My wife and I camped at Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey starting Sunday evening. I commuted to school the two days that we had and spent the nights at the camp site. On Thanksgiving Day we took a short bike ride. When we returned, I notice something in my right eye. I liken it to the after effects of looking at a bright light or glimpsing the sun. There is a glow in your eye that gradually fades away. Only this time it did not fade away. As I looked around I saw some obstructions in my field of view, again right eye only. Overall it felt like a veil had fallen over the eye. When I closed my left eye, it looked like lots (thousands) of little dark dots arrayed in my field of view. The effect was that it was a little darker than the left eye. In addition there was sizable glob that reminded me of a spider with its legs attached to it. I could tell it was inside my eye because every time I move my eye to look right and then quickly shifted left, the glob moved with it.
It did not hurt. I felt no pain but. I waited a couple hours to see if it would improve or go away. It did not. (My wife was not pleased with this delay.) I mentioned it to my wife and she suggested I call an ophthalmologist friend of ours. I did and, after describing as I wrote above, he said to meet him at his office in a half hour. I did and the exam was thorough, mostly to rule out various possibilities. He dilated my eyes and used the brightest light I have ever seen aimed into my wide open pupil to see as much of the retina and the eyeball interior as he could. After completing his examination he said that the problem was the best case scenario. A blood vessel near, but not on, my optic nerve had burst and sprayed blood into the vitreous of my eye. He could see a little blood near a vessel by my optic nerve and the floaters in the vitreous. He said there was nothing he needed to or could do. The body would gradually absorb the blood and my vision would clear up. In most ways, my eye appeared in good health, for a man my age.
That was a relief. A big relief. No detached retina or other big issue to worry about. Now I am waiting for the blood to leave my eye. The spider and legs are still there as I write and they dance around as I look from side to side. I have found myself reacting to slight motions in my peripheral vision that are just chunks of blood moving as I glance sideways. It is a little irritating, but that I can handle, considering what might have happened.
Thanks for reading this.
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