I Turned Into a Cyclops Over the Course of the Day!
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128837)
Gainesville, Florida
April 25, 2016 9:00pm CST
I have to preface this by begging for forgiveness if my spelling, punctuation or grammar is a little off on this post. You see, I have turned into a cyclops, and I now only have one eye to see out of!
It started this morning when I woke up. Well, actually, it didn't. I woke up feeling fine, ready to start my Monday. Everything seemed normal, and I didn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary. But when I got to work this morning, my assistant supervisor took one look at me and asked me what was wrong with my eye! I told her nothing was wrong, but she said my eye looked swollen. I checked in the mirror, and both eyes looked normal to me.
Just after lunch, another employee popped her head into my office to ask a question, and she, too, asked what was wrong with my eye. Once again I headed down to the bathroom to look in the mirror, and this time I could see a slight inflammation of my right eye. Very weird, because it didn't itch, didn't sting, didn't hurt, wasn't watery or anything.
When I got off of work, I could feel that my eye was starting to swell. I could feel the "pressure" of the swelling, as the swollen eyelids on the top and bottom of my eye pressed against my eyeball. I immediately headed down to see the nurse at our employee health services department, and she took one look at me and told me not to come back until I went to see my doctor!
By the time I got home, I could almost "feel" my eye swelling shut, and now it is completely swollen shut. I know where my first stop of the morning is going to be...straight to my doctor's office! I just hope whatever is going on in my right eye doesn't also spread to my left eye, or else I won't be able to drive tomorrow!
But until such time as I can see a doctor, I am spending my evening pretending to be a cyclops!
I'm willing to bet that I'm diagnosed with pink eye, although the nurse I saw today doesn't think that's what it is. She thinks I have an infection that will require antibiotics! Anybody else got some good eye stories to share?
15 people like this
13 responses
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc What a proud loving dad you are. I hope it's cleared up by now.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
@jaboUK It's much better now, and the swelling and puffiness are almost completely gone!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
My daughter was getting inducted into the Spanish National Honor Society at her high school, and I didn't want to miss her ceremony! I went first thing in the morning the next day. It turned out I had pink eye (conjunctivitis).
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
14 Jun 16
Oh man that sounds irritating. I've never really experienced anything with my eyes like that.
I hope your eye is better now!
2 people like this
@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
9 Feb 17
@Daljinder Nope. Sometimes my eyes can go red, or sometimes just one but that's from lack of sleep but never anything like conjunctivitis. Have you?
1 person likes this
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
8 Feb 17
@VivaLaDani13 You never had conjunctivitis?
1 person likes this
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
9 Feb 17
@VivaLaDani13 Plenty of times! 
It spreads through touch not eye contact. So, if anyone around you has it, be careful of touching stuff they did coz the infection spread through that when you touch your infection carrying hands/fingers to your eyes.
It spreads through touch not eye contact. So, if anyone around you has it, be careful of touching stuff they did coz the infection spread through that when you touch your infection carrying hands/fingers to your eyes.1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc Yes, but my last operation corrected the problem.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
@Asylum That's good to hear Barry! How's your other eye doing?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
Was this the recent eye situation you had mentioned on here not too long ago?
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
26 Apr 16
You should NEVER wait to see a doctor when you have something wrong with your eye, either injury or possible disease. I once had a sharp pain in my eye. It was late in the evening, so I thought about waiting until morning. Luckily I did not. The opthamologist got out of bed and came to the ER to see my eye, after the ER doctor told him what he saw.
The doctor told me if he did not take care of it right away, I would have been permanently blind in that eye by morning. He said, the cells in eyes turn over rapidly. This helps healing, but it works the other way too. It takes very little time for something small to make us blind.
I hope your eye problem is taken care of quickly to a good result. Why don't they tell us this stuff before we need to know?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
I agree that I should have never waited, but luckily, it just turned out to be a case of pink eye. I'm already on the mend with the antibiotics and eye drops the doctor prescribed.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Apr 16
@ElizabethWallace Well, it won't be too long now before I'm wearing glasses myself! Not really looking forward to it, but it's a fact of life and I'm sure I can find a pair a frames that look really good on my face!
