A Scary Occurrence

Bob Brown | Dec 08, 2021

Until recently, I have always prided myself in saying that I could see the eyes of an eagle at 1,000 paces – I just can't read a newspaper without my magnifying cheater glasses. Not bad for a 72 year old.

That all changed last Thursday, Nov 2nd. My wife and I were going to MOM Restaurant in Verona for the first time since it re-opened. On the way, I noticed that there was a continuous light flashing in my right eye. At the same time, I was trying to wipe away what I thought was some kind of impediment in my right eye that was affecting my eyesight. The flashing occurred for a while and the virtual impediment remained.

The next day, light was flashing in the morning again in my right eye only. I can only describe the impediment as similar to a spider web that continuously floats. In the afternoon, I decided to test my eye sight in my right eye by simply closing my left. I was shocked when I had no vision at all in the one eye. It was like being in a very thick fog with no definition of any object before me. It was very scary.

The following morning, I was in the Emergency Department of the Lennox & Addington County General in Napanee. When I said that I was rapidly losing my eyesight in one eye, I was admitted immediately. All the staff there were very good and after a wait period, I was seen by Dr. Martin. He recognized that the retina in my right eye was detaching and had me go directly to Hotel Dieu in Kingston to the Emergency Eye Clinic.

Dr. Pike was waiting for me and began a series of tests only to confirm that I had a “good tear” to my retina. He recommended laser treatment to stop the damage, which I concurred. He couldn’t have been more professional and his calm demeanor helped me through the laser treatment.

My purpose for wring this is twofold. One, we (myself included) are often critical of our health care system for being slow and inefficient. On this one day, the system worked perfectly and may have saved my eyesight. Two, there was nothing that I did or could have done to prevent this from occurring. It is an age-related occurrence and can affect a portion of the population. White flashes and loss of normal vision are the key to act. Go immediately to emergency. Waiting is not an option. This is widely unknown, therefore the purpose of this letter.

Bob Brown