News flash: Aging sucks :(

Last night, around 11, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. I've always had floaters in my eyes, since I was a kid (particularly in the right one, which is my weaker eye) -- but there was a big one I hadn't noticed before, swinging in & out of my vision range. I finished up, came to bed, pressed the button on my cellphone to shut it down & turned out the lamp on the bedside table. 

The phone glows as it's shutting down -- but suddenly, out of nowhere, there were a couple of flashes of light, like lightning. I said, "What the heck was THAT?"

I thought it was my phone at first, but then I realized it was my eye.  :(  I found if just I lay in bed & looked around with my head on the pillow, I was OK -- but if I lifted my head too far off the pillow, or got up to go to the bathroom, I'd see the flashes again, right in the outer corner of my right eye.

This scared the crap out of me. I know flashes of light (and the sudden onset of new floaters) can be a sign that the retina is detaching, which is serious stuff. But I also knew there wasn't anything much I could do about in the middle of the night, short of heading to emergency... and I noticed that as the night went on, the flashes got weaker/less intense, which I took to be a good thing.

In the morning light, the flashes were less noticeable -- although if I went into the bathroom without the lights on & shut the door, I could see them flickering at the outer corner of my eye. We showered & had breakfast, and then I called our optometrist's office. We've been seeing him since we first got married -- i.e., more than 30 years! His office is close to where our first apartment was in midtown Toronto. He's not always in the office every day, or all day, but luckily, he was in. In fact, I'd just called there earlier in the week to book our regular checkups (scheduled for next week) -- but the receptionist agreed I should get it looked at now & said the last slot of the day was available to me, at 12:40.

I took it. 

He dilated my eye & did a bunch of scans/photos.  It didn't take him long to tell me I had a "complete PVD" -- posterior vitreous detachment -- in my right eye. I was somewhat familiar with the idea, as both my SIL & sister's boyfriend have had similar experiences over the past year.  Your eyeball is full of gelatinous stuff that's attached to your retina -- it deteriorates & shrinks as you age, and sometimes it will detach/pull away from the retina wall & fall to the bottom of your eye. (!) Not something you want to happen -- but not the worst-case scenario -- and very common as you age, apparently. The dr told me he sees two or three cases like this EVERY DAY. 

Sometimes, as the vitreous pulls away from the retina, it takes the retina with it, or tears it. This can be serious. VERY fortunately, the dr told me the retina was intact, no tears or damage. He doesn't expect I will have any problems in the future.

But he told me I'm not to do any heavy lifting or strain myself for the next while. It may take a few weeks for the flashes & floaters to settle down -- but if I start getting more/intense flashes or a sudden influx of new floaters, or a shadow/curtain coming down over my vision, I'm to call him immediately... and if I can't get hold of him, we're to go to one of the hospitals in the city that is known for dealing with these things.  Fingers crossed it will never come to that! Our checkups next week will also serve as a followup on this for me.

Dh's theory was that this was caused by too much screen time (laptop/cellphone). I asked the dr. Answer:  Nope. (lol)  Nevertheless, I will admit, I HAVE been spending too much time on screens recently (it's been a loooonnnnggggg winter...!!), & both my eyes are a bit dry, sore & strained. So I'm trying to limit my screen time a little more than usual, until things get back on a more even keel. I'm already behind on blog reading & commenting, so if I've been absent from your comments section lately, this might be why.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that things continue to go well!  (And if you ever start seeing a lot of floaters or flashing lights in your peripheral vision, please, get thee to an optometrist/opthamologist/emergency room, pronto!) 

(Aging sucks.)