Two Saturdays ago, while I was in NYC visiting my sister, I started to experience a disability that I do not have much experience with. I woke up with sudden nearsightedness. Everything in the distance was suddenly blurry. I could not read anything in the distance. I had gone to bed with my eyesight just fine and woke up with this sudden change. I was freaked out, but my body has a tendency to do weird things, so I figured it would go away. I went through the whole day that way. When I woke up the next day it seemed like things were a bit better, but as the day went on, they got worse and worse. By the time I got home things were almost as bad as they had been. I tried to convince myself that they would be better the next day.
They weren't. I woke up and things were still blurry. I went to work and discussed what I should do with people there. That was the first day back for my supervisor. She had been gone since the first week of the internship. She had been in a bad car accident. It was nice to see her and I did not want to bother her when she had so much to do, but I needed to let her know. We decided that I needed to get my eye checked out since it had lasted as long as it had.
Getting my eye checked out is easier said than done. I have Medicaid. I have Iowa Medicaid. No one in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, or even NY see people with Iowa Medicaid. I checked the provider list. So I searched for a free medical clinic. I found a place that sees on a sliding scale. On Tuesday I went there early in the morning to wait for it to open. I waited for hours to get in, for the doctor to say that I needed to see a specialist, who was not available at their clinic until October. That was not going to help me. He wanted me to get seen immediately, because he was concerned about a detached retina. Detached retina can lead to blindness. That needed to be taken care of.
I ended up in the emergency room. All by myself, no support, scared that I was going blind. It was not an experience I would wish on others. After hours in the ER, I was told by the ER doctor that he did not think my retina was detached, but he was not an ophthalmologist and referred me to an one to get a more complete exam. I left with a small sense of relief, but no answers, and not an assurance that this trouble was not serious.
The next day, at the ophthalmologists, I still did not get an answer, only more tests that were needed. Tests that I could not afford out of pocket like I had paid him. I was going to have to return to Iowa in order to get these tests done.
Today I had another exam that reaffirmed his results. They are concerned about Ophthalmic Neuritis, or swelling of the optic nerve. This can be a sign of Multiple Sclerosis. This is not the first time this illness has been mentioned in my presence. Now we are going to do the testing for it. Friday I will know more. Friday I will learn if my life is going to need to change in a big way. I will learn if I will have another condition that is disabling.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Commenters must avoid profanity, harsh language and disparaging remarks on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability. All comments to the blog are moderated by AAPD, and can be subject to removal at any time.
Please use the comments section to engage in the ongoing dialogue between our program funders, current and former interns, our colleagues, and the broader disability community, and to respond to intern posts that intrigue you, to share your own stories, or to simply express your gratitude for being allowed into the world of our summer interns.