I am seeing the world a little differently these days, especially since last Friday. I was sitting at a conference with a group of colleagues; we were seated at a round table and were chatting about nothing in particular when a small bug–a fruit fly I’d assumed–buzzed around the left side of my face. I batted absently at it as my colleague continued speaking. It buzzed around in my peripheral vision and I swatted the air again until with a start I realized there wasn’t a fruit fly harassing me, what I was seeing was not outside of me, but coming from inside me. Oh my gosh, I’ve got floaties, I thought to myself, then promptly did what anyone with a smart phone and Wifi access would do: I googled it.
I love Google, I admit it. I had no sooner typed in “black dots floating…” than it filled in the rest “in front of eyes.” I found several articles about “floaters” as they are apparently called, but here’s some of what I learned: they are common (this was a relief), they are generally harmless, and they are with me for the foreseeable future. “Once you develop eye floaters they usually do not go away, though they tend to improve over time,” one article mentioned. Wait, what? As relieved as I’d been to discover that I didn’t have some dread disease, I had not been prepared for this information. My assumption had been that if I got a little more rest or took an additional vitamin or two I’d be right as rain. Not so. And so as I sit here typing this evening, I am viewing the screen and everything around it through a left eye the vision of which is somewhat distorted by a squiggly, filament-like, blackish line.
“Most of the time people learn to live with eye floaters and ignore them. And they often improve over months to years,” the article offered encouragingly. Most of the time? Improving over months? Yikes. I have found, though, that they are right in that I have managed to ignore the fuzzy line bouncing, darting, and swimming through my vision. I guess you really can get used to and learn to live with it. I am grateful that this is in fact a relatively minor malady. I had just said to someone a few days before this anomaly appeared in my vision that I had been blessed to have not suffered any major health/physical illnesses, issues, or setbacks throughout my life–I never broke any bones, suffered any major illness or accident. In that regard I have been very blessed indeed and for the most part have tried not to take this blessing for granted. So even now this matter of the floater in my left eye is relatively minor and my overall good fortune continues.
Most mornings when I offer lovingkindness and wishes of goodwill toward myself and others, I will pray, “may I/we be healthy and strong in body, mind, and spirit” and for the most part, I have been. And for that I remain exceedingly grateful.
