Just thought I'd post a little blurb here to share my recent experience.

About two weeks ago I noticed a strange shadow forming in the upper half of my field of vision in my left eye.

I thought maybe it was due to staring too hard at the Spinning Dancer Brain Teaser / Optical Illusion thing.

Instead it turns out the retina in my left eye had spontaneously detached. Thankfully my opthalmologist said the tear was confined to an area outside my cental field of vision and did not affect my sight. The retinal surgeon he referred me to said that if not immediately corrected, the detachment would continue to peel away and threaten my left eye with complete blindness. He insisted on immediate surgery to ensure that the 20/20 correctible vision could be maintained.

So last Wednesday I underwent a pars plana vitrectomy with laser photocoagulation and pneumatic retinopexy. The procedure was done under LOCAL anesthaesia, which meant I could see all the bits of hardware that were being swished around, followed by about 15 minutes of laser blasts. Fun.

In any case, the surgery went well. But I had to maintain a complete face-down position for 5 days and 5 nights in order for the gas bubble to seal up where the retina had split and was re-attached by laser.

In the haste of getting to the doctor in time, I had left my N800 at work. Luckily I had the N810 I recently bought, and I immediately pressed it into service. It saved me from hours of complete boredom. I absolutely had to maintain a face-down position at all times, so only a small tablet that could fit in close viewing range of my good eye would be of any use. Well the N810 did not disappoint. I kept in touch with friends via Pidgin, colleagues at work via email, checked my bank accounts, bought concert tickets and listened to hours of streaming music and watched several YouTube videos to help pass the time.

So as a fan of the N-series tablets already, I have added yet one more reason for loving them and putting them to use as powerful tools rather than uncategorizable hacker novelties.

Thanks, NOKIA.

sorry about the trauma and resulting operation. i just came back from the ophthalmologist myself, where i had gone because of a green flashing in my right eye and what i thought was some blood floating about in the eye. three or so years ago i had a similar problem and had to have a tear in the retina of my left stitched up with a laser. so far no big problem,

I'm glad everything turned out well.