Another one in the eye

I've been having an eye problem since Thursday, and I told myself if it got no better by today I was calling my optometrist's office. It didn't, I did, and they'd like to see me pronto.

There's this weird shadow in my field of vision in my right eye. You know that after-image you get when someone takes a picture with flash? It's kind of like that. I don't notice it all the time, but it really shows up in bright light. It moves with my eye--I noticed that when I tried to focus on it and it shifted away.

The fellow I spoke to this morning (the optician/office manager, married to the optometrist) said it could be one of two things: a new eye floater, in which case there's not much they can do but at least it's not dangerous; or, my retina's detached itself a little bit. If it's that, they're going to want me to see a retinal specialist right away. Like, today. Like, call a cab, shove me in, and get me to the Eye Dude with the LASERs. Who will apply implements to the area and (hopefully) fix it.

I am remarkably calm at the moment. I think that's because I already suspected that these were the possible causes and outcomes. I am not the first person on the planet to get a detached retina, they already know how to fix 'em. It seems like a fairly common procedure.

It doesn't hurt at all, it's just a bit distracting. And? I keep taking off my glasses, wiping them, putting them back on, and saying, "Nope. That still didn't help."

I also have been using eye drops to moisturize things, and I don't know whether I'm imagining it or not, but it seems to be helping a little. But only a little. And so we go to the optometrist. Wish me luck.

Hey! Maybe I'll get an eye patch. I can be all, "Arrrrr, matey!" on the bus.

Edited to add:

Well, it's not a detached retina, just a great big honkin' floater. Apparently floaters like this are once-in-a-lifetime -- for each eye. So, look out, left eye, you're up next. The optometrist said that these kinds of floaters can cause retinal detachment, but that my eyes look fine -- no tears in the retina, no bleeding in the eye. The thing should break up eventually, and gravity should pull it out of my field of vision somewhere between 6 weeks and 3 months from now. In the mean time, I'm supposed to be on the look-out for it getting bigger, or if I start seeing flashes. I should call her then.

So no eye patch, but I am wandering around all squinty and semi-focused. She had to dilate my eyes to get a good look at what's going on back there, and for a while I needed to keep my sunglasses on indoors back at work. Because yes, even though I can't see, I thought I should go back to work. I'm hoping my typing skills are better than I imagine, and there aren't too many errors in this last bit of the post. Just going to have to take that one on faith, at least until I can see to proofread.