn't see the computer monitor to make entries nor read the paperwork for the kids medications.

Saturday, Chaz had a soccer game. They lost but he scored another goal for the season. He's up to 11 goals total in 4 games. He's the dude! LOL

Last night was GraceFest. We were given tickets to go but because of the weather, the kids and I decided not to attend.

Instead, we chose to go to the homeschooler's drama presentation. Afterward, as the kids talked and I talked with the other Deb, we changed our minds and decided to go.

We got to the fairgrounds around 7:25 p.m. Kutless went on stage a few minutes later. About 10 minutes into their set, the skies opened up and it poured. The band stopped playing and told us they were calling the show because we were expecting 55 mph winds and torrential rains.

It took nearly 30 minutes to get us all back to the vans. By then, we were all completely soaked through. We didn't even try to get out of the parking lot or crank up our vans for nearly an hour. There was that much traffic flowing out.

The lightning kept getting closer and closer. I know a couple times, the hair on my arms was standing straight up. Yeah, that close.

The parking lot beside the outside fence had water standing nearly a foot high in places. This was since we arrived an hour earlier! Whoa, rain!

Today was good. Sort of a lazy, windy, chilly day. We held communion at church today. The worship was great as always.

The kids practiced their drama at 4. Video'd it all on my digcam. I think I'm going to drop it to a disk to share with their aunts and uncles.

Later, time to make the coffee.