Sensitive to Light

 

I get sinus infections when the air is dry or polluted.  In addition I also have an eye disorder called Keratoconus.  According to Mayo Clinic it is the clear dome-shaped front surface of the eye that thins and gradually bulges.  Corey has the same disease.  I remember him showing off his eyes to various family members one Christmas.  We couldn’t see it by looking directly at him but if we looked to him at the side, we could see the eye bulging out  perhaps not as exaggerated as it appears in cartoons but that is what it reminded me of. 

    Walt Disney's Roger Rabbit

 It is said that correction may occur with glasses or soft contact lenses. It had been strongly Corey to wear contacts, but I don’t think he ever felt comfortable with them.  He was able to get a cornea transplant, but I cannot.  My eyes are a weird shape  and not designed for laser surgery to work properly.  I don’t think it is needed.  However I have noticed with the last week or so my eyes somehow seem more sensitive to light – which is a condition found with some patients who have Keratoconus.  Corey did not start his light sensitivity until after his operation – and though his sight has improved, there are many times he needs his sunglasses in order to protect his sensitive eye. 

Corey had his eye surgery done in Salt Lake City.  After the cornea has been sewn on and has had time to adjust to the new eye the stitches need to be removed just a few at a time until they are all out.  Corey said he would need to return to Bakersfield to do a show.  His doctor told him that he had a colleague in Bakersfield and had given him the address which just so happened to be across the street from the theatre.  Though Corey had been familiar with the address could not visualize an eye doctor’s office and so had asked a friend if the office really was across the street as he could only remember an animal clinic.  She joked that the veterinarian specialized in eye surgery.  There were ten stitches left when he returned to Bakersfield.

I think he was down to his last four when they started to unravel.  The theatre had chosen to perform an array of songs from the 50’s and early 60’s. He was wearing sunglasses not only for sensitivity but to hide the redness that the unraveling was causing in his eye.  The stage manager said it didn’t look right for him to wear the sunglasses in each number but thought he could change them to a different pair each time he changed costumes. She called every cast member to bring in all pairs of sunglasses that each of them owned, and so each time he was onstage he was wearing a different pair. 

I have worn sunglasses and pirate patches in the past – but don’t seem to have a patch on me currently though I would love to give it a go.  Makes the muscles in my right eye have to work harder but as of now I think it would be better for the right eye to do all of the work than to have my left eye to tear up whereas to I can’t see at all.