To See or Not to See That Is The Questio

To See or Not to See That is the Question

On the 25th of February, I woke up with my left eye all blurry… actually I couldn’t see out of it. Dao suggested that I go to the hospital so off we went at about 10 AM. Wanting to get three birds with one stone, we scheduled three appointments for that day: The eye Dr.; the foot Dr.; and the skin Dr. Our first stop was the Podiatrist to address what I thought was an ingrown toenail. The prognosis was it was not an ingrown toenail but a misshaped toenail and his suggestion to alleviate the pain was to wear open-toed shoes to avoid the toe hitting the upper part of the shoe while walking.
Our next stop was the optometrist. The first thing the nurse did was weigh me and take my blood pressure: 69.5 weight and blood pressure was 189/105. I never had blood pressure as high as that before. Then the nurse put eye drops into my eyes to dilate the pupils. She had to do this 5 times to get the pupils to dilate. The doctor did some in-office checks and suggested that I have an ultrasound test of my carotid artery and a CT scan of my heart. She said to come back at 2 o’clock to review the results. After lunch, we went back to find out the results of the tests. The heart looked good but the left neck carotid artery showed blockage of at least 70%. She advised me to see a neuro surgeon. This was a little scary. We made an appointment for the next day. By this time it was 8 PM and I had to pee badly. There was one problem: I couldn’t urinate without using a catheter. On the 15 kilometer ride home we hit the most traffic I saw in my 8 year stay in Chiang Mai. We got home a little after 9 PM. Oh, what a relief !
The next morning about 11 AM, we went to Ram Hospital to meet with Dr. Kanyaprasit. He was in emergency surgery so we had to wait until noon. After reviewing the preliminary results, he suggested that I have a CTA brain and carotid arteries tests. The carotid arteries test involved inserting a tube into the vain of my left arm and pushing it up to my neck. I had the procedure done after lunch. Yes, it hurt. There was not only pain but when the tube reached its designated place; a chemical was introduced into the tube that heated my body from the groin all the way to the top of my head. We went back to his office to make an appointment for the next day. While he was talking to me, he asked where I was from and I told him America. He then asked where Dao was from and I said Phetchabun. He then began speaking to Dao in Thai. A few seconds later, Dao jumped up and threw her arms around the doctor. Dr. Kanyaprasit noticed the confusion on my face and told me that Dao and he were cousins. He went on to say that the last time he saw her she was about 5 or 6 years old. This is a small world.
The next day we went to the hospital again to get the results. Dr. Kanyaprasit showed me the slides from the test. The result was that there was 100% blockage in my left carotid artery. There could not be anything he could do to fix it. He sent me back to the eye doctor for her take on the matter. She concurred that there was nothing that could be done to restore the eye.
What a past few months? 2 grandparents died, a car accident, we lost our baby; I can’t wear normal shoes, possible skin cancer; living with a faulty bladder; and a lost eye
Where is Dr. Jack Kevorkian when you need him? Only kidding.