Eye exam or heart test?

I went in for my annual eye exam this afternoon, although, I must say that it’s debatable whether it was really about my eyes or perhaps my heart was being tested. I went through the normal tests and the good news is that my eye sight has barely changed. That excites me. I won’t ever forget when after a couple months of diabetes I had to go get glasses. And then things really deteriorated when I was 20 and had to get bi-focals. I was 20 for petes sake. (Who is pete anyway?) In any case, I was excited that my sight has only a fraction of a bit continued to deteriorate, the doctor (and me) attribute this to the care I’ve been giving my diabetes over the last 2 years. I just love that my eye doctor gets excited over my 6.5 hbA1c. Of course, he’s diabetic as well, so maybe that has something to do with it.

So, what does any of this have to do with my heart? Well, it was racing because when he was looking into my eyes, that I couldn’t see out of mind you because they were dialated, he spent a lot of long time on my left eye. Looking in it, using different instruments to look into it. Because, and I quote “I want to get a better look”. This went on far longer than normal. So I asked about it. He said that he saw something on the Optomap and just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t anything to be concerned about.

Now for those of you that don’t know, the optomap is a cool alternative (in most cases) to the dilated eye exam. I’m lucky, I have diabetes, I get to have both. Call it eye insurance if you will. Between the dilated exam and the optomap, they get to see all kinds of things from all kinds of views. The optomap, if you can imagine, looks at the inside of the back of your eye. So imagine your eye is a ball, it’s looking at the inside of the ball, but if your pupil is at the front, it’s looking at the back. It’s hard to explain. If you don’t get it, ask your eye doctor, they can explain it.

So, whatever was in the optomap that he saw, was apparently an odd reflection of light that’s not supposed to be there. But it’s me, nothing is as it should be so it was there. But he assured me more than once that I really had nothing to be concerned about.

And, I learned that our eyes can get freckles much the same way our skin can. Last year I had a small one, this year, it looked a little bigger on the optomap, we’ll be keeping an eye on it. Ba-dum-dum-ch.

Posted in: Health | | Jun 24, 08

4 Responses to “Eye exam or heart test?”

  1. Ron O'leary Says:
    June 25th, 2008 at 7:37 am

    Could you please reply to me. I came across this post about optomap while surfing online. Which Doctor did you went to? How much does he charge for Optomap? I am so fascinated by Optomap, I want one done for my father.

  2. Courtney Says:
    June 25th, 2008 at 9:05 am

    Hi Ron, I went and saw Dr. Reynolds at City of Vision Eyecare in Rio Rancho. I paid $29 to have it done.

    I hope that helps. Courtney

  3. Toni Says:
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    Who is Pete? funny stuff. Hope your freckle is okay…

  4. Courtney Says:
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    Yup, you’ve got it, the question of the day. Just who is Pete? hehe.

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