October was a momentous month for me. On the 14th, my spine doctor and I agreed to have a lumbar laminectomy done. Alas, that will not happen for several months as I deal with other health issues.
On the 15th, my left eyelid was red and swollen and painful. When I turned the eyelid up, I could see a small white dot, but it didn't want to drain, and my eye started crusting especially overnight. After trying warm compresses as I had on other styes and seeing no improvement, I saw an optometrist at Grossnickle's on October 24th.
I had an internal hordeolum (sounds like an exotic dance or a wild musical instrument, doesn't it?) It is just a stye, but one more under the eyelid than along the edge, and it involves an oil gland. It is more painful than an external stye. The optometrist gave me a prescription for an oral antibiotic; styes are infections by bacteria. Usually, warm compresses will help the eye drain, and there is no need for antibiotics; but the internal stye often will not drain. I probably got mine from rubbing my eyes frequently when I had itchiness from allergies. He also prescribed an ointment. He suggested I purchase an eye mask they sell at Grossnickle's that you heat in the microwave. I had been putting cotton balls in hot water, but the cotton didn't maintain the heat for very long. With the mask, I can easily wear it up to 10 minutes, and it stays warm.
At my follow-up appointment two weeks later, the eye did not hurt much, and the crusting had stopped but it was still swollen and the little white/yellow dot was visible when flipping the eyelid up.
I was told to make an appointment with one of the ophthalmologists if the swelling did not go down, and it could be surgically drained. When I finally did make an appointment, the swelling was the size of a pea. However, it was flatter by the time I saw the doctor, and he said it had become a chalazion. He didn't recommend draining it because there wasn't much to drain, but the meibomian gland was probably still slightly blocked.
While dealing with the hordeolum, I had the blood in my stool on October 17th, 18th, and 19th. That meant my primary care doctor would not sign the release for surgery for the spine until an upper endoscopy was done. As I mentioned in my previous post, the surgeon wanted a colonoscopy done as well.
It has been downhill ever since. The scopes, the aspiration pneumonia, the diagnosis of a fairly large hiatal hernia, the stay in the hospital.
One bright spot is that after having reflux, regurgitation, and spasms for several years (and definitely worse this past year), I have been referred to a doctor that specializes in these problems. He is not a gastroenterologist, but a general surgeon who deals with GERD, hiatal hernias, and does bariatric surgery for those needing help with obesity. I will be having a manometry test on January 5th. This measures motility issues. The barium imaging I had done showed some possible motility problems. On January 12th I will have another EGD scoping but with BRAVO (some kind of device attached to my esophagus to measure pH). These tests will be done in the brand new Lutheran Hospital downtown Fort Wayne.
I have felt under siege for the past few months, but the new year promises some answers and possible improvements.
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