Return from Extended Absence · 12:47am Mar 28th, 2021
It's been a while. Again.
Quick aside for those of you who don't like reading long blog posts:
If you get nothing out of this blog post, let it be this. If you have dry eye that won't go away, don't just think you'll deal with it. If you haven't seen anyone about it, considering doing so. There are certain conditions, such as Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) that can cause significant and costly problems if gone untreated. MGD is where the oil glands in your eye become clogged. If they remain clogged for long enough, those glands can die altogether. But MGD is only one potential cause out of many, so if you have consistent dry eye, don't brush it off!
My apologies for the lack of communication (though I have been told it is unnecessary, you shall accept the apology whether you desire it or not!).
Things have been... rough. A few of you have been privy to the terribleness that were my last six months, but allow me to explain it in full now that I have a full grasp of the problem (TL;DR at the bottom as usual or you can skip to my thoughts on chapter 7).
It started a little over a year and a half ago in 2019. I received a laser corrective eye procedure, PRK (PhotoRefractive Keratectomy), a sister procedure to the more well known LASIK. Without grossing anyone out about the details, they reshape the cornea in an attempt to reduce or remove the need for glasses.
The procedure went well and I was glasses free for the first time in decades, but it was the coming months that were the problem. One of the things you have to do with PRK is wet your eyes with artificial tears several times per day for the first year, which I had been faithfully doing. The problem started when the need for those artificial tears didn't stop. Soon enough, the dryness extended into my sleep and would wake me up, progressing until I would need to lubricate my eyes four to five times throughout the night every night. This caused some rather nasty complications, such as the epithelium on my cornea tearing (ripping) from contact with my eyelids and, more importantly, sleep deprivation.
Long story short, my insurance wouldn't let me go to anyone except the ophthalmologist (eye doctor) office that did the procedure and none of them were particularly concerned about my dry eye because it was a "normal side effect" of PRK. Eventually I got fed up and switched insurance after an infuriating one-year post-op appointment where the doctor shrugged told me to continue putting drops in if it was bothering me that much.
Except nothing ever goes as planned and it took two months for the insurance switch to work because they were missing some form they didn't tell me they needed. The next step was getting an appointment with another ophthalmologist, but, of course, they were all booked with the least booked being one month out.
During this wait was around the time I had to get a new job, which some of you may remember me mentioning. The stress of finding a new job, having to deal with terrible insurance, having to wrap up things with my old job, and, most importantly, my constant lack of good sleep for the past year, and it became a harsh downward spiral.
I had just submitted chapter 6 of Unending Love about a month before this and had attempted work on Chapter 7, but everything came to a screeching halt. I was so exhausted and sleep deprived from my sleep-wake-lubricate-sleep cycle that in mid-November, my body crashed.
Almost everything became impossible because I, quite literally, had no energy to expend. Waking up five times every night ensured I would never get the deep sleep I needed to recover. If you've ever had or been diagnosed major depressive disorder or any of its sister disorders, it feels very similar to that. Lack of energy or motivation, "simple" tasks that turn into monumental challenges, and the feeling of being incapable of socializing.
Eventually, I was able to see the ophthalmologist and after three months of trial and error, things finally started to look up. The "most accurate" diagnosis seemed to be a combination of eye inflammation, mildly clogged glands, and improper (non-full) blinking. With anti-inflammatory drops, daily eyelid cleaning, daily warm compresses, and a $1,250 non-insurance-covered procedure for unclogging those Meibomian glands (called LipiFlow), I'm now only waking up once per night. The hope is that it continues to get better and I will still be going to be seeing the doctor until this is fully resolved.
But, what that meant is I could finally begin to recover from my excessive fatigue and sleep deprivation. And with enough time I eventually felt capable of continuing writing.
Which is where we are now!
Thoughts on Chapter 7:
The chapter is finally posted and wheeew was it a rough one. Maybe it was partially what I went through, but holy crepes was it hard to write a serous talk and still keep it at least moderately interesting. I mean, seriously, there's only so many actions you can have characters perform while sitting and talking on a couch. And there was over 4,500 words of it! Not to mention (why is that an idiom?) keeping the conversation on topic, discussing everything that needed to be discussed, and keeping the tone right.
That's some tricky business if I ever saw it!
But, now it's written and available for you all to tear apart and devour. Or politely consume, if that's more your style.
Funny thing, though. The reason the chapter is so despicably short is because what will now be chapter 8 was supposed to be part of chapter 7. It was somewhere around 21/32nds of the way into writing chapter 7 that I realized it needed a PoV shift right in the middle. So guess what that means! All of you who were expecting a reliable, scheduled shifting between the three PoVs can now throw that idea right out the window!
