Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

One friend drove me to a Kaiser Permanente Urgent Care location, where we sat for a while until they took me in to measure the usual stuff (bp, pulse, temp, O2), then he took off because he had someplace else he needed to be, but first he contacted another friend to make sure I'd have a ride home.

They measured me, put me in a wheelchair 'cause it was easier than guiding me, and pushed me back out to the waiting area. About an hour and a half after I got to Kaiser, my left eye started gradually hurting less. By the time they showed me to an examination room at the two and a half hour mark, I had my left eye partly open and could see enough to walk to the examination room myself. Another twenty minutes and the doctor came in, by which time I could open the left eye all the way and the right eye a little, but couldn't focus on distant objects. So I guess my immune system was finally catching up or something.

Doctor diagnosed conjunctivitis, said it was likely an infection rather than just an irritant (I forget which direction the yellow discharge counted in that -- I'm guessing it was in the evidence-of-infection column), and prescribed an ointment containing cortisone and an antibiotic. Said to use it for five days if it helped, but to call back if it wasn't making a big difference after two days. At this point I can see mostly normally (I feel like I'm focusing on distant objects, and large objects look like they're in focus, but I can't resolve small details on distant objects (as well as I normally can, that is) -- I'm not sure what to make of that) but my eyes still hurt. It varies from "irritated and dry feeling" to "Burns like the Fires of Hell". I'm about to go put the ointment in. (The ointment sounds unpleasant. It had better make me feel a whole lot better, or I'm going to have to get really creative with my whining!)

Second friend showed up just about the same time as I finished paying the pharmacist. Going home wasn't direct, but I did get home. Got to go launder the pillowcase, sheets, and blankets, then rest. Doctor said the reasoning behind my hypothesis (that I was exposed to an infectious agent at the emergency room last night) was sound but inconclusive -- he seemed to think it was likely. (An irritant would've been likely to produce symtoms in the hour or two I was in bed before falling asleep -- this gave no warning last night, just woke me up with the pain this morning.) After reading the pamphlet I found on conjunctivitis, I'm wondering whether it's any more likely that the cold virus I've been fighting for a week (and am doing much better with, by the way) managed to spread to my eyes ... in which case the antibiotic won't help. So if the antibiotic does help, it was likely something from the hospital, and if it doesn't help it was either a virus from the hospital or I didn't pick it up there at all.

So that's the status of my eyes at the moment.