It's that time of the month again...

I dread seeing the doctor. I get frustrated before I go and get depressed after I'm done.

Had to change my appointment today. So I called the call centre yesterday and they weren't very helpful. Told me to call the clinic directly. The nurse at the clinic was more helpful, but as evident from today's visit, she never passed my message. -_-

Because of the change in time slot, I didn't get to see the regular doctor (MT). I saw that doctor (DS) who discharged me the last time. DS was in a better mood today and was more patient in explaining my condition. Even he was surprised that I was going back to see them so regularly. I felt quite exasperated to hear that I have to return again next month and asked about whether I could get a referral letter to see a doc elsewhere e.g. SNEC. The conversation went something like this:

DS: even if you go to another doctor, they'll tell u the same thing.

me: even if I go SNEC? I've seen the most senior doctor in this clinic and she couldn't tell what was wrong with me.

DS: our doctors are from SNEC. Like Dr MT and Dr RL whom you had seen previously. They shuttle between the clinic there and here.

me: are you from SNEC?

DS: no.

Ah ha. Knew it. sheesh. Trying to bluff me. I went on to tell him that the nurses in this hospital DON'T EVEN KNOW that the clinic is affiliated to SNEC. And about how I have no confidence in this clinic or the hospital.

DS was nice enough to be patient and try to address my concerns... by telling me to come back again next month and ask the SNEC doctors whether I should get a referral or not.

Sigh.

ABMD

stands for "Anterior basement membrane dystrophy", which Doc #10+, surprisingly, was certain to be causing me grief. [Note: None of the docs before him had been this confident in diagnosing my condition.] Apparently, it is a corneal disorder that is characterized by recurrent erosions of the epithelium (skin like covering) of the cornea. This causes symptoms that may vary from mild irritation in the mornings to deeply painful episodes that are disabling.

Rewind to 2 saturdays ago
Was serving nursery at church. Had a pillowfight with two kids. Subsequently, eyes itched terribly.

Last tuesday
Cleaned up my cube.

Last wednesday/thursday
Eyes were super itchy. then i realised that my right eye's vision blurred.

Last friday
Called CGH to set an appt. After telling the nurse on the phone that my eye was hurting me, I was told that the next appt time was 22 FEBRUARY. -___- Nurse advised me to walk in at 3.30pm and that I would be the last patient. Which wasn't too bad, cos it was quite empty and I got to see the doc quite quickly.

Was quite pleased that the Doc who discharged me (let's call him Doc #6) wasn't around. 3-4 other docs took turns to see my eyes. Photos were taken. Discussions were held. Doc #7 (who had previously thought that eyeshadow = mascara) said I looked ridiculous (in reference to the amount of flakes/tissue fibres on my eye lids, resulting from the application of "excessive eye drops").

Conclusion: possibly viral. Unlikely bacteria or fungus. Was prescribed some lubricants to sooth my eyes and told to come back on Mon.

Monday (Today)
Saw Doc #6. -_- Had to correct him when he wrote "No CLW (contact lens wear) since Oct 06". [Note: I haven't worn contact lens since Oct 05.] Thankfully, he called for a senior doc's (Doc #10+) advice. Doc #10+ was quite confident when he diagnosed me as suffering from ABMD and a viral infection. Was quite frank too, when he said that it might take months to heal. Oh well. At least they've identified (or so they think) what the causes are.

On hearing my response to his queries on my pastimes, Doc #10+ remarked that he thought cross-stitching was dead. He was in disbelief when I described my sedentary life i.e. office, online games, stitching, occasional badminton, cos of the lack of exposure to irritants. Made me wonder if springcleaning my cube caused this recent spate of discomfort. =P

Itchy

Eyes have been extremely dry and itchy the last few days, especially at the inner corners of my eyes. And I think they've been rubbed/scratched so much that things look out of focus. Someone suggested that maybe I'm going blind.

Maybe.

On Leave

Took the afternoon off cos I was going to spend the whole morning at the doctor's.

My regular doctor wasn't in today The doctor that I saw today happened to be my JC senior. =) What a coincidence. At least she found me familar. Anyway, she took a look at my eyes and referred me to the registrar, who thought I was recovering well (just tiny specks now) but shouldn't get discharged yet. So I'll be going back again in two weeks.

Yesterday, took time during lunch to accompany DD to the cemetery. I think that was my first visit to a cemetery here. Didn't think he should be going alone, and wanted to be there for him. So I went. We were hoping to get fast food and ice cream for lunch on our way back but the rain was a major deterrence. Oh well. It's better to skip the ice cream anyway. Getting fat. =P

Eye ok...

