The Eyes Have It

My eye infection (probably viral conjunctivitis) is slightly improved from yesterday. For example, the swelling below my eyes has gone down enough that the top of my cheek is no longer in my line of sight. Also, when I open my eyes after a nap, my cheek is no longer bathed in the liquid (tears, I assume) that used to pool under the eyelids. It is still more comfortable to have the eyes closed than open, but at least I can see relatively clearly.

This is the beginning of the eye infection, before the eyeballs
themselves swelled and turned a more hideous red, and before
the face around the eyes swelled my eyes shut, making it
impossible to take a picture.

Gradually, my eyelids and my face above the cheekbones began
to swell. Later, Jan told me this look scared her the most.

Eventually, the swelling went down and I was left with these
bruises. "You should see the other guy." Except you couldn't,
because he was microscopic. But he sure packed a punch.

I tried various remedies. Unfortunately, the salad often arrived
with only one cucumber slice.

The eyes themselves still look like a cartoon rendition of crazy-angry-sick-red eyes. The only part of my eye that is the normal color is the iris, though it looks odd surrounded by red. All those photos on which people use red-eye removal — maybe the red has to go somewhere, and I have a theory. I tried to find a picture online that captured my eyes at their worst — search for "conjunctivitis images" sometime when you haven't eaten recently — but none captured the swollen redness I managed.

Because of the infection, I have been cast out of the corridor I was on. Many of the patients there have received a stem cell transplant and are extremely vulnerable to infection. So I posed too much of a risk to them. This means I have lost access to the treadmill, which is quite a loss. Today I was back to walking the corridor (35 lengths to the mile). Disappointing, but I get it. When I am back on that floor as a transplant patient, I'll appreciate the precautions they take. The one advantage is that my room is a little larger.

Blood counts still haven't moved. Again, that's not necessarily bad -- it may just mean that we move the transplant date up. I'm probably going to have a bone marrow biopsy on Monday to see if anything is going on inside the marrow that just hasn't yet shown up in the blood.