Andra: 2 - Breaking HIPAA: Medically Withdrawn Summer of 2022

July, Summer of 2022, my first semester at UCF. I boldly entered the next phase of my life, and immediately got absolutely wrecked by COVID.

My roommate and I got sick fast. Dorm life is basically a germ convention, and we caught an enthusiastic plague. I threw up for the second time in my life, coughed through the entire semester, and hovered at 94 pounds from a combination of illness and cucumber salad (dorm cooking is archaic). With that being said, while a collection of COVID symptoms won't get you medically withdrawn from school, losing your vision definitely will.

July 11^th, 2022, I woke up with the right eye looking like it had lost a fight. Naturally, I went to the campus doctor who immediately declared pink eye. I ditched my contacts, doubled up with sunglasses over my glasses, and got weird looks in public like I was either high, contagious, or both.

July 15^th, 2022, while using the medication, my eye continued to burn in the sunlight and every time I looked at any source of light. I went to the campus optometrist and revealed to me that it was not pink eye, but a corneal ulcer. He declared I needed to take new drops every hour while awake.

Chris, my now-boyfriend (just lover at this time), came to visit me that weekend via train. I, practically legally blind in one, had to drive us all over Orlando. The day I picked him up (Saturday), a blood vessel in my eye popped. The optometrist forgot to mention this horror-movie side effect, and UCF’s eye clinic was closed for the weekend. I was 17 at the time and couldn’t get an exam anywhere else, so naturally, Chris and I ended up having quality time at the ER.

They told me this was a normal side effect for the drops, so I continued to take them. During the weekend we went blurry-eyed and thriving to thrift stores, dinner shows, arcades, kava bars, and whatever else I insisted to drag us too.

Monday rolled around and Chris left, and I took another visit to the eye doctor. I was switched to even stronger eye meds. One medication prescribed the same one drop every hour, and the second medication required that morning and night I dilate my right eye so I can look permanently shocked on the right side of my face. My eyelashes began to turn white from the medication residue.

July 30^th, my left eye began to act up. I was officially in hell.

I took the Amtrak to Tampa, celebrated my best friend’s birthday, and saw Chris again (we became official). I went to a specialist recommended by my previous doctor (he was on vacation for the rest of the summer) and told me that I do not have a corneal ulcer, but uveitis in both my eyes. Super rare, mainly found in older men with back problems, and usually only in one eye.

Cool, cool, cool.

I stopped taking the meds for my right eye and drowned my left in medication. My vision was so light sensitive I couldn’t even look at my laptop, let alone attend class. I filled out my medical withdrawal paperwork for the summer, which I could barely read through.

By the time August hit, I had medically withdrawn from the semester, officially broke up with both of my eyes, and fully committed to dating Chris instead. Just when I thought I was in the clear, my last eye exam (April 2025) I got the final boss of side effects: early cataracts at 20 years old. Turns out that even though it has been 3 years since my eyes have recovered, steroids linger. So, to summarize. I started college, got a virus, an eye disease meant for mysterious men with back pain that developed permanently, a medically excused semester, and a boyfriend. Not too bad.