Went for check up today. Doc says my eyes are recovering well... =) It wasn't a microsporidia infection after all. Doc said that these were possible remnants of a viral infection previously. Just need to use antibiotic eye drops for another few days to make sure it's ok, and return for another check up in 3 weeks time to make sure that it's fully healed.

Got a 1 day MC to rest at home. =)

Streaming

Took leave today. Took a nap at 5 pm. Woke up at 7+ pm thinking that it was the middle of the night cos the house was dead silent. So weird to be home on a Friday night, and on the eve of a public holiday at that.

But this couldn't be helped. My right eye can't stop tearing. Went for a follow-up check up this morning. To date, FIVE eye specialists have inspected my eyes. At least they seem to have come to a conclusion of what I'm suffering from - Microsporidia infection. Microsporidia is a fungus, which I distinctively recall studying about in Microbiology class in year 4. Though I can't remember what it looks like, or what characteristics it has. Shall google it later.

So anyway, the doctors said that the infection is on the superficial layers of my cornea, so it's not that deep to require operation. In fact, the specks on my left eye are apparently healing; some are just forming scars. However, the specks on my right eye (apparently there are two of them now) were quite large and the doctors were concerned. So the doctor ordered photos of my eye to be taken for the records. Then she put some numbing eyedrops (local anasthetic) in my eye and scraped it with a needle. She promptly transferred the cells to a microscopic slide where she had earlier used red marker to draw a circle around where she would place the cells. Reminds me of the good old days... =P

The doctor gave me a prescription of painkillers (Ponstan), to be ingested after food and with anti-gastric pills. The same pills that I got after my teeth extraction during my orthodontics treatment 3 years ago. The doctor had warned me that it would be painful. Thought it couldn't be more painful than the teeth extraction BUT I WAS WRONG. I guess the painkillers worked better with teeth. =P Eye has a stinging pain and can't stop tearing, which results in a runny nose. Think I've lost lots of water today through tears. Hope my eye won't be too swollen tomorrow morning. And that it'ld be a lot better cos I still want to enjoy the Lee Hom concert with Spinky tomorrow night!

On a lighter note, my primary doctor's quite cute. She keeps asking me if I needed a MC, and kept checking what my allergies are. =P And I'm still quite amused at the number of doctors who have seen me. Should really thank the optician who spotted the specks in the first place. And thank the Cell for praying for me. =) and Prozac from being my consultant. And you-know-who for sticking with me through the process. *hugs*

Specks

I think this is what my eyes look like under magnification:



Plucked it off the website which was on the eye specialist's monitor.

See those white specks? I think I've got like three or so in my left eye, and one in my right. =P

What happens when I take penicillin?

I don't know. Ever since I've been aware of what a drug allergy is, I've known that I'm allergic to penicillin.

Spent the whole morning with three doctors - one at the polyclinic, one at CGH's A&E, one at CGH's eye clinic. All ladies.

The optician had said they could be abrasion marks.

The polyclinic doctor said I could have corneal ulcers.

The A&E doctor said I should see the eye specialist immediately.

The eye specialist said:

• There were some white specks in my right eye too, but they aren't as serious as my left.
• My eyes are extremely dry. (Always knew that they were dry, just didn't know that they were EXTREMELY dry. Wonder if the dryness of my eyes is why I doze off so well. =P)
• My eyelids are oily.

She also asked the question in the subject line, and why I took so long to see a doctor (since I first saw the optician on Sunday). Gave me various instructions (wet eyelids with warm water, don't wear contacts etc) and told me to come back for a follow-up checkup on Monday morning.

Was hit by a bout of tears while at the pharmacy. Don't think it's the I-feel-sorry-for-myself tears. Didn't feel like I could scramble home and get ready to attend a friend's wedding at 2 pm, so had to ask people to send congratulations on my behalf.

Prozac advised that if they really are corneal ulcers, I shouldn't even think of EVER wearing contacts. AND that no lasik for me cos the ulcers would have worn out my corneas a little already. =P

Oh well. Specs for life? =P

White specks...

... in my left eye are preventing me from collecting my contact lenses.

Next step: to the polyclinic.

眼睛坏了？

Just went to the optician's. First time that I visit this particular shop. The optician put some stain in my eyes, looked at them and asked if my left eye (the astigmatic one) felt more uncomfortable than my right one.

She later explained there there could be a tear in my cornea (or possibly detached retina cells). She'ld have to take a look again in a few days times when my lenses are ready. After she made that comment, it struck me that my left eye HAD felt more uncomfortable than my right; it tends to feel drier.

Hope it's not serious.