Satisfying the curious with TMI
Many thanks to those of you who expressed concern over the State of the Eyeballs; and since I've gotten a bit of email asking exactly what the deal was, well, here goes. Following a routine eye examination last week, my ophthalmologist rather strongly suspected that I was about to have a full blown retinal detachment. His reasons for this suspicion were twofold: (1). I am severely nearsighted -- which ups the odds of such an event rather dramatically, and (2). for the last few months I've had recurring instances of brilliant white lights flaring, arcing, and cruising around in my left eye.However, upon a full pupil dilation and all the accompanying invasive discomfort, it turns out that I am not on the cusp of needing a corrective laser fixed upon my eyeball. My retina is fine and dandy, and not on any verge of going AWOL, thank you very much. Instead, the doctor is nearly certain that I've actually been experiencing fits of ocular migraines. The arcing pattern of the lights was a bit of a giveaway, and the case is bolstered by a family history of migraines, my established sensitivity to seasonal changes, and my difficulties with fall allergens.(My sister gets the big, nasty, OMG-death-in-my-head-just-cut-it-off-and-let-me-die migraines. I get migraines that don't hurt at all, but merely distract me with oooh ... pretty lights! every now and again. Yes, yes. I've already gloated, and I'm pretty sure that when I see her at Christmas, she's going to kick my ass. Frankly, I feel like this evens up the genetic lottery pot a bit -- because my sister was born with picket-fence-straight teeth and NO WISDOM TEETH AT ALL. Not me. I had three rounds of oral surgery, seven regular teeth pulled, all my impacted wisdom teeth removed with great prejudice, and I wore braces for five years. But hey, sparkly migraines!)Well, I suppose I've rambled on about personal stuff that's wholly off-topic to Jeff's journal long enough -- though I do want to send out a hearty THANK YOU to all the folks who have been pre-ordering Fathom over the last couple of days. Because I'm an obsessive little writer, I've been keeping an eye on the amazon numbers (which yes, I realize have minimal real-world meaning) and I appreciate that they've been holding pretty steady.You guys rock my socks, I swear it.