Where to start, where to go

A strange thing happened to me on the way to...

I  guess, like most people who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (I mean those who write a blog), they end up recording some thoughts.

Or wanting to capture how they felt at the time they found out, or how they feel now, or...

Anyway, this means of course that the blog takes on a sort of 'diary' aspect and so here I have to remember, from a month ago, what happened.
Actually, I think everything started about 7 months ago so let's start there.

Once upon a time.


Although not exactly a fairy tale, even if the Brothers Grimm did write dark fantasy fairy tales.

Symptom One.

In September 2011, I was on a train home from where I was working (Torrejon de Ardoz, near Madrid, Spain). Like usual, it was a bright, sunny day and I was reading a book on my kindle.
Even though the light was slightly brighter on the window side (my left) I kept being aware of something like a faint shadow.
The shadow was at about the 10 'o'clock part of my left eye, didn't change in intensity no matter how I moved or rubbed my eye.
Later on, when I got home, I was in a darker room and I didn't notice any shadow so thought nothing else about it.

The next day, back on the train to work, again, lovely day, blue skies, I was aware of the shadow again. It was unchanged, in the same place. The same very, very slightly darker shadow in the top left area.

After this had lasted 4 days, I decided to make a appointment with a DR who then referred me to an ophthalmologist here in Madrid.
They did a range of tests, including one where I had to stare at the inside of  a white dome, and click a button to show that I'd seen points of light at various points. I was only to see these points using peripheral vision, rather than tracking them.
The results of this did seem to show a very small variance between left and right eyes, but nothing strong enough to require investigation.

Eye drops were added which started to sting a bit and they resulted in my pupils becoming completely dilated - I couldn't see anything clearly and was very sensitive to light - typically, this was the day I didn't take any sunglasses. The DR examined both eyes and said he couldn't see anything but that a new appointment in 6 months would be made if the symptom continued.

Because of the drops, I also couldn't see the 'green man' for crossing the street, thank goodness for the bleep alerts that it was safe to cross :)