Daily Journal - June 15 & 19, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Happy Father's Day to all the dads out
there in the world.  Hope you have a fun day.

Last night, after Bob and I got back from dinner, I went in the
bathroom downstairs to put some drops in my eye and I
experienced something like an ocular migrane only different.

When I closed my right eye, I saw snowflake type shapes not the
jagged lines that you see in an ocular migrane.  Plus, I didn't have
the aura feeling ahead of time and no pain.

Then when I opened my eyes and tried to see, I couldn't see very
well at all - it was very, very scary.  When I looked at the lamp on
the counter, I saw a blob of light and a six pointed star shape.  
Yeah, I know.... weird!!!

I put the gel in and went to bed because I figured if it was like an
ocular migrane, it would be better in the morning.  But I decided to
call the ophthamologist's answering service.

The doctor with the less than stellar chair-side manner was on call.  
She called back after I went back to bed and started to fall sleep so
I may have been a little groggy when I talked to her.  Plus, there
was a LOT of background noise on her end of the phone.  Not too
much of a distraction!

It sounded like she was at Chuck E Cheese's or somewhere like
that....maybe a baseball game....I don't know.  Anyway, after I
described what had happened and she asked a few questions, her
response was totally nonchalant because it didn't sound like a
detached retina --- which IS really bad.

When I told her I had an appointment on Monday, she said, "well,
that's good."  I'm freaking out because I can't see and she's totally
blowing me off like.....whatever.........
SEE ya later

This morning, it's not quite as bad but still not very clear, however, I
have definitely decided to go to another eye clinic as soon as I can
get in.  For one thing, this other place has a doctor on call 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, which I need.

There is one good thing, though, my eye isn't red any more!

Early this morning, we had a HUGE thunderstorm roll through
sometime around 7 a.m.  The wind and rain were horrendous.  I'm
guessing at least 60 mph.  Intense!!

Bob went out to the cemetery later this morning to pay respects to
his dad.  Because of my special circumstances, I stayed here.  He
said that it was very peaceful.  Apparently, that's one of the
reasons that Grandma and Grandpa Burkholder wanted to be
buried out there in the country.

Looks like it's going to storm again.  I'd better go.  My good eye is
getting tired of doing all the work.  I'll pop some pictures in here
and then I'll take a break for a while.

This week is going to be in the 70's for the beginning of summer.  
Isn't that a hoot?  I had to wear socks this morning to keep my feet
warm.  brrrrr

Happy Father Day.  later, djb
Andrew, Grandpa, Jarrett and Bergy cooking
Bob, Andrew, me, Jarrett - July 1995 - I miss them so much!!
A bunch of Burkholders at Woodhaven
Thursday, June 19, 2008 - On Monday, I saw a new ophthamologist - okay, I saw two at the same place.  On Sunday night, I had the
same extreme reaction to the Alphagan that I had on Saturday night but hadn't previously linked the two.  The last time it happened 5
minutes apart so it was easier to figure out the cause and effect.  Apparently, I'm the only person in the world who has had this type of
rare and unheard of reaction.  Oh boy!  I'm special and rare.  The new doctor also asked me if I knew that I had ocular histoplasmosis.
Yes, I was told I had that in August 1997.  Of course, over the past eleven years, I completely forgot about it.  That could also be causing
problems.  It TOTALLY creeps me out to even think about it. If you want to Google it, go ahead.  Very disturbing and unsettling to say the
least.  I'm typing this as fast as I can so I can get this up here.  I tried to recreate what I saw when I basically went blind from those drops.  
This is as close as I can get to how it looked from inside my brain.  I realized last night that we might have to move to California so I can
get some medical pot since that has been known to bring down the ocular pressure.  Either that or go to any high school hangout and
ask a dude for a dime bag.  haha  That's funny.  Enough with the pot jokes.  talk to you later, djb    P.S.  Oh, I forgot to mention that the
pressure in my left eye was 14 (perfect) however, the pressure in my right eye was 41 (very dangerous!!!!!!!!!)
This is the same tree and how it looked to me after I took the
Alphagan drops.  Real scary, isn't it!!!!!!?   Answer:  YES
This is a normal looking tree in our yard.
This is how it looked when I closed my right eye on Saturday
night.  Lots of little dots and a big star to the right
When I looked at the lamp on the kitchen counter, it had a star shape in the
middle of it.  It was more like the inset shape than a snowflake.  Although I
did see those.  The lamp was totally indistinct like this picture.
An artist's (me) rendering of how things looked inside my
head looking out my right eye.