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A week ago I got a surprising diagnosis, so what happens next?

For a few months now I’ve had floaters in my eyes. They’ve been bothering me. So I did what I often do when I have a health problem: I ignored it, telling myself the problem would go away by itself.

But when the vision in my left eye started to get occluded, I suspected I had a more serious problem.

It takes a lot to get me to go to the doctor. But the floaters weren’t self-resolving and my vision was getting noticeably worse.

Reluctantly, I made an appointment to see an ophthalmologist. The eye doctor wanted to see me ASAP.

“I either have a brain tumor or I need surgery,” I said to my husband before I left.

I couldn’t see there was a letter on the screen

The tech at the eye doctor’s had me do an eye test. My right eye got an A+. But when she asked me to read the largest letter on the screen with my left eye, I couldn’t even see that there was a letter on the screen. It was a black smear that may or may not have had straight lines.

Turns out it’s not good to be nearly blind in one eye.

The ophthalmologist believed I had a “detached retina,” which would likely require emergency surgery—laser if it were straightforward, non-laser if not—and that the procedure needed to be done immediately to keep the retina from detaching further. He referred me to a retinal specialist who wanted to see me right away.

On the one hand, it’s rather wonderful when medical doctors find you interesting. On the other, you don’t ever want to have anything going on with your health that actually interests a medical doctor. Believe me on this.

So my left eye and I drove to the retinal specialist. We may have cried the whole way. Crying is good for your eyes.

At that point in my day, the idea of taking a knife to my eyeball was terrifying.

Hence the crying.

Little did I know that I would’ve been lucky to have that be my eyeball’s only problem.