How it all began...

It was our first time to go on a cruise.

We were in New York City and supposed to board a ship docked in Manhattan Port that afternoon for an 8-day cruise to the Bahamas. We never made it to the ship.

A week before our flight to New York, I was diagnosed with a "pink eye". But only on my left eye.

For a few days, I religiously put my prescribed eyedrops. I wanted my eye to get past it before our trip. Saturday morning, when it was time to leave, I started to feel better and off we went to NYC.

My “pink eye” turned out to be a more serious eye inflammation that affected my vision.

Sunday night, I was in so much pain that my husband had to rush me to the Emergency Room. They put some pigment on my eye to look for any abrasions but they did not see any. The doctor sent us home with just another eyedrop prescription.

I woke up the next morning, unable to see anything with my left eye.

We sought an eye doctor. Somehow, in this busy city  where we did not know anybody and without a laptop, my husband was able to find me one who would see me right away.

The good doctor tried to tend to me between his appointments. After a couple of hours of multiple eyedrops and eye examinations, he told us that this is a serious condition called Uveitis. We started crying in his clinic (and I still can’t recall this story without crying). It was the scariest moment of my life!

We had to go to a Retina Specialist immediately. This type of Retina Specialist is rare, comprising less than 1% of eye doctors, but our good doctor called up his colleagues and got us an appointment on the same day. We felt we were in New York City for a reason.

The specialist did several tests, prescribed us a bunch of eyedrops and pills, and advised us to stay in NYC so they can watch it closely. They only released us on Thursday, after they confirmed that I was out of immediate danger. The good news was that my right eye is fine, and my left eye seems able to bounce back. The bad news was that it would take 6-8 weeks for my vision to return to normal.

They found me another specialist in Columbus to monitor my progress, and another critical point would be after 8 weeks when they try to get me off the medicines because it may come back. Right now, some vision on my left eye has returned – it’s like looking at a fogged up mirror. I have to constantly check if it is getting better or worse.

On top of our medical crisis, it was also a bad week to be in NYC. Hotel room prices skyrocketed due to a couple of conventions and we had to move to a different hotel almost every night to get a more affordable room. And finally, we had to re-book our flights back to Ohio, and ended up flying to Dulles first and then Pittsburgh for a two-hour drive to Ohio.

But after all the chaos and the confusion and the many specialists, the main question remains... what caused this eye problem?