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<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>My EMT training has
certainly paid off for me personally. I always thought it was well worth the
cost and time, but never expected it to help me personally.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am in Phoenix
taking a class (my wife and I just bought a juice bar franchise and we are in
training). This morning I noticed some flashes of light in the corner of my
right eye when I was looking to the left. They went away, but I had a "floater"
that I had not seen before. I went through the checklist from my EMT training
and at the top of the worst case was a retinal tear leading to a retinal
detachment. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>I finished class and
went to the Sam's club down the street to see an eye doc, but he was out. I went
to an urgent care place in the same mall and the doc said it looked just fine to
him, but he did not have all the equipment to do a really good job. So I asked
for and got a recommendation to an ophthalmologist who had about 30 minutes till
closing and was about 3 miles away. I called and went to see him. He did a
normal check and said it was all good, but he wanted to do a full check. He said
the odds were about 0.2% that I was right, but he wanted to be sure. I said do
it. He found a small retinal tear in the lower outside area of my right eye (the
left was in very good shape). He said the tears are normally in the upper part
of the retina and gravity then makes them progress faster to a detachment.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>The good news is
they can "weld" the retina back with a laser in an office procedure and they say
it will be as good as new. I'm go to class in the morning then seeing the
surgeon at 11AM and will be back in class by 2PM! Modern technology is
wonderful. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>In
service,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=265501403-07062007><FONT face=Arial size=2>Caelin on
Andrede</FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>