MY STORY
Many of my close friends and relatives know that i have had a rough time with my vision over the past years. In June of 2010 I was sitting in class and all of a sudden my peripheral vision in my right eye was blocked by a "black curtain". I was in seventh grade at the time and was freaking out. I informed my mother about what was happening and we went to a local mini emergency room. The doctor at the emergency room said that it was just a little scratch on my cornea, and gave me a prescription for some eye drops.
However, something that was disabling me to see out of the corner of my eye, and having to physically move my head to see definitely was not just a scratch. Luckily my eye doctor at the time was open still and had us come in the same evening. She looked at my eye and asked me 50 (not even kidding...lol!) questions. She then told us that something wasn't right and that i needed to been seen immediately. With my mom and my eye doctor freaking out and me not being fully aware of what exactly was going on really made me worry.
Right after we left the eye doctor we were at Texas Children's emergency room. It was all just a surreal blur. After waiting a very long time i was taken back to my room. No one really knew what it could of been. I had to read the vision chart and couldn't even read it because of the fact that my peripheral vision was gone and all it was, was just black. So when they were examining me i could see worry in everyone's faces, and i nervously laughed when i said i couldn't see anything. At that moment i knew something wasn't right.
Then sent me back to my room to wait for what would happen next. I was sent back for a cat-scan to make sure i didn't have a tumor or head trauma. After getting the results back everything came back clear (thank goodness!!!). At about 11 o'clock that night a retina specialist came in and looked at both of my eyes and told us that my retina in my right eye was completely detached and that the retina in my left eye was slightly detached. She explained what happens to the vision once the retina detaches. I would of gotten my procedure on my eyes done that night, but i had just eaten, so unfortunately i was unable to get it done.
On the bright side i would have a well rested surgeon. I was released from the emergency room after midnight and was on my way home. I just couldn't stop worrying about what has been happening to me. I got home and just had to calm myself done and mentally prepare for my first surgery, and on my eye, too!! In the morning we headed to the Baylor college of medicine building to check -in. my heart was racing and i had no idea what would be happening to me. i was informed on what would be done to me and i was taken back to get ready for surgery. I remember being wheeled into the operating room and being asked questions, and BAM! i was out! I've got to say, i'm not exactly sure how long the surgery lasted, but it seemed pretty quick to me! The recovery process was a little tough and all i wanted to do was lay down and rest, and so i did! After about one week i was back to my usual self, other than applying drops in my eyes every hour, but at least it was summer time and i had time to get even better.
A year and a half after my surgery, my right eye developed scar tissue around the scalera band which holds my retina in place. since then my eye has been either blood shot red, red, pink, slightly pink, or okasyish. I use liquid gel drops for comfort, and it helps some only if i don't wear my contacts for a good ten hours, but with school, i'm lucky to get six! People who don't know me assume that i have an infection, pink eye, or am even high. I don't even know the slightest bit about drugs, and don't even care about them. It does upset me sometimes when people make assumptions before knowing the real story, but i mean these days kids are just so into doing bad things some people just guess. I have slowly learned to ignore all the comments and as much as it gets to me i just have to explain why it's like that. Even though my eye isn't like everyone else's i'm just so thankful and blessed that i was able to receive the medical attention i needed, and can see now! god was truly with me through the whole experience.
above is a post surgery picture of me
here's a photo of a detachment (found on Google)
this shows a detached retina
this picture shows how the retina should look
for more information on retinal detachments go to :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002022/
To learn more about how to help prevent blindness visit:
www.vision2020.org