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc That was real luck. Mine was a very tiny ulcer caused by wearing contact lenses. I wear glasses now. Not messing around with my eyes!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
Pink eye (conjunctivitis) is pretty common. It turned out that it's what I had, so the doctor prescribed me antibiotics for the infection, and eye drops to relieve the pressure on my eyes.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
@JudyEv Yup, conjunctivitis is exactly what it was!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382357)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc Glad it's fixed now. Just read below it's also called conjunctivitis. That's the 'word' I know for this condition.
1 person likes this
@sgbrown (1638)
• United States
26 Apr 16
Oh no! I am so sorry about your eye! I hope it doesn't get worse over night! If I were you, I might have gone to a "urgent care" type of doctor on my way home! Be sure and let us know who you are in the morning! I can't think of any good eye stories right now! 
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Apr 16
There is actually a very good urgent care center down the street from where I live, but it is always packed during the afternoons and evenings. I figured if I could make it through the night, I will go first thing in the morning when their patient load is quite lite. If not, I've already put in a call to my primary care doctor, and I know he'll call me back in the morning. He's the most awesome and responsive doctor I've ever had, so I know either way I'll get examined and treated tomorrow morning!
3 people like this
@sgbrown (1638)
• United States
26 Apr 16
@moffittjc Well let us know how it goes!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
@sgbrown It ended up being pink eye. I've got antibiotics and eye drops, so the eyes are currently on the mend! It was just weird, I never had any itching or crusting around the eyes, which is typical with pink eye!
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
26 Apr 16
I worked at our local high school in the main office as attendance clerk. I woke one morning to find I looked like a creature out of a horror movie. My left eye was swollen and had a huge bag under they eye that looked like my face had melted.
Students, teachers, and visitors to the school looked at me with that WTF look on their face. Nobody told me to go home, not even the school nurse. God forbid I took a day off. I made an appointment for after school to see my pcp. Yes, it was pink eye.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc and no pictures to show?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
@ElusiveButterfly Oh, I got pictures!!! But I will never show them publicly! I don't want to scare people off! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
Years ago, I played third base on a mens softball team. One night I took a line-drive straight to the face, and had to be hospitalized. My eye swelled up bigger than the softball that hit me! I was the most freakiest looking creature to walk the halls of the hospital! lol
1 person likes this
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc
How do they treat pink eye?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
Since the itching wasn't bad, and I didn't have any crusting around the eyes or other fluid discharge, I figured I could wait until the morning. It turns out that I did have pink eye after all!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Apr 16
@Marcyaz Antibiotics and eye drops. If its a viral form of conjunctivitis, then you just use eye drops to help reduce the swelling and irritation. If its a bacterial conjunctivitis, then you have to have antibiotics to cure the problem.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
28 Apr 16
@moffittjc I was pretty sure it was conjunctivitis, be careful I had it years ago, it did not get to the other eye.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Apr 16
@LadyDuck Unfortunately, it got into both eyes, but the medicine cured it pretty quickly before both of my eyes had a chance to swell shut!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
It was conjunctivitis! But I shouldn't be contagious anymore, I've been on antibiotics for over 24 hours now!
2 people like this
@norcal (4889)
• Franklinton, North Carolina
26 Apr 16
I got bit by and insect of some kind on my eyelid while I was sleeping once, and my eye swelled shut. Another time I got poison oak on my face, and both my eyes swelled shut, my lips swelled too. I looked like the creature from the black lagoon.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
The insect bite had to be the worst! Once, when I was a kid, my parents were driving somewhere and I was in the back seat with my head out the window. I had my mouth open and a bee flew in and I swallowed it and it stung me on the inside of my throat. Needless to say, I had to be rushed to the hospital because my entire trachea swelled shut and I couldn't breathe! Luckily, we were right by a hospital when it happened!
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Apr 16
Thank you Mary! It seems to be all cleared up now! A few days of antibiotics took care of everything!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128837)
• Gainesville, Florida
28 Apr 16
Thanks! It was pink eye. I have antibiotics that are helping!
1 person likes this
