Me and Bob Costas

Most of the news coming out of Sochi last week was about how the hotels were not finished and about all the stray dogs roaming the area. This week, Bob Costas' eye infection has taken over my twitter feed. So of course it's only fitting that I come down with some sort of eye infection so I can stay current with the times.

The crazy thing is, before coming to Sochi I went to see my family physician in Minnesota to arm myself with the best medical advice for traveling abroad. I got a tetanus shot for precautionary reasons and I got some antibiotics because I tend to get respiratory illnesses on a regular basis. But the one thing I did not count on happening has happened – issues with my eyes.

Now, normally I wouldn't really care all too much if I was having an eye issue except for the eye that is bothering me is right eye and I use it to look into the viewfinder of my camera. So when I started to have some pain in that eye, I got concerned. The first day it bothered me, my eye was watering and would sometimes make it hard to focus while I was shooting video. The next day (today) I woke up and it's painful in the corner, red and swollen.

I figured I had some sort of sty or an eye infection, but was fairly certain I didn't have pink eye (my eyes were not itchy). So since things had progressed rather quickly with my eye, I decided to go see the doctor in the International Broadcast Center (IBC) since we really don't have many other options here.

The doctor immediately looked at it and said that I have a blocked tear duct. That's why it's so painful in the corner of my eye because my tears have nowhere to go so it's causing it to swell up and turn red. He said a warm compress should do the trick but also have me some antibiotic eye drops and even an oral antibiotic to try to fight this thing.

The bad news is if it doesn't go away in a couple of days, I will have to go elsewhere to have it drained. They don't have the proper instruments here at the IBC to be able to do that. I did do a warm compress two nights ago but in full disclosure, I didn't do it last night because I completely passed out in my hotel room. From now on I will be diligent in doing it to avoid having to go elsewhere to have it drained.

The only thing I'm glad about is that I'm not contagious with some sort of infection. I would hate to be the person to get anyone else an eye infection.

For those who have already asked on Twitter, I have not seen Bob Costas here in Sochi or even on TV for that matter.



http://www.kare11.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/02/10/beas-blog--me-and-bob-costas/5357623/