Friday, June 17, 2011

I'm A Jumper.

"Nope, nope... that doesn't have anything to do with diabetes. It's just a normal thing some people have."

Whew.

For the last several months, I've noticed an occasional floater in my field of vision. It isn't always there, nor is it always there in any particular situation.

The only times I see it are at work; specifically, sometimes when I'm looking at my computer screen. But, not always then. It's just this bean-shaped blob that moves around with what I'm looking at.


Frankly, I'd been a bit scared about it.

My opthalmologist had seen a couple of microaneurysms in each eye shortly before I started using a CGM, which would have been in 2009. The technical term is mild non-proliferative retinopathy. In subsequent visits, he's told me that they've been healing/shrinking/running away scared, which is super, but it still scared the crap out of me that something was happening to my eyes. That I wasn't somehow immune to complications, after all.

I know it's a mild complication, but it had felt very major to me.

When I started seeing this floater, my mind understandably went to Worst Case Scenario - that 25 years of diabetes had finally started to take its toll. That my recent not-as-tight-as-before control was to blame. That I was to blame.

But I also told myself - if this was diabetes-related, wouldn't I be seeing it all the time? I guess that's the line of thinking that had me keeping my original yearly exam date, instead of scheduling the appointment for much earlier.

I didn't mind putting off the answer. If it was bad, I didn't want to hear it quite yet. (Yeah, I know.)

So when Dr. D asked me if I'd had any changes in my vision, I told him. I described what had been happening, and when. He took a look.

"Oh, no. No, your eyes look great. Actually, it looks like they're still getting better. That thing isn't diabetes-related. Some people just get those from time to time; you get just the right lighting or look a certain direction, and they show up for a little bit. Nothing to worry about."

Their opthalmologist must use
really strong dilation drops.
I drove home with my anime eyes, wanting to believe those last four words so much. But it's hard to put six months of worry into reverse so quickly.

And as for the title of this post - something must have been written down in my file, because when we got to the part where the thing touches your eye (I'm very technical with my terminology here), he had an assistant come in to hold my cranium against the head holster. Seriously; she applied force so that I couldn't react! (She was very nice and gentle with me, though. No rough-housing.)

I'm a jumper, apparently.

* * * * *

The winner of this week's Hope Paige Medical giveaway is....

Life as an Empty Nester!

Please send an email to textingmypancreas (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, phone number and email, so I can get you in contact with Hope Paige Medical!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway - we'll do this again in two weeks.

(Comments were numbered chronologically, and I used random.org; a random number generator; to determine the winning number.)

4 comments:

  1. My dad was told floaters are a natural part of the aging process when he went in a few years back thinking it was an emergency situation... (that begs the question, then how come I was 22 when I got my first little buddy?)

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  2. I am the same way with that machine - the one the shoots air - I hate it - can not sit still for them to do it!!! They laugh at me when I have to get it done!

    April
    http://himynameisbob-imainsulinpump.blogspot.com/

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  3. Floaters are a pain in my ass. I saw that I was getting them about 3 years ago and I still have about two in each eye. Kind of annoying when you think a bug is in your face but its really a floater lol. I went for a complete eye exam re: the floaters and just like you they told me the same thing. That it sometimes happens over time and that my eyes were actually in great shape. I havent seen in eye doctor since them but I plan on going soon. Im glad that these are just more of a nuisance then a problem at the moment. I love how someone had to hold ya down lol thats great.

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  4. I'm a jumper too! It takes them SOOOO many tries before I can sit still long enough! I've never been held down though!

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