Maxitrol
Maxitrol is an excerpt from my medical memoir, which is a work in progress. This is creative non fiction. It is based on real life events. All names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
Chapter Two
Maxitrol
Maxitrol- it was the steroid eye drop, that set the flea bite alight. Trouble started as soon as I returned home from the monastery. I telephoned my GP, and told him that I had been bitten by a flea on my eyelid. He prescribed me a course of Cetirizine, which had no effect. The bump still nipped my eyelid. I later saw a Practice Nurse. She pulled down my eyelid with her finger, and said that my eyelid was infected. She prescribed me an antibiotic ointment, called Fusidic Acid. I asked her for an oral antibiotic, but she refused. I knew that the Fusidic Acid was not the right thing to give me, but the trust that we place in doctors, can pull us away from our instinct.
Fusidic Acid
I applied the acid drops to my eyelid. The Fusidic Acid stung. It made my eye water. What was a localised bump quickly morphed into swelling. My eye became puffy and my cheek was bulging like a balloon. I went to see my doctor. He diagnosed it as orbital cellulitis. He prescribed me Clarithromycin, an oral antibiotic, which is used to treat soft tissue infections. 
The Clarithromycin cleared up the swelling in my cheek, but it didn’t touch the stubborn bump on my eyelid . That gnarly bump still clinched to my eyelid. I started to panic. Growing up with a health-conscious mother, incidents concerning my health, as a young person, had been resolved with one visit to a doctor or to my local Accident and Emergency department. There was something stubborn about this. I didn’t like it. What had been a contained bump on my eyelid had now spread into some kind of infection. It was no longer a contained problem.
The doctors at my local practice had never dismissed me before, but, when I went back for the third time, the female doctor, spoke down to me. Your eye is fine. There is nothing wrong with your eye, Felicia.
Majorca
I was due to go to Majorca for a holiday. Unsure whether travelling was wise, I flew out to sunny Palma with another two-week course of Clarithromycin. My orbital pain became stern. I paraded the promenade in Cala Millor. Not even the Bougainvillea or the sweeping views of the glistening Mediterranean could distract me from my worsening pain. I attempted every distraction, from perfecting my front crawl in the swimming pool, to taking day trips in a glass-bottom Catamaran along the Levante coast, where we passed dreamy bays and sea caves. Nothing worked.
I quietened my growing anxiety by smoking cheap packets of Marlboro Cigarettes and drinking Espresso’s in bars where old men played Draughts. In retrospect, I should have gone to see a doctor in Spain. My eyelid began to bulge, and my orbital pain developed into a stabbing pain behind my eye. I knew that this was an infection, because of my growing feeling of malaise. I was counting the days until my return flight headed home.
Accident And Emergency
As soon as the plane hit the runway at Manchester, I headed to an Accident and Emergency department, near where I lived. I sat in a plastic chair in the waiting area. I felt fatigued. An ophthalmologist with a petite frame and who wore chunky boots, and a chequered flannelled dress, called my name. Her brunette hair was tied back in pigtails. Her accent sounded Polish.
Blepharitis
The Ophthalmologist took me into a pokey room, with no windows. It was full with medical equipment. She put drops into my eye to enlarge my pupil. Once my pupils were enlarged, she looked into the back of my eye with her Ophthalmoscope. I rested my face on the narrow ledge, and felt her warm breath brush against my chin. She pulled down my lid with her finger, and diagnosed me with Blepharitis, which is inflammation of the eyelid. I told her that it felt like an infection, as the pain had moved to the back of my eye. She said that she did not want to give me antibiotics because of the harm they can do to my stomach. The no infection opinion started early on.
She prescribed me a two-week course of Maxitrol, which is a steroid eye drop, used to treat eye inflammation. I glanced down at the white and blue bottle. It said in bold writing that one Contraindication was Mycobacterial Ocular Infections. It is common knowledge that corticosteroids should not be used to treat active infections because they are known for their immune-suppressive effect and the long-term complications. I knew that these drops were the wrong thing to give me. I did not listen to my instinct.
Fire and Worms
I applied the Maxitrol eye drops into my eye twice daily, for one week. For a short while, my eye stopped hurting. It was after I finished the Maxitrol drops, that chaos ensued. It was a bright day. I remember it well. Sunlight was streaming into my South facing room. I suddenly felt my eyelid drop. Just like that. The left side of my face then went ablaze, like a wildfire had ignited and spread around the left side of my head.
It felt like there were hundreds of worms wriggling inside of my eyelid. Worse than that was, what felt like a sheet of mist, spread down my cheek, and around the left side of my head. My face became swollen. My eye was small, and my head felt heavy. It felt like I was wearing a helmet of bricks on my head. I knew that the Maxitrol Eyedrops were the wrong thing. That tiny localised bump under my eyelid was now a roaring inferno in my head.
Help!
The disaster that ensued from applying the Maxitrol eyedrops, just got worse. I ran from chemist to chemist, seeking help. No pharmacist could assist me. My orbital pain was insufferable. I still had that jabbing pain in the back of my eye. The flesh around my head was scalding hot. I knew that this was now a problem that I could not claw my way back from. There was no way back from this. There was something seriously wrong. I knew that I was in trouble.
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