In honesty, the PoV shifts will stay mostly as they are with little deviations like such as chapter 8. And I'm super excited becaaaauuuse... once we hit chapter 10, we get a new PoV! This PoV will only come up every now and then, so don't think the entire world is changing. Also chapter 11 will mark the beginning of Act II. So there's that as well.
Also, speaking of chapter 8, this time you shouldn't have to wait anywhere nearly as long. As it stands, chapter 8 is already near complete. I can't say that I'll keep this kind of speediness up, but I will certainly try! I want to get this story out as much as you all apparently want to read it.
But that's all! If you read this far, many thanks for obliging my long-windedness! More shall be coming out soon and I wish you all the best!
TL;DR:
Got dry eye from laser eye surgery, dry eye didn't go away and I started waking up several times throughout the night which caused exhaustion and sleep deprivation. I'm mostly fixed now and chapter 7 has been posted with chapter 8 coming along soon after.
Wow, that sucks. Another reason to stick to glasses.
It's good to see you back. And mostly fixed! (Not as good as entirely fixed, but still better than not!)
I thought of getting laser eye surgery but I hate eyedrops, a laser in my eye is just a little bit more intense than that.
I can't wait to jump into the new chapter! I get to read it with the voices of GingerSue and PrismSoul in my head. :)
Ouch. glad you're back and on the mend.
i had complications too. i still have trouble driving at night and I do get dry eyes but not as bad as you. Same thing as you, had to go to the same doctor, said it was normal
. i solved it by moving to another state which forced them to let me go to someone else. The covid happened so i am on hold but i am no where near as bad as you.
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While I definitely don't enjoy the problems PRK caused, I am very happy with how well I'm able to see. If I can get the dry eye solved completely, it will have been worth it for me.
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Thank you! Completely fixed and mended will come soon. Probably.
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Enjoy! (Though you already did by now.) I'm sure that will be an experience.
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Yeah, if you are adverse to putting things in or near your eyes, any eye surgery is going to be a huge pain. Any time the eye has to heal, it needs a lot more lubrication than normal.
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It's really sad how insurance and even some ophthalmologists don't think dry eye is an issue. If you haven't been doing the "normal" stuff to try to solve it on your own, give these things a try:
- Warm eye compress heated to 110-120F~ (43-49C~) daily while occasionally gently massaging your upper and lower eyelids through the compress (can help with clogged glands).
- Wet cloth or equivalent tied around the head and eyes at night. This didn't work for me, but three ophthalmologists suggested it, so there must be some merit to it. If you have some money to spare for trying things, EyeEco seems to be the only company making a serious effort at creating dry eye masks. None of their products worked for me, but I've heard good things about them from others.
- Eyelid scrubbing every evening and, if you can fit it in, every morning. The solution two ophthalmologists recommended to me was Avenova, which used to be a prescription only eyelid scrub liquid, but is now available over the counter.
- Omega3 fish oil for it's anti-inflammatory properties. This seems to only help with some people, so if you don't feel a difference in a couple weeks, your inflammation, if there is any, might not be responding to it.
(Note: I'm not a doctor of any kind. These are merely a list of things I've learned over the past year)
Luckily I have mostly solved the dry eye problem, it rarely goes past slightly annoying.
Also, it's great seeing without my glasses
Unfortunately I am not surprised. I have many people I know who get absolutely screwed by medical insurance. One guys insurance company actually dropped him for no reason other than they didn’t want to pay the massive expense of months of hospital stay keeping his son from dying from a rare disease.
Anyway hope you keep getting better as that is by far the most important thing
I know a little bit for unrelated reasons what it feels like to have no energy or motivation and it absolutely sucks. I hate it
As for the chapter I liked it a lot as always very well written and you did good job making it interesting I definitely stayed hooked throughout the whole chapter.
Life happens hun and medical insurance is a downright pain at times. Still coming back to the site after a month and seeing one of my favorite stories updated brightened a dark time. Keep it up hun and my prayers are with you.
There are so many talented doctors out there that have all of the book knowledge and keep up with stuff but still manage to have no friggen CLUE about the actual experiences of their patients.
"Oh yeah that's a common side-effect" rather than "Yes, let's do whatever we need to so you can live your life comfortably"
Much as we want to complain about Karens, what I'm seeing is that you have to demand what you want from these folks or they steamroller right over you.
Wishing you the best, and welcome back.