So I wasted my day

I wasted my leave. It was suppose to be a glorious day, maybe spend the day clearing up my room, things suppose to be thrown but guess what, I was at the aeromedical centre from 8am till 2.30pm. What a way to spend a day which I have already taken leave.

I remember this Indian man's T-shirt on the bus today.

It's Better In Jamaica

I bet it is.

I found out more from the nurse today about this eye pressure business. She was using this machine that looks exactly like the typical contraption with a chin rest and you plonk your face against the frame and then you are amde to look straight. There's this red light that will be replaced by a green light then a puff of air will be blown directly into the eye. Made me remember the times when I was younger and when I tell my mum something's in my eye, she will blow gently into my eyeball while prying my eyelids apart. Not very clincal but it got the job done. Apparently the measure of eye pressure has got to do with tonometry and the machine is a tonometer. No, it's not a device to assess the quality of toners from Shiseido, Lancome or SKII. That was such an unfunnny joke but since I have already typed it, I shall leave it.

From heanlthNJ
Tonometry
With tonometry, the pressure of the aqueous humor within the eye can be measured. The aqueous humor is the fluid in the front part of the eye. Normal pressure within the eye is 8 to 21 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Pressure in the eye is measured to detect certain types of glaucoma and monitor its treatment.

The noncontact ("air-puff") tonometer is used to screen for elevated pressure in the eye. This device is not highly accurate, but it is useful in screening. A small puff of air is blown against the cornea, which causes the person to blink but is not uncomfortable. The puff of air flattens the cornea, and the device measures the time (in thousandths of a second) it takes to flatten the cornea. It takes less time for the puff of air to flatten the cornea in an eye with normal pressure than it does an eye in which pressure is elevated.

Portable, handheld instruments are also used for tonometry. Eye drops that contain a drug to numb the eye are given, then the instrument is gently placed on the cornea, and a reading is obtained. Portable tonometers can be used in the emergency department or a doctor's office to quickly detect increased pressure in the eye.

Applanation tonometry is a more accurate method. The applanation tonometer is usually attached to a slit lamp. After numbing the eye with drops, the instrument is gently moved until it rests upon the cornea, while the doctor observes the cornea through a slit lamp. The amount of pressure it takes to indent the cornea is related to the pressure within the eye.

Almost all males go through the pre-BMT checks. I was asked to go back for some eye survey that they were having. They said they were going to take some readings. I guess it was alright and I could skip lessons. Not so bad. I thought.

So they drop some liquid to keep my pupils dilated and my eyes became very sensitive to light. At the end of the survey, they put in some other liquid and said my photo-sensitivity should be gone by the time I got home. But that didn't happen. So the next day I could barely keep my eyes open and was tearing alot, even under the flourescent lights in class. Michelle finally said I should go back and get more of the drops. So I did. And finally, after 48 hours or permanent dilation of my pupils (I must have been unable to tell lies successfully during that time. I was at my most honest), I got more fluids dropped in. Screw the fucking nurses at CMPB. They can get their carpets singed for all I care. They were so nonchalant about the entire affair. While I think my retina/pupils/iris (pardon my lack of biology knowledge) was permanently scarred after that and till now I cannot stand bright lights. So working in a naval base is rather horrendous when you consider that the base is a place where birds don't perch and shit, dogs don't pee against a trunk to mark territory. That's cause there aren't many trees.

My physical body was damaged even before I could serve the nation. And now they are messing up my mind. Ah!