June 21, 2008
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Corneal scarring...
A couple of comments asked about the corneal scar I mentioned in my last post. Well, it isn't as dramatic as Onigiri might imagine--no, I did not get stabbed in the eye like your cousin. Whew! Now that would be a story to tell. My story is much more mundane, but the effects of this "malady" are much more amusing... well as amusing as a handicap can be.
My memory is not perfect, as my regular readers know, but there are photos of me when I was around 5 years old with my right eye patched up with gauze. I vaguely remembered--and I later verified this with my mother--that the eye was suffering from an infection, and I had to wash out my eye two or three times a day. Mom would pour a solution into an eye cup, after which I would face down to place my eye socket onto it and then while holding the cup tightly to my face look upward blinking two or three times as the solution bathed my eye. I hated this ritual, which is probably why I remembered it.
Fast forward 12 years...
One day in the summer of 1973--those glorious days of high school when I was basking in my new found independence and stupidity--I was returning from the beach with my girlfriend, Aileen, when suddenly I realized that I was seeing double. I would see two sets of railroad tracks but would only feel one set as I drove over them. For three days, my vision was strangely blurred. I hoped that it would just pass, but when it didn't I finally screwed up the courage to see an opthamologist. After a battery of tests, they determined that my vision problem was based on a small scar on my eye. He showed me a blown up photo and pointed out a small imperfection. He said it was smaller than a grain of sand, but that was enough to refract light in a way that would blur my vision. He asked me if I had injured my eye, but when I told him I didn't, he told me that it was probably the result of an infection when I was younger. When I got home, I recalled the eye patch and the eye baths when I was kid. I pulled out old photos and showed them to mother, which is when she confirmed the infection for me.
So this is the cause, I thought. But the sad thing of this predicament was that the scar was not curable. Perhaps, if laser technology was as it is today, then I may have been able to do something about it. But back then, it was what it was, and you learn to live with scars and injuries. Besides, after a week or so, my vision seemed to revert to normal. I thought it had healed itself, as any scar would heal, and I continued on with my merry summer of '73.
But life, as I was to learn, was neither so simple nor forgiving.
Cont'd next post.
Comments (11)
there's no action in Juno, just lots of quirkiness and great dialogue. this movie won't make you cry, but i did because i'm just supersensitive when watching movies. i wouldn't say it's a chick flick.....=)
A scar from an infection? :O Was it pink eye or something much, much worse?
Maybe I should just wait for the next installment?
And regarding your comment, I ... haven't seen any of my high school friends yet. Actually, out of the lot of them, I have only told two that I've come back home. Is that bad? It probably says something about my character, that I either don't take the initiative to continue a relationship because I'm passive, or because I don't care as much as I thought I did. I haven't decided what character I wanted to be just yet.
I don't want to keep reminiscing. I have a few friends like that actually--it makes me wonder though: if we were able to build a relationship based on NEW things we did together, then why does the reunion have to be all about what we did back then? I'm afraid that if I go to visit all of my friends from high school (with the exception of the few that I really want to see again), we'll just ... fall into the same routine, the same predictable ones we fancied back in high school. And I just feel like there's more to life than going to the mall and shopping for new clothes.
Wow, maybe you're right. Maybe I did grow up a bit! Now if only a bit of that shows in the mirror...
I can totally relate to the eye issues. I was THISCLOSE to having one myself. I was playing badminton and a person was a little too aggressive and the racket ended up in my eye. It totally scratched my cornea. Very painful.
@RisingRebirth - What profile? In facebook? I'd check it out, but I wouldn't know where to go....
like a little tear that keeps getting bigger
dang that's unfortunate 
@Onigiriman - Well, I'd hesitate to add you unless you approve. I have to be honest: I have your philosophy as one of my quotes on my profile. I really liked it when I read it awhile back.
@RisingRebirth - facebook... if you searched me, you'd find me pretty easily, and find out what an old geezer I am.
Yeah, I do need to comment more :] Terrible about checking my subscriptions. Facebook eats my soul.My apologies
My grandmother had terrible cataracts that she had to remove via laser surgery and ultrasound. I was like WHOA. Ultrasound in ocular surgery?
I've always had bad eyes since I was younger... apparently genetic. My cousin had glasses since he was about two years old. He got Lasik by age 18 and one of his eyes reverted back because they weren't done growing. What do you think about laser surgery in terms of safety?
who would thought that a scar that small will cause such a huge problem? must take care of our eyes...
@jerjonji - I will write about my ocular options in my next post.
what about a cornea replacement? that's what they'll do when i have my cataracts removed. and... it means NO more glasses!!!! when's the last time you saw a specialist? they've gotten amazing lately!!!!! ps. thanks for the reading suggestions. i'll order them this week. did i tell you how happy i am that you are back????
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