April 25, 2013
I had my first hospital experience while living at the ashram. I’ve been a bit concerned about my eyes lately due to a bruise like feeling I had on my left eyeball a fews days ago. It has now subsided; I think it was just tiredness. Anyhow that, coupled with my history of a retinal detachment, I didn’t want to take any chances so I popped over to a private hospital in Dehradun, The Himalyan. Being a private hospital I knew it would be a lot cleaner than the government hospital I had been to in Delhi. It was. Registration was quick and then I was told to head to the eye care wing of this large institution. I was first seen, after a short wait, by a young fellow whose English was great. He then passed me onto a nurse who further checked out my eyes and who was somewhat knowledgeable about retinal detachments and assured me that they had a retinal specialist on duty who would be treating me. I relaxed a little. Of course when this same nurse told me she’d have to put drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils and that I would experience “bluding” I freaked. I have been through this process dozens of times and there is no blooding involved. “No not blooding, blurrying,” reassured the nurse. Phew. I had been seconds away from running out of that hospital. It was a blessing the nurse could speak English, I shouldn’t judge her on her heavy Indian accent even though I nearly had a panic attack seconds earlier. So three rounds of dilation drops and blurry eyes I was ready to be seen by the Doc. The Doctor was a beautiful woman whose English, of course, was better than anyone else I had encountered. I was impressed by her professionalism. She was efficient, gentle and knowledgeable. After about ten minutes of a thorough examination I was told I had nothing to worry about. Exactly what I wanted to hear. However she did say that if I was in the area for the next six months to come back and see her again since there is a spot in the left eye that seems to be thinning but it’s not close to being thin enough to do laser on and it’s not anything I need to worry about. I also mentioned my paranoia of having glaucoma. She did a quick pressure test and once again I was in the clear! This hasn’t always been the case in most my eye appointments so I was thrilled. The prescription for the day: a few eye drops to keep my eyes from getting too dried out while wearing contacts. Easy peasy. I left happy. Squinting but happy and so, so incredibly grateful I can see. Something we take for granted in our busy day to day lives – the ability to see life. Thank you!
I had my first hospital experience while living at the ashram. I’ve been a bit concerned about my eyes lately due to a bruise like feeling I had on my left eyeball a fews days ago. It has now subsided; I think it was just tiredness. Anyhow that, coupled with my history of a retinal detachment, I didn’t want to take any chances so I popped over to a private hospital in Dehradun, The Himalyan. Being a private hospital I knew it would be a lot cleaner than the government hospital I had been to in Delhi. It was. Registration was quick and then I was told to head to the eye care wing of this large institution. I was first seen, after a short wait, by a young fellow whose English was great. He then passed me onto a nurse who further checked out my eyes and who was somewhat knowledgeable about retinal detachments and assured me that they had a retinal specialist on duty who would be treating me. I relaxed a little. Of course when this same nurse told me she’d have to put drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils and that I would experience “bluding” I freaked. I have been through this process dozens of times and there is no blooding involved. “No not blooding, blurrying,” reassured the nurse. Phew. I had been seconds away from running out of that hospital. It was a blessing the nurse could speak English, I shouldn’t judge her on her heavy Indian accent even though I nearly had a panic attack seconds earlier. So three rounds of dilation drops and blurry eyes I was ready to be seen by the Doc. The Doctor was a beautiful woman whose English, of course, was better than anyone else I had encountered. I was impressed by her professionalism. She was efficient, gentle and knowledgeable. After about ten minutes of a thorough examination I was told I had nothing to worry about. Exactly what I wanted to hear. However she did say that if I was in the area for the next six months to come back and see her again since there is a spot in the left eye that seems to be thinning but it’s not close to being thin enough to do laser on and it’s not anything I need to worry about. I also mentioned my paranoia of having glaucoma. She did a quick pressure test and once again I was in the clear! This hasn’t always been the case in most my eye appointments so I was thrilled. The prescription for the day: a few eye drops to keep my eyes from getting too dried out while wearing contacts. Easy peasy. I left happy. Squinting but happy and so, so incredibly grateful I can see. Something we take for granted in our busy day to day lives – the ability to see life. Thank you!
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