by Cindi Clarke

Created on: January 17, 2009

My education in retinal detachment began on a Tuesday afternoon, 30 November 2004.

At first I thought someone was playing with the lights in the hallway at work. I could see flashes through the window in my office door, just at the edge of my right eye's peripheral vision. Then my desk was suddenly swarming with ants. Well, actually, they turned out to be black spots that I was seeing only with my right eye. Concerned now, I closed my eyes and realized that I could still see the flashes of light. I reached for the phone.

For as long as I can remember, every time I had an eye exam, my doctors warned me that I was at risk for a retinal detachment. I knew the symptoms by heart. Flashes of light. Increased floaters in my vision or dark spots. I was a high risk because of my nearsightedness. My vision - without contacts or glasses - was 20/950 in my right eye and 20/850 in my left. Normal 20/20 vision eyes are round, like a ping-pong ball. Mine... more like eggs. Long and stretched - which was stretching my retina.

I went straight to my eye doctor's office that afternoon, and after dilating my eye, he said that it looked like it was stuck, and if we were lucky it would gently release without tearing. He sent me home and told me to come back the next morning. When he looked again at my eye Wednesday morning, he called a local retina specialist in town and sent me right over. The diagnosis was the same. My retina was "stuck" and if I was lucky it would release without tearing and causing further damage. I was to not "exert" myself with exercise or lifting anything heavy for the next few days and to come back Friday morning.

Thursday night I was walking into my kitchen when suddenly 30% of my vision in my right eye was gone. It was as if a thick gray fog had moved into my eye. I called the retina specialist and spoke to the receptionist. I told her what I was experiencing and asked if I should come in immediately, or wait until my morning appointment.

In retrospect, I'm sure I probably didn't stress the urgency I felt when I was talking to her. I was trying to remain calm because I was afraid that if I started crying, I wouldn't be able to stop. When she told me I could probably wait until morning, I told her I would see her then. I rationalized to myself that she worked in the office and would know better than I would if it was an emergency or not.

Thirty minutes later though when I lost more of my vision and now had absolutely no peripheral vision on my right side, I allowed

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