Was a FML, now more wordy

[petronia]

sub_divided was here for most of last week. She left Friday morning, I had a 10AM phone interview at the end of which I was asked to prepare a Powerpoint presentation for Monday (otherwise known as "We probably won't hire you but we sure would like a free consultant report"). Since I was headed to Osheaga over the weekend I started on it immediately. Sometime around noon, as I was typing, something got into my left eye - or that's what it felt like - and refused. to. go. away.

I went to the emergency room at the Jewish Hospital. Other than how my eye teared up, swelled up, and HURT WHENEVER I BLINKED, this was 100% due to nem0's posts about her corneal abrasion, and the impression I got that delaying seeing a doctor made it that much worse. So, uh, all of you out there, don't be afraid of boring your flists with your medical issues! That information may come in handy to someone someday! ...It was a corneal abrasion too, which only goes to show. I got bumped to high priority after only an hour in the triage line which made me feel special, and since I showed up at 1PM I even got seen by ophthamology before they went home for the day. As there was no foreign object (not even contact lens) and I had not gotten poked in the eye, they decided it was spontaneous and therefore highly interesting. The e-room attending was like, "Come back after ophthamo sees you and tell us what they said! We'll be here til midnight! Er, not that it'll take you that long of course! :D"

My typical socialist health care experience, for those of you Americans interested:

~20min being sent by front desk to family clinic, then by family clinic to e-room as the former were closed to new patients for the day
~1 hr triage line (spent listening to the Arctic Monkeys third album leak and feeling much better about myself as the lady ahead of me seemed to be eaten alive by her pancreas or something)
~5min with triage doctor
~5min giving info for my hospital card, since AFAIK I hadn't been to the emergency room since I was still going to the Children's
~90min waiting room w/ bracelet (spent mostly dozing)
~20min with fluffy Jewish intern, some of which was spent waiting for an examination room to open up
~5min waiting for attending after intern gave up pretending he knew how to operate the machine that shines a light into your eye
~10min with attending, who ID'd the issue immediately after putting fluo in my eye, also BLESSED LIDOCAINE
~10min sent around to ophthamology and waiting for the people there to finish their conversation
~30min with ophthamologist, redoing the intern's tests and making very sure there was no foreign object

Total: ~4 hrs (high priority, non-flu season - actually, due to SWINE FLU anyone who had cold symptoms was segregated into a Plexiglass Room of Shame, and there was hand sanitizer everywhere)
Diagnosis: spontaneous corneal abrasion
Prognosis: likely to heal itself within 48 hours
Cost: $40 for antibiotic eye drops and ointment not covered by provincial drug plan (+ X number of tax dollars)

Everyone I interacted with was friendly and helpful. The attending was one of those dudes who cracked jokes to make you feel better, and (more to the point) not only explained the problem but explained it like he thought you were capable of the same level of understanding and quid pro quo as - say - the intern. I know how to make computer techs or music store clerks talk to me on that level, but it's hard to get doctors to do it when it's not their style. The ophthamologist was new (confirmed by pharmacist) and more of a type A knows-better, but she was great in her own way and even called me the next day to make sure it hadn't worsened and I didn't need to come in (I gather it's standard procedure but still, never had that happen before XD). IDK, it's like I don't see authority figures anymore when I talk to doctors, I just see people like jokersama or calintz or iatros or E. the MBA MD, baby of our class and fluffiest of fluffy Jewish doctors-in-training.

There were also no crying children! It took me ages to realize that this was because I was NO LONGER AT THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL and therefore will never have to share an emergency waiting room with them again unless I have one of my own.

Comments

[nem0.livejournal.com]

Happy to hear my misadventures turned out to be helpful XD Good call on getting it looked at same-day -- and be sure to use the drops/ointment even after it starts feeling better, otherwise you run a much higher risk of ending up with a fresh abrasion down the road. The key, apparently, is to keep things fully moisturized, especially at night, and to give the cells time to glue themselves back together before they dry out again. I failed at this, which is why I'm mentioning it, even if it's something I might have posted about before.

If you want any recommendations on over the counter eye stuff, LMK.

Do you have a regular eye doctor? Might be worth getting an expert to keep track of your cornea's structural integrity for a while. There's a whole host of reasons for spontaneous abrasions, and while there's no definitive cure for most of them, at least the doc could make sure you've got access to the right potions and ointments if you do need them down the road.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's good to know - they prescribed me the drops for five days but I guess I'll just use them until they run out, given that they expire after a month anyway.

I don't wear contacts and my eyes tend to wet rather than dry, so they seemed to think it was FUSHIGI MYSTERY. Thinking about it though, it's not the first time this has happened, although it's the first time it's been this bad. I always assumed it was just something that got into my eye. XD; Maybe I should stop rubbing my eyes so hard.

Will let the optometrist know. I don't have an ophthamologist - never needed one - although my mom does.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

So DID your abrasion heal itself? Lucky it chose that day to spontaneously develop, any sooner or later and you might've had to cancel plans.

Thank you for writing about your socialist health care experience XD. I had a similar one in Ann Arbor, but that was because I was a student at the University the hospital was attached to with 104 degree fever.