went in for a follow-up assessment with my ophthalmologist (i’m starting to enjoy spelling that word) today and good news! the bubble of fluid has significantly decreased (almost 80% by my non-medical background assessment). he was pleased with the progress but did warm me that some slight wrinkling can occur and if so, my vision may be permanently distorted. 
for now, the vision is clearer but i am still experiencing some distortion… hopefully i’m back to good soon.
when they say once in a lifetime, they mean it. a last minute decision based on a number of factors working in our favour (2-for-1 air canada special, stable eye, vacancy of a friend’s condo and the last 2 tickets to the closing ceremony) lead jojo and i to vancouver for the weekend to feel the olympic spirit in person.
needless to say, it was crazy there – crazy good. lots of canadian pride oozing everywhere we looked. we saw the olympic rings, the cauldron and a few of the pavilions set up around the city. everywhere we went, you’d see people dressed in red and white and high-fiving everyone within reach. i was surprised to see that there wasn’t a lot of people from other countries walking around. i had thought i’d see groups from russia, italy, china, etc., but there were just a random pair here and there. that was slightly disappointing.
we watched the game for the ages (the men’s gold medal hockey game) just outside of the arena the game itself was being played in on a giant outdoor screen with hundreds of other fans. needless to say it was pure joy when canada pulled out the win in overtime. i had speculated that there would be riots in the streets if canada lost – fortunately that did NOT happen!
the closing ceremonies were fun in our opinion. we were provided with a little kit of items we needed to participate in the nonstop activity throughout the show… hold the box up, put it down, open the placard, show side A, now side B now side A, sit down, globe up, wave it, turn the light on, wave it some more, sit down, reindeer antlers on, lights on, clap, cheer, cheer, clap… you get the idea. the ponchos they gave us (i guess to mute out all the red and white in the crowds) werent’ very breathable and with all the activity, i was sweating up a storm.
saturday and sunday evening was a blast i the streets. the city shutdown robson and granville (2 big streets in the city core) and it was packed with people. the fun part was the random constumes: bert, ernie, count dracula, sasquatches, captain canada to name a few. even the groups of cops in the crowd got in the spirit high fiving people and posing for photos. it was just one giant happy party. good times all around.
we were surprised to see that on monday, the city had cleaned everything up and without knowing, you’d think nothing had happened the 2 weeks before.
good job vancouver and great job canada on a fantastic olympics. i will remember this experience for the rest of my life!
GO CANADA!
UPDATE: jojo’s photos from the trip
a week ago today, i started noticing that i was having trouble focusing on the tv across the room. that evening, completely out of the blue, i thought “hm.. why don’t i compare the vision in my right eye to my left?”
the result:
- i was unable to see things in the distance unless there was enough light on it
- it took me 3-5 seconds to focus on objects
- everything looked ‘darker’; viewing the silver sink drain looked tarnished
- everything looked smaller
obviously, when it’s your eye, it’s pretty freaky and scary. i went to see my GP the next day and after a series of tests concluded that it was just my eye and the rest of me was ok. she booked an appointment to see an ophthalmologist (today) and told me to monitor my vision and if it got worse, go to the hospital.
weekend rolls around and i’m getting more and more nervous so i go to see an optometrist. my vision hasn’t changed much but the fact that i hadn’t had a chance to see someone who is trained to look at eyes worried me. basically the optometrist was able to tell me that she was confident (but could not guarantee 100%) that i did NOT have a detached retina. apparently a detached retina MUST be dealt with within 24 hours or you could lose your vision forever (that’s my public service announcement. i was also told that if it were to happen, go to Toronto Western or St. Michael’s ER as they have ophthalmologists on call). she suspected i was suffering from Central Serous Retinopathy (CSR). fortunately, CSR is treatable. i relaxed a little and waited for my appointment.
fortunately the optometrist was right and the ophthalmologist confirmed it. i did an eye scan (like a cat scan but for eyes) and that was confirmed. i’m instructed to take it easy and go back in 2 weeks to see if there has been improvements.
*PHEW*
… i guess i can now be known as ‘leaky eye stan’.
