Did You See That?

April 6, 2022

I have a funny story to tell you. But before we begin, some context: about a year ago, I started to experience problems with my vision.

I noticed these periods of time where I couldn’t quite see the words on my computer screen. Or the text on the TV was a bit fuzzy. I eventually discovered that this blurriness would kick in about 20 minutes or so after I ate food, and it led me to think the vision problems were related to my blood sugar levels.

Long story short – the blurry vision was a bit of a warning sign, that I needed to improve my diet, lose some weight, and keep the portions under control.

My primary care doctor recommended that I also go see an ophthalmologist, just to be sure that my eyes weren’t damaged or that there wasn’t something else going on. Things were fine from that appointment, and my eye doctor (Dr. Yang) recommended I do a follow-up appointment in a year’s time.

Today was a year from that time. I haven’t had any recurring issues with blurry vision. I’ve been better about my diet (though lately, I’ve been not so great). But no eye problems!

So. Today, I went in for a routine eye exam. The kind where they dilate your eyes, and shine some lights in there, and kind of check things out.

The first part of my visit was with a technician. And we did some standard stuff – reading some lines on the eye chart, looking at a bright light, etc. On seeing that I was nearsighted, she gave me some advice:

She said that if I ever started seeing a lot of floaters. Or if I started to see the lights flicker on/off… that I should contact them immediately. That they would really want to see me as soon as possible, given those symptoms.

It turns out that for folks who are nearsighted, the chances of a retinal tear are increased. There’s nothing that can be done to really prevent retinal tears from happening… it’s just that nearsighted people are more prone to have them.

And if you experience either of these symptoms (a sudden increase/appearance of floaters, or a strobing/flickering light)… it’s a potential indicator of a tear. And you should see your eye doc right quick.

So she tells me all this. And then gives me some eye drops to dilate my pupils. And then I’m sent into a waiting area for about 15 minutes, to let the drops do their thing.

After a while, I’m taken to another room where I’m sitting and waiting for Dr. Yang. And guess what? As I’m sitting there… I notice the lights in the room flicker.

It’s brief. It’s quick. But it’s like a slight flicker of electrical energy, dimming the room for the smallest, fraction of a second.

I’m remembering the technician’s warning, and I’m a little unsure what to make of things. I was actually tempted to stop someone walking by in the hallway, to ask them if they saw the lights going on/off. And this was exactly a scenario the tech described to me – that you’d actually ask someone else if they saw the lights going on/off.

As I’m waiting for Dr. Yang, I have so many thoughts in my head. Do I have a retinal tear? Is this just a psychosomatic reaction? Is this just a side-effect of the eye drops, and it’s expected? Is there actually a problem?

I managed to keep myself from freaking out too much with this thought: what better place, what better time, for this to happen than right now. I’m literally going to have an ophthalmologist walk into the room in a minute or two, and he’ll be able to look and see if there’s a problem. I could not have asked for this flickering light thing to have happened at a better time.

When Dr. Yang arrives, there’s a younger technician with him… and she’s the one taking notes as he’s talking. We do a quick recap, and we’re reviewing my prior appointment and the things that have transpired since.

I mention to him the warnings the first technician gave me. And then I tell him that I was seeing the lights flicker on/off in the room. And that’s what Dr. Yang gets really quite, for an uncomfortable amount of time. And he just kind of looks at me.

He then says “Well, let’s take a look.” Which is totally disconcerting. But he also follows it up with: “I don’t think you’re experiencing what Monica (the technician) was describing.”

After the exam, Dr. Yang does what he normally does… he moves away and sits in one of the chairs at the far corner of the room. He tells me my eyes look fine, and there’s no indicator of any kind of tears, and no indicators of any damage from Diabetes (all good news).

The thing of it is… as we’re talking, I still see the lights flicker a bit. When I tell Dr. Yang this, he says to me that he can’t explain it. Which is, again, distressing.

He tells me that the symptoms of a retinal tear are more pronounced. That it typically happens to just one eye (not both). And the lights going on/off are more akin to a strobe light effect, much more pronounced.

As we’re talking, he stops and then says “Oh! I think I just saw the lights flicker!” Which gave me some bit of comfort. We waiting a beat or two… both of us kind of waiting and watching the lights.

Let me give you a quick summary of the exchange:

Dr. Yang: Oh! I think I just saw the lights flicker!
Me: Oh, ok. Well, that’s good.
Dr. Yang: It just happened again. Did you see that?
Me: I DON’T KNOW!

I cannot tell you how relieved I was, that Dr. Yang also saw the flickering lights. It was good to know I wasn’t crazy, and that my eyes weren’t on the verge of irreparable damage.

As I left the room, the woman who was taking notes was guiding me to the checkout area. I asked her: “Did you see the lights flicker?” And do you know what she said? She said “Oh yeah, I see that all the time.”

I have no idea why she didn’t pipe up during our conversation. She could have saved me a good 10 minutes of needless stress.

Apparently, the lights do flicker in one of the rooms in my ophthalmologist’s office. My take is that all the staff got used to the lights flickering, and are desensitized to it. Which doesn’t fix the problem that THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE, WORST POSSIBLE PLACE TO HAVE LIGHTS FLICKER.

All in all, no problems. Things are fine. Nothing like taking an unexpected roller coaster ride, completely out of the blue.

[photo via David Travis]

medical

« Wanting Sumptuous Heavens

Watchhouse: That Wrecking Ball »