Battling conjunctivitis, part two

One thing that I had not mentioned before when I went to see the Opthalmologist at the Penang Hospital on the 20th of last month was that during the course of her first examination of my eyes, I mentioned to her that I was going to Kuala Lumpur early on the next day and would only be returning to Penang late on Friday night. If she had wanted to follow-up on my eyes, she would have to wait until Saturday at the earliest.

"Your eyes are in a terrible state," she protested. "I've just scraped off the pseudo-membrane from the eyelids and they will come back. If I don'y remove the membrane, the eye-drops can't be absorbed effectively." I must admit that my eyes were in a terrible state: both eyelids were half-closed, both sporting a deep shade of maroon, and both were puffed up. Goodness knows what could happen if I were to go back to the hospital on Saturday.

"Tell you what," she seemed to be conceding to me after some uncomfortable moments. "I'll let you go down to KL tomorrow but you must go for follow-up treatment immediately at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. I'll write you a referral letter."

Wait a minute, I thought to myself. You mean I can go to KL but I must go for daily consultations at the hospital there? What's the use of going to KL then if I'm going to be holed up at the hospital and waste all my time there?

"Okay, okay," it was my turn to back down. "I'll postpone my trip to KL and see you tomorrow." A victory for her. But actually, with my eyes in their condition, I wasn't relishing any trip far from home, let alone Kuala Lumpur. And that was why I was back at the Penang Hospital on the next day, and the following day, and the day after that, and....

So continuing with my story, on Sunday (27 Sept), I had again gone to the hospital's Eye Ward for the doctor on duty to check on my eyes' condition. Some welcome news: just a bit of new pseudo-membrane there and she won't be doing any scraping.

On Monday (28 Sept), I returned to the eye clinic at the out-patient ward and saw the regular eye doctor. Just two scrapes of my eyelids and that was that. Two days later (30 Sept), the same procedure was repeated.

Today (5 Oct) will mark the 14th day after I first went to see the eye doctor at the hospital. I am still using the three eyedrops or ointment but she still wants to see me today, to check whether I am really rid of conjunctivitis. And this is the status now: I'm waiting (im)patiently to see her for hopefully the last time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Wish me luck!