This morning we're driving to work in silence, both kids seem to be spacing out, and then randomly out of the blue Milo says "I'm not going to cry when you drop me off at school." Well, okay then! And sure enough, he didn't. The kids seemed pretty psyched to go back to school.
Anyway, I'm 39 and a half, so only 6 months to go to 40! Woo hoo!
Today I went to the eye doctor and like every time, I have high eye pressure in the pre-glaucoma range, sort of like being pre diabetic but with respect to glaucoma. The numbers 10-21 are normal, 22-25 are high, and 26 and above is glaucoma. (Do I recall what these numbers measure? No I do not.) Anyway, my number is 24 but 2 years ago it was also 24, so that seems like a good thing. My doctor, who is a super nice guy and somebody I always enjoy being around for his grandfatherly jovialness, took a careful look at me and said "do you have a thyroid problem?" This is not the first time a doctor has asked me that question. But I probably don't.
Apparently there isn't really anything you can do about impending glaucoma (unlike diabetes), other than not drinking a shit-ton of coffee, which, check. I don't drink coffee. Also, I shouldn't take all of those medicines (like anti-histamines) that say "don't take if you have glaucoma." This is actually easy enough to do because Jake also has glaucoma in one of his eyes, this is due to the fact that his eye is severely damaged as a result of a traumatic eye injury when he was 2. So we already screen medications for that in order to protect his damaged eye.
Jake is more or less blind in his right eye which I didn't really notice until a few years ago. This is most noticeable to me when he is driving and I am in the passenger seat. I realized at one point that he can't really see me when I'm in the passenger seat. This totally has some advantages, for instance, I can eat something, like a piece of candy, without him noticing and perking up and asking me what I'm eating and if there is any more of that.
Anyhoo, I needed a new prescription and new glasses so I tried on 800 different pairs of glasses only to reluctantly settle on what was probably the most expensive pair of glasses in the room. I tend to keep glasses for 5-10 years so I don't see it as a tragedy to spend extra on a pair of frames.
Today I have been working from home and it has been HEAVEN. No kids, no husband, only slightly annoying cats, no students knocking on my door asking me to do stuff for them, just me and my manuscript. Speaking of which, I have consumed my lunch, so back to work.
3 comments:
Last time I went to the eye doctor my pressure was something like 22 or 23. they did some more sophisticated tests which confirmed the higher number, so they decided to do a peripheral field test, which I apparently passed with flying colors. Have you had one of those?
So anyway, what I recall is that they are just going to watch it to make sure it doesn't increase (or whatever). I meant to talk to you about this but I forgot.
Today he did suggest a peripheral field test the next time I come in. He kept asking if I had a family history of glaucoma but to my knowledge I don't? Last time we talked about it (2 years ago at my last visit) he said that glaucoma medicines work well but only last a finite amount of time, I forget how much, like 20 or 30 years. So the trick for somebody young like me is to time it right because I don't want to start taking medication when I'm 50 and then have it wear out and go blind when I'm 75.
As far as I know there no history of it in our family.
So he's just going to watch it, right? How often (every 2 years?) do you go in?
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