What started as a light moment among friends turned into an event of several months for Deborah Cobb of Seattle, when cart wheels on the beach left it unable to see.
“I decided to see how many cart wheels Nowsweek. “So I started to do them and I reached 13 and I came across Super Dizzy. My eyes were somehow turning, so it took a while to realize that my eyes did not focus.”
Aged at just 19 years old at the time, she laughed with friends at the start, but quickly realized that something was wrong. “Looking at his face, it was a giant orange blur. My eyes would not concentrate fully,” she said. “There was no pain, and my peripheral vision was fine, but everything I watched directly was blocked by an orange blur.”
It was a giant orange blur. My eyes would not concentrate completely
Despite the symptoms, COBB tried to stay calm. “I panicked inside, but not externally, so my friends didn’t think about it,” she said.
Later in the evening, she told her mother what had happened, but minimized the symptoms. When his vision had not returned the next morning, his stepfather contacted a family friend who was an ophthalmologist. “He said to take me immediately to the emergency room, that’s what we did,” she said.
In the hospital, the doctors initially believed that she had “essentially burned the sun” his retina, advising the rest and the avoidance of a bright light. But a retinal specialist offered a more serious diagnosis. “I had hemorrhages in my two Macoulas and it was going to take three six months to heal completely,” said Cobb.
An image of the Instagram viral video where Deborah shared the story.
@ deborahcobbbbbbbbbbbi / instagram
“The retina is the thin sheet of” wallpaper “fabric that lines the back of our eyes and smells of light,” said Dr. Rajesh C. Rao, who is an ophthalmologist who specializes in retina surgery, Nowsweek. “The macular hemorrhage bleeds in the central retina or below. When the bleeding occurs in the Macula, our ability to see in detail can be reduced or lost.”
I couldn’t read, I couldn’t see myself in the mirror … I couldn’t even watch TV. “”
The impact on his daily life was deep. “My central vision was completely gone … I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t see myself in the mirror … which meant that I couldn’t make up … I couldn’t even watch TV,” she said.
It was not until some time after the incident that the reality of his condition struck her. “I started to sob. It was the first time that it has been fully hitting me how limited I was and how dependent others for simple things like the reading I had completely held for acquired,” said Cobb.
“In healthy individuals, especially young people, this event is quite rare,” said Rao. Although there are underlying conditions that could contribute to hemorrhage like this, it is unlikely that these activities cause this type of damage in most people. “The head upside down suddenly or repeatedly can also increase the pressure of the veins of the retina, and some individuals at risk can be subject to macular hemorrhage,” said Rao.
After about three months, COBB’s vision returned, but now years later, it still lives with limitations, including flashes of light and floats caused by detachment of retinal jelly. “The only option is surgery, but surgery almost always causes cataracts, which would only mean another surgery. So I agree to live with it,” she said.
Despite everything, COBB is closely due to the perspective that experience has given him: “We so often focus on what is wrong in our lives, that we miss all the things that are going well … There are so many simple gifts that could bring us joy every day, if we learn to appreciate them. This is what this experience taught me: never stop being grateful.”