I’d mentioned this before. That the unexpected will occur. As we hunker down here, I have an unexpected medical emergency. I never had surgery for 60 years of and today I had my first as my right eye suffered a detached retina. So excuse my typing as I”m working with one eye and still woozy from anesthesia and have to keep my head inclined in a certain position.
However, there were a lot of positives– first, I was able to get this surgery done, not at UT Hospital, which would have been a nightmare but at a new center here in town– The Tennessee Valley Eye Center. Where a few hardy souls were still working on emergency cases. In a sixty bed operating facility there were just two of us this afternoon this afternoon. A detached retina, if not treated, leads to blindness so to say I am thankful is understating it. My father, later in life, went blind and it had a terrible effect on him.
They were surprised I had self-diagnosed it based on symptoms because you can still see sometimes with a detached retina, quite well in fact, I had to put together the light flashes, floaters, and the feeling of a contact folding in my eye. Plus a friend had told me his symptoms and it rang a bell. But the nurse when I called recognized them and allowed me to come in without a referral from my ophthalmologist who is now closed and would reopen on Monday. If I had waited until Monday—–
There are many people out there with medical issues and emergencies not related to COVID-19 and we need to keep them in mind. As the nurse told me– her husband and children are isolated at home but she comes in to work.
And despite all my preparations and survival kit and expertise, this was something beyond my abilities to deal with or fix, other than pursuing a solution to a problem quite vigorously and not waiting until it got worse, which in this case would have been blindness in one eye.
However, as you can see above, while surgery for detached retina is not in my survival guide, I do have a saying in it that covers the situation. Shit happens.
The biggest problem now is having to keep Scout and Cool Gus out of the room for several nights because of the threat of infection. Scout is already barking her discontent.
Stay safe! Stay aware. Be thankful for what you do have. And thank those who are still there for us in emergencies.
PLEASE! Take this virus seriously.
The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.
The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)
Once more, the NY Times has dropped its paywall for information about COVID-19, Coronavirus. Click HERE to go to it. Also, The Economist has dropped its paywall for information about COVID-19 and it does a very good job drilling down on various aspects.
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