When good eyeballs go bad
This week I learned yet another one of those things they don't tell you when you're younger. In this case, it's that your eyeballs may spontaneously decide to stop working one day, without any prior warning or causation on your part. So if you're still young, remember this, so you're not overly startled if it happens!
Executive summary version
A new "floater" in my right eye on Monday morning turned into near blindness in that eye by Monday evening. A night in the ER and a diagnosis by an ophthalmologist indicated I'd had a hemorrhage and partial ripping of my retina.
But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was that this isn't rare or unusual, and is part of the aging process. It can happen to anyone, at any time. To make a long story short, my eye should eventually be fine (though it'll take it 30 to 90 days to get back to normal).
Ah, the joys of aging…read on if you'd like the (really) long version.