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October 16th, 2003 - Thursday
Vision troubles
Yesterday was a normal day and then the phone rang in the early evening. Call display showed that it was my parents' number. I knew it wouldn't be my sister since she has a contract job working 1 pm to 9 pm so I assumed it was my mother calling to say hi. It ended up being my sister after all and I thought maybe she was sick and had stayed home.
Not exactly.
She told me that my mother had gone to their family doctor at the clinic down the street because she had pain and pressure in her right eye and her vision was a little blurry. She thought that she was suffering from a bad sinus infection and wanted to go see if he could prescribe something for her to knock it out. He inspected her and told her it wasn't a sinus infection but rather glaucoma.
He sent her to the hospital to have it checked out and to confirm that it was indeed glaucoma. From the hospital she was sent to an ophthalmologist down the street, who said it most certainly was. She measured the pressure in the eye and apparently it was 72, which is quite high. Back to the hospital she went!
At the hospital she was finally admitted but there wasn't a room available for her. She hung around in emergency and then was given a bed in the hallway of the triage area. She had an IV put in to help reduce the pressure overnight.
Because she wasn't in a room, I had no way to get hold of her. I didn't know if or when she would get a room and I worried that she was alone and afraid and bored. My mom is a light sleeper so I worried that she would be awake all night because emergency isn't exactly a quiet place to be. I remember that I had enough trouble trying to sleep in a room in the hospital what with all the strange sounds and at least in the room it was dark and they closed the door to minimize the noise levels.
Then this morning rolled around. I called my sister and no one was home so I knew that her and my dad had already gone to the hospital to see her. I knew my mom was supposed to see about getting laser surgery done to make an incision in the eye to allow the fluid (which is what causes the pressure) to drain. Fast action is important with glaucoma because it can permanently damage your vision and even cause blindness. I assumed that I would hear from someone soon.
No one ever called so I started getting antsy. I looked up the number of the hospital and called the admissions desk to see if she had been admitted to a room. I got the number so I was happy that at least she wasn't still in the hallway. I then proceeded to call her room every bloody half hour and no one ever answered (I must have driven her roommates nuts!) so I knew they were elsewhere, probably getting the surgery done. Again, no one called. I was starting to go a little bit nuts by the end of the afternoon when it had been almost 24 hours since I had heard anything.
Finally my mom called me herself from home! It turned out that she had slept just fine because they also gave her a pill of some sort that allowed her to fall asleep. She said she was out like a light and only woke up somewhere in the wee hours of the morning because the bed was moving and that's when she found out that she was being moved into a ward. Sometime during the day she had the laser surgery done. They did it on both eyes even though it was really only necessary on the right eye. She also has drops to put in to help them out. She told me that she has to go back in tomorrow morning to get it done on the right eye again. Apparently the pressure and the fluid retention was so bad that just one treatment wasn't going to be enough. However, the initial danger was past and she didn't need an IV anymore so she was able to come home.
She told me that the particular type of condition she has is called Angle Closure Glaucoma or Acute Glaucoma. It's actually a rare type to have and one of the signs of it is that the symptoms are sudden and rise quickly. That makes sense, because I spent all day Saturday with her and she never once mentioned eye pain or vision trouble. The iris ends up covering the drainage canals and the liquid that normally cycles out of the eye suddenly stops draining. Then you get the pressure and pain. It's scary to think that a hundred years ago there was no treatment for this - you just woke up and went blind after awhile.
I'm really glad that everything was okay. I know that it wasn't anything life threatening. It wasn't as though she had been run over by a truck or anything like that, so it wasn't something to get too nervous over, but still. She's my mother and just like moms worry about their kids, kids worry about their parents too. I was really upset that no one ever thought to call me and just let me know what was going on and that she was okay. I paced around a lot all day long (in between trying to call my mom's room) and I was very frustrated that it didn't occur to anyone that I would be worried about what was happening. Anyway, at least it's all over now, save for the follow-up surgery tomorrow.
It's weird though. No one in our family has any history of glaucoma. She's the first one that we know of. In fact, out of all the high risk factors for developing it, she has a grand total of none. Not a single risk factor in there pertains to her so it's very strange. On the other hand, now I have one - I have the hereditary factor. There's not much I can do for it other than get regular eye exams, especially as I get older and hope for the best.
I'm just glad that she can see again and that she's feeling much better!
Tomorrow is George's birthday! Woohoo! Unfortunately, what with being on a tight budget and all, our plans are pretty minimal. However, we'll probably go to his parents' house for supper which will be nice. Then maybe we can rent a good movie - something we haven't done in ages - and just enjoy a quiet evening together.
Other than celebrating his birthday my plans for the weekend thus far are pretty quiet. We'll see what happens.
In Hayley news, she has gone and picked up yet another sign. Today she added the sign for brushing her teeth. Now she can signal for that, milk, water, a bath, a diaper change (not that she signs that she wants one but she will sign it when you tell her you're going to do it), and down. Every day I'm more and more impressed with how quickly she can learn things. It's truly amazing.
My farmer girl, sitting in her new favorite place.
On this day (more or less): 2002: All my October 2002 entries are lost. :(
2001: None.
2000: Then again, I'm a big spaz when it comes to buying things for anyone.
1999: Perhaps tonight I will sleep straight through until the morning.
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