Monday, March 21, 2011

Oy I Eye! (by Paul)

I always try to get the best understanding possible of what life is like in the places we travel. So what better way than to experience first-hand the medical system of France? (Yes, I know that in my previous post I said that Vienna would be the topic of the next post - call me a fibber.)

On the last day in Vienna (aha, there it is!), my left eye started to develop a problem. I have what is known as PVD, posterior vitreous detachment, in both eyes, something very common as we age (google it if you're really interested in the details). So I assumed that this was the PVD getting worse in one eye. By Friday, however, I could barely see out of that eye. The best I can describe it is as if I had a ball of thread inside my eyeball that swirled around if I moved my eye back and forth. Kind of makes seeing a bit difficult. I emailed my eye doctor, who replied that I should get the eye examined to make sure it wasn't a retinal tear or separation, something that can happen as a result of PVD. So we spent 3.5 hours on Sunday at urgency care at the Arle hospital. An ophthalmologist on call came in and did the exam; however, there was too much blood in the eye for him to see the retina. So this morning, Monday, we were back for a sonograph of the eye. Luckily, it is only a hemmorage, cause unknown, and surgery is not necessary, and I can fly home on Thursday.

We left Arle and drove the 2.5 hours to Eze, outside of Nice, without incident, on one good eye.

The care at the hospital was excellent, the staff were all very helpful and friendly, and they'll send me a bill in a couple of weeks. I have no idea how much it will be, but I bet it will be surprisingly inexpensive.

Another trip - another glimpse into life in another country.


- posted from the fisheyepad

Location:Arles, France

No comments:

Post a Comment