Bright light...bright light!

Today was not a fun day. I had to go to the opthamologist for a plaquenil screen. If you don't know what that is, let me tell you alllllllll about it . First, I had to go into a room and basically get a mini eye exam. The assistant looked into my eyes and asked me some questions...no big whoop. After that, I had to sit and do a color test...All that was, was to arrange these little colored circles into their proper order, going from different shades of blue, green, brown, red and purple. I got all of those right...so far, so good. Next, I had to go into another room with a different assistant. She basically just asked me more questions, and shone bright lights into my eyes and tested my side vision...again, so far, so good. Then I was taken into another room, with yet another assistant, This is where the whole thing turned ugly. First, she told me she was gonna have to measure my pressure. I thought, no biggie...blood pressure, right? Wrong! She proceeded to put these anasthetic drops into my eyes to numb them. Ok, maybe they are supposed to numb your eyes, but first they have to burn - lol. And burn, they did. And then, once they stopped burning, they felt just plain funky. Then, she took out this pointer looking thing which blew air into my eyes, which I didn't feel since they were all numb. After that, she tells me she has to dilate my pupils. UGH. If I would have known I was gonna have that done, I would have had someone drive me to my appointment and back. So, she puts the dilation drops in my eyes and tells me it takes like 15 minutes to work. In the meantime, I had to sit in this bright office, my eyes growing more and more blurry and the light was just driving me nuts. After a little while, I could barely see. And just when I was at the point where everything was a complete and total blur, she makes me get up and walk into another room. Mind you, I can't see very well at this point, and I almost fell. Then she brings me to a dim room (thank the lord!) and makes me sit there for a while til the doctor comes in. So I sit there.....and sit.....and sit. And finally he comes in. Then he proceeds to shine more lights into my already painful eyes, and looks into them with a microscopic lens to examine the nerve endings. Ok...not too bad. He says my eyes look fine and healthy. Good! Next, he tells me he has to have the nerve endings in my eyes photographed....photographed?? Hmmm...that seemed a little weird. So, the next thing that happened was that the assistant who put the drops into my eyes tells me that she has to put the reversal drops into my eyes now. Huh? Reversal drops? They are supposed to reverse the dilation effect of the dilation drops. Ok...let me tell you something about those...they BURN! Ouch. After this, I really could barely see. But I had to go to yet another room to get my eyes photographed. This part was excruciating cuz I had to look into this bright ass light and my eyes were already so worn out from all the other lights. He took like 10 pictures in all...maybe more. I lost count. And after he turned the room light back on, everything looked pink! Yep....everything. It wore off after a few minutes though. I was told after all this was done, that I will have to have this whole experience repeated every 6 months while I am taking plaquenil. Ugh!!! I guess it is to make sure the plaquenil doesn't start builing up on the nerve endings in my eyes. That could lead to vision problems, color blindness (thus the color test) and even blindness. I mean, the plaquenil does seem to be helping with the pain in my joints, but man! I don't know about all of this eye stuff. I guess we'll see. I just know that next time, I am having my mom drive me! I got out of the appointment at about 3:30 today and my right eye is still all dilated. My left one seems ok. I am gonna lie down cuz my eyes hurt like a mo-fo! Don't even get arthritis! It is too much trouble !!!