The Eyes Have It

Some of you are new to my blog, so I will give you the short history of my husband and his incredibly sexy bedroom eyes. 

Jim woke up one day about 6 years ago, got ready to go to work, then realized he was unable to see clearly.  He has had a history of corneal surgery, due to scarring on his corneas as a result of a chemical accident, so we contacted his corneal surgeon, Dr. Irving Raber.  Dr. Raber immediately suggested Jim call his associate, Dr. Jay Federman, who specializes in retinas.  5 retinal detachments, two cataracts surgeries, and numerous painful eye days later, Jim now has only 20/200 vision in his left eye (which makes that eye legally blind in most states), and 20/25 vision in his right eye.

So two weeks ago, Jim started complaining about pain in his right eye.  This is not a new pain – it has happened occasionally in the past, and has been a pain that Jim describes as a spike going down through the eye.  In the past, the pain has lasted a few hours, and we give him some pain reliever and a good long nap, and it goes away.  This time, the pain didn’t go away.  I whined about it being related to the amount of time he has been spending on the computer, gaming at EVE Online (are there more than 24 hours in a day?  I think he’s found a few extra to spend on that game!).  I notice he is spending some extra time laying down with his eyes closed, and they don’t seem to be getting any better.  By Saturday, I offered to take him to Wills Eye Hospital, but in the past, every time we have talked about going to Wills (and even the one time we actually went), by the time we see a doctor, the pain is gone and all is well. 

By Sunday of that weekend, when things didn’t get any better, Jim decided we should go.  Now, this is a Skamarakas family decision, so of course any thing that could go wrong will.  We arrive on a Sunday evening, about 5:30, expecting everyone else to be down the shore enjoying the brief bit of spring weather we are being treated to.  We walk into the Wills Eye emergency room to find it packed, standing room only.  Not only that, but there is an opthalmology convention in town and there are only handful of doctors in the hospital, and not too many of them apparently work here in the ER.

We debate staying or going and just seeing Dr. Raber in the morning, but Jim is in pain, and the longer we wait, the more we think it may eventually be our turn.  At some point, we find out that they have brought three emergencies in the back, and we move lower on the totem pole of triage.

12 hours after our arrival, we learn that Jim’s corneas are deteriorating, and the pain he feels is because he has layers of skin flaking off – well, that’s not exactly it, but that’s kind of how it’s described to us.  The ER doc does a small procedure where she pulls off a layer that has flaked partially off and is scratching Jim’s eye, causing the pain.  Um, ewwww.  Then she gives him some antibiotic ointment and artifical tears, and we go home.  Just in time to get the kids up for school 🙂

We’re two weeks past the ER visit now, and he’s gotten increasingly better.  But it’s so scary when stuff goes wrong with his eyes.  I hope we can continue to hold our finger in the dam, but it does make you nervous to think about the deluge on the other side.