Haunted

When I was visiting Savannah, on the advice of a certain cute woman, I went on a ghost tour. I didn't see any ghosts but I managed to take a vaguely spooky picture of a supposedly haunted house. Now I have a ghost that lives with me.

In October of last year, on my first day in New York, I noticed a black oval in my left eye. It was circling around the middle of my vision. It didn't actually obstruct anything, but it was new and different. It didn't quite match the symptoms of retinal detachment that my optometrist has repeatedly told me about for years, but it was concerning enough that I thought it best to brave the US health care system and went to an ER.

Going alone to a hospital in the US was terrifying - doubly so when I set off the blood pressure alarm multiple times and they started checking me for symptoms of stroke and heart attack. A head CT, blood work, vision test, and ultra sound of my eye later, they let me go with advice to follow up with my family doctor about the blood pressure and their ophthalmologist clinic about the eye. Too many doctors appointments later, my blood pressure is being managed with a pill a day and my eye is healthy.

The black oval in my eye was caused by an age and nearsightedness related issue where the collagen inside your eye shrinks and pulls away from the retina. (I believe the medical name is Posterior Vitreous Detachment.) Over time, the oval faded and changed shape. For a while it was like a windshield wiper flitting back and forth across my eye. Over time, it has faded further and is now almost invisible. Most days I don't notice it at all, but if I'm tired or the lighting is just right, there's a translucent grey shadow that floats through my field of vision. First thing in the morning, if I'm looking at my phone in the dark, it can look like a bubble. Sometimes, it reminds me of a finger print on my glasses. Other times, it hides in the corner of my vision and just occasionally moves a bit which makes it feel like someone is sneaking up on me.

The symptoms may continue to fade, but if they don't, I may need to name this spectre. What's a good name for a ghost?