The eyes have it

Most of you don't know it, but I have a really weird body in terms of how things go wrong and what is wrong.

I consider these "challenges" to be God's way of making me stronger though sometimes they are tough to take.

For example I have the triumvirate. Asthma ( though its only congestive now, the viral is gone), allergies and eczema. All are related and each one compromises the immune system as a whole. That does not mean you are Immuno-suppressed. That is different and I want to point that out right away. What it means is that you have an immune system that is not behaving normally. It might be quicker to heal in some areas and slower in others. It also means that you will be more susceptible to illness.

My immune system is compromised. That was a tough nut to swallow. Ironically it was my Opthamologist that pointed it out and explained it to me.

You see people with a compromised immune system caused by the things that I have, can sometimes ( more frequently than not though you may not know it) have what is called a reactive cornea.

This is an interesting development. As you may remember, After the wedding, I tore my cornea. I was on the phone with Jax when it happened. I was using a head set and I was sitting calmly on the couch. I did not touch my face and there was nothing to indicate how this happened. It just did. It wasn't immediately painful.

This is not the first time either. Two years ago this happened right before the Diva's wedding. Horrific pain then.... not so much now. The tear was in a different place than the first time.

The treatment this time didn't move as quickly as the last time either. That scared the hell out of me to be honest. I see this doctor every single day. twice in fact, per day. And even though its only a co-pay - its starting to mount up. Though that's the least of my problems.

The treatment is first two days hourly drops of an antibiotic called Zymar. Most people don't have problems with that. My eye considers this a hostile environment. That's the reactive cornea at work. So on the third day, my doctor is hemming and hawing and finally stands up and says he wants a second opinion. He leaves the room and comes back with another doctor from the practice. He looks at my eye and says "Jon - this is a classic case". And he recommends treatment, they confer a minute or two longer and he leaves.

My doctor chooses to gloss over these events like they didn't happen. Meanwhile my eye still looks like I've been in a bar fight. So I ask him what a reactive cornea means to me. His answer in a nutshell is that when ANYTHING enters my eye, my cornea becomes an overly hostile environment. The drops are working fine on the tear but they are causing major swelling of the eye and the vessels are all swollen up which is actually slowing down the healing process. So what's the answer? Cortisone drops. Twice a day in addition to the antibiotic 4 times a day.

I'm not caring a whole lot that I have steroid drops to be honest. I just need my vision back and the eye to look normal again.

The reactive cornea is very common in people with compromised immune systems, so you know that means right?

The plan just changed.

I am no longer JUST losing weight. I am losing weight, exercising and doing it in a way that will help me boost my immune system. I am now researching this and reading up on it. There has to be SOMETHING I can do to help prevent this from happening again. The pain alone is worth doing the work here. Its indescribable. If you will, imagine the pain of a migraine. Now multiply it by 100. put it in one eye area. And no drugs to stop it. Waves of pain over longer periods of time and light sensitivity that is unbearable. So you see my incentive.

I was depressed after the wedding as I am not happy with the pictures and I feel really really really fat. It was discouraging in so many ways. But this gave me the motivation that I really needed to get moving.

And after one day with the new drops - I look normal again! Yippee - looking in a mirror no longer scares me.

Lets have a show of hands for who thinks this is a great twist to a good plan?

And the "eyes" have it!