The BoBo Files

Hey all – this is one of those posts where I elevate the education level a bit for my readers.  I’m suspending my political diatribe today – although there is plenty of fodder given that bogus healthcare summit today.  P-BO pretty much had his ass handed to him on a silver platter – and – he showed his true arrogant colors.

Anyhow – Adie’s Pupil – WTF is that you ask and why should you care?  Well – not that you really should care – but – it is something that I have just been diagnosed with.  You’ll note that I haven’t been posting much recently.  Check out this picture:

Yes – those are my baby blues. I know this pic is a little fuzzy – but – you can still see what it is I’m talking about.  Check out my right pupil  (left side of screen) compared to my left pupil (right side of screen).  You’ll see that my right pupil is larger than my left.  It has been like that for about 3 weeks now.  The obvious side effect to this is that my vision is blurred on the right side. My pupil will contract in the dark but will not constrict in the light.

One of the primary signs for brain injury or stroke is a single dilated pupil <—- that is your education piece – keep that in mind for the future. However, the major difference between that symptom and what is going on with me is that I had no other symptoms and it has lasted at least 3 weeks now.  If related to brain injury or stroke – the pupil is fixed and dilated and generally the damage will happen within 2 hours after this particular symptom – so – brain injury and stroke are out of the question.

I saw an opthalmologist on Monday. I was in the office for over 5 hours having every visual exam you can think of – all came back normal.  Today I went in for an MRI and a carotid doppler.  I fell asleep in the MRI chamber   Based on comments from the techs – it appears these are also normal. Techs aren’t allowed to say anything – so – I have to wait for the radiologist and the ophthalmologist to confirm the negative results.

Adie’s Pupil is considered a diagnosis of exclusion – meaning that all other causes get ruled out – and – when everything else is ruled out then the only thing left is this condition. It is also very rare in men.  Apparently, it manifests on its own and will also resolve on its own within 6 months.

Unfortunately, what this means is that until this resolves itself – my blogging may be limited because of the visual discomfort.  I can only sit in front of a computer screen for so long before it really starts playing havoc with my eyes.

Now – as a side note – if any of you watched the opening of the summit this morning and heard P-BO talk about his daughters – you will recall that he stated that when he took his children to the ER – and especially when talking about his daughter who had meningitis when she was a baby  and had to have a spinal tap – his initial thought was:

“In each of those instances I remember thinking while sitting in the emergency room what would have happened if I didn’t have reliable health care”

What a bullshit lie! I’ve had meningitis.  I’ve had the spinal tap.  I was out of work for 3 months because of it.  I can tell you that my first thought was not that I had reliable health care.  My initial thoughts were – “God this hurts.  When will it end?”  If his first thoughts were about reliable health care and not about the health of his daughter – he’s a freakin’ idiot and a bad father. Not once during this entire process going through the diagnostic phases did I ever think about what would have happened if I didn’t have reliable insurance – knowing that what I had going on was signs of brain trauma or stroke – THAT is what was on MY mind.

When my daughter was 2 and fell down the stairs and broke her arm and we rushed her to the ER – we were not thinking about reliable health care.  We were scared for our daughter and we were very empathetic to her pain.  Not once during the 5 month ordeal with the casting, resetting, and cast removal by a pediatric ortho specialist – not once did we ever think thank God we have reliable health care.

Even if we didn’t have “reliable health care” we still would have done anything and paid anything to take care of our daughter.  When I had meningitis I would have paid anything and done anything to be healed whether I had insurance or not – why? Because it is the responsible thing to do.

When I had my second child – I was not insured.  Not once did I ever complain about not having insurance.  Did I go broke over the 10′s of thousands of dollars of bills that I paid over that 9 month period? Nope.  I worked out payment arrangements with the physicians and hospital.  Why? Because that was the responsible thing to do.  I took care of my family and my children.

For P-BO to claim that what his primary thoughts were on the day his baby was having a spinal tap because she had meningitis was about what would have happened if he didn’t have “reliable health care” instead of doing what was necessary to comfort his child and concentrate solely on his children is that he is either a big fucking liar or he has no feelings whatsoever.