Week 5 - Friday
How interesting! I was suspicious about it on Wednesday, convinced it was happening on Thursday and today it is definite …. my right eyelid has ’slowed down’ to the extent my blink rate is less half that of my left eye.
Remembering that Mynurse warned that a permanent side-effect of interferon can be damage to the optic nerve, I decided to ring the hospital this morning. Within five minutes I was speaking to a ‘hepatitis doctor’ who asked about my vision, checking it hadn’t gone cloudy or different on my right side. He then suggested it wasn’t a problem with my optic nerve but they would check this out when I come to hospital next week.
Carol and I had a bit of a laugh then, saying my appearance wouldn’t endear me to anyone on a Saturday night out. But I don’t know about that - it looks like a slow lecherous kind of wink in a funny way - perhaps I could do better than Carol thinks!
At work this afternoon my colleague Jacky said she had this happen to her some time ago. She insisted it isn’t a side effect of the interferon at all - just fatigue, as she had had. She very kindly got out the office First Aid box and made an eye patch and bandage for me so I could rest my eye whilst working. I then spent the rest of the afternoon explaining to other rather startled colleagues what had happened to me.
Another colleague, Kate, has offered to loan me an eye patch on next week - she has a collection in a variety of fashion colours. (Don’t ask - she’s like that, our Kate!)
The ‘interesting’ bit is what it is like to have your appearance altered in this way - to be confronted by my own vanity - I don’t want a permanent tic or slow blink on my face to be distracting every person I encounter.
After I realised it could be a serious problem affecting my optic nerve - and was reassured it doesn’t appear to be, I then thought this could be permanent. Some side-effects of interferon apparently can be - they appear during treatment but never leave again.
During the day I also noticed another feature. You know what it is like after you leave the dentist and the ‘freezing’ affects your mouth - making eating or smoking difficult? I experienced this during a cigarette break. As Carol pointed out this evening, these are the features of Bell’s Palsy. So I will be asking for this to be checked out next week!
I keep saying what an adventure it is to be on this treatment journey. Well, at the moment it also feels like a nuisance to have this. It feels like a full time job tracking symptoms. I can see how people end up becoming ‘professional patients’.