Inessentials

The iritis that has been plaguing me for nearly three weeks will hopefully be in remission when I meet the doctor again tomorrow. Last week there had been so little improvement, that I was put on new medication that would keep my left eye dilated all the time. The biggest problem with this is that while my eye is dilated, it is nearly impossible to read. I can cover my left eye, squint with my right eye, and force myself through a few lines of text. But that is tiring and frustrating and slow. I have found that near the end of the twelve hour cycle before I need my next application, my eyesight is clear enough in low-light settings that I can read for a couple hours. Also, it seems easier to read text on a computer screen than in printed form. I’m not sure why, but it could be the screen text is larger or is in greater contrast to the background.

I’m getting more and more anxious to get this fixed, because I begin teaching a month-long course starting Monday. So far, it has been difficult to prepare for it, since reading has been so difficult. Plus, I had hoped to finish the first chapter of my dissertation in May, but I have barely touched it in three weeks.

There’s the anxiety about prepping my class, but there’s also the general frustration about having lost a good deal of my eyesight. Nicole and I left at intermission to a play we got free tickets to because I couldn’t tell what was happening on stage very well. Reading subtitles on our TV is very difficult. Random things that I need to read during the day (like instructions on potting a plant or the names on street signs) are very difficult in bright light.

The funniest thing about this whole situation is probably that it makes me look like some kind of drunk or junkie. I wander around in the middle of the day with my dark sunglasses on, even when it’s cloudy or I go indoors. My perception is a little out of whack, so I sometimes stumble around. My arm is bruised from where they’ve been drawing blood samples to figure out what the underlying cause of this condition is. I look like I’m either a recovering heroin addict or in a constant state of being seriously hungover. 

UPDATE: The eye appointment today was encouraging. There is less “activity” (inflamed cells). After discussing it with the doctor, she agreed that I could begin taking the dilating drops only at night, which will hopefully mean I’ll be able to read during the days. I will still be taking the steroid drop every hour, which is annoying, but worth it to have this bout over.