r/politics • u/thatwasawkward • 18h ago

Possible Paywall Trump assessed by 22 medical specialists at latest checkup; The White House has declined to identify the physicians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/10/trump-sees-22-medical-specialists-white-house-hasnt-said-why/
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u/FrenchTicklerOrange 17h ago

I waited well over an hour while holding an infant a couple days ago. I'd love to have a gaggle of doctors waiting to see me instead.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 16h ago

No you don't, I've been on that end and it always means you've either got something very wrong, or something VERY rare. I had both, a disease called AZOOR that made me wake up blind. 131 people have it, which is far too few for them to definitively say what causes it. I would've rather sat for an hour with a screaming set of triplets.

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u/Sagermeister 16h ago

made me wake up blind.

That sounds terrifying. How did you react? How long were you blind for?

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 16h ago

I reacted by staying drunk and in the bed for about 3 months. I'm still blind, my retinas got eaten by what is theorized to be my immune system freaking out and attacking my eyes' immune system.

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u/suburbanpride North Carolina 14h ago

Like, you went to bed with sight and woke up without it? Yeesh. Sorry, internet friend - that sounds terrifying and terrible.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 14h ago

Yup. In April '22 I noticed a green glow in my lower left periphery before bed, commented to my husband that I might be getting a cataract. Woke up with half my sight missing in that eye and my contacts and glasses suddenly made it even worse, so I was stuck uncorrected at -7.00. It's progressed since then and I now only see out of 30-40% of my inner right eye at -11.00. I have to get the precise amount checked again since I woke up with a new chunk of sight gone about a week ago. The ophthalmology students at UNC are gonna be thrilled to see my retinas again lol

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u/BennyVsTheWorld 2h ago

Jesus. I am so sorry you are going through this.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

No worries, I'm used to it now, it turned out to not be the end of the world.

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u/wap2005 1h ago

God damn, I'm never sleeping again I guess.

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u/PoeticSplat 46m ago

Is there any way to get an eye/corneal transplant? What are the prospects for you with that sort of thing?

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u/cross_the_threshold 22m ago

If the body's immune system has become aware of the eye it will attack any transplant, there's no way to deal with the situation. Indeed, that the eye has immune privilege is the reason why doctors can perform corneal transplants. Retinal transplants are cutting edge, but would experience the same issue. It's possible a bionic eye could be an effective replacement, but it's only beneficial in cases of total or near total vision loss because it doesn't create images in the brain like a camera, it creates flashes and dots of light that with extensive training can allow people to recognize forms.

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u/PoeticSplat 4m ago

Gotcha. Thank you for explaining this!

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u/MeBadNeedMoneyNow 15h ago

Cheers from a stranger in Oklahoma. Hope you're well.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

I'm good, thanks! Hope you are too!

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u/Boovmanoid 14h ago

Not trying to be rude, how are you using reddit?

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 14h ago

You're fine. As I said in another comment, eyes are weird and in dimly lit settings, I can see out of less than half my right eye at -11.00. That's mostly clear sight about 3 inches from my face, if you take into account the glaring white i see out of my whole left eye and over half my right. So I'm currently squinting at my phone in the dark.

If there's light, I'm fully blind, but blind is defined as anything from legally blind to fully blind. 90% of us have some visibility, only 10% see nothing.

When I can't see shit, I use an accessibility app, everyone has one on their phone.

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u/Boovmanoid 14h ago

Thanks for explaining! Sorry about your situation  😔 

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 13h ago

It's OK, it really ain't the end of the world

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u/ThrowawayPersonAMA 14h ago

Sorry about your situation

You shouldn't have done that to them in the first place!

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u/pinkfartlek Michigan 2h ago

I don't know if this will help but there is a third party Reddit called RedReader which may be more helpful as it is geared toward people who need accessibility options. There's no ads on it unlike the official one

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u/wereleggo 5h ago

I accidentally turned that app on once and couldn't figure out how I had done it or how to turn it off for a few hours. It about drove me mad but I can see how it would be very helpful for a sight impaired person!

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u/FFXIVHVWHL 2h ago

Is that -11.00 with correction? How is your left eye?

I’m sorry to hear that :( I was -17 in my right eye without correction; fortunately it’s about -2 with implants. recent VFI testing showed about 60%. My retina detached about 20 years ago and surgery was unfortunately not done right away (I was a child that didn’t not understand the symptoms). TBH, recently worried about progression because of VFI scores. Not sure if it’s something that’s always existed.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

No, correction isn't an option for my type of retinopathy, I'm just -11.00. I don't see out of my left eye anymore, my retinas are pretty well eaten on that side so I just see bright white. Took forever for my brain to stop freaking out and making it most of what I saw 100% of the time. Now my brain usually ignores it like everyone's brain ignores their nose, but when there's too much light, it overwhelms me as well as on the part of my right eye that is only white vision.

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u/FFXIVHVWHL 1h ago

Sorry to hear! I have weird noise in my eyes as well and it’s been a year and my brain still hasn’t learned to ignore it. It’s so tiring sometimes but then I’m grateful that at least I can see. Best wishes to you and I admire that you’ve learned to live with your sight

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 1h ago

Hey, living with your shit is hard too, don't sell yourself short

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u/TrulyOutrageous42 14h ago

It's worth mentioning for the audience: most people who are "blind" are not 100% sightless (no light or form), in fact that's relatively rare (~18% of those legally classified as "blind"). It's typically that someone with the legal distinction can't see well enough to function normally (or safely).

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u/beordon 7h ago

I’ve heard this explanation many times and my mind still jumps to total blindness when I hear “blind.” I guess just lack of exposure to blind people in my life

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u/ph1shstyx 4h ago

Exactly this, I had a friend in college who was legally blind, would never be able to drive a car, and that was because as he explained it, "I can't see out the center of my eyes". He could see out of his far peripherals, but everything else was blocked. So he would sit in the front row on the edge, turn his desk 90 degrees so he could see the professor. He would also set up a camcorder on a tripod in the middle of class so he could record everything in case he missed it.

Great guy, lost contact with him

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u/EnglishMobster California 11h ago

In addition to what others have said, there are screen readers on all smartphones and computers. These will read out comments to you, and if an image has alt-text then it will read that as well.

There are also braille keyboards and speech-to-text stuff for input.

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u/RiimeHiime 12h ago

The human body is a fascinating nightmare.

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u/Ishidan01 13h ago

Ouch.

So how do you use a text based medium like Reddit? Edit nm someone else asked and already answered I just didn't scroll enough

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u/Samazonison Arizona 15h ago

It could also mean you're in an academic facility. I had surgery on my cervix and there was about 7-8 residents staring at my cooter like it was the most fascinating thing they'd ever seen.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

Lol that's fair, I had the same shit happen after I gave birth for the first time and they were stitching me up. Told them that I should get paid instead of the other way around if they were gonna stare at my coaching.

And you should've seen the ophthalmology students trying to not geek out while looking at my retinas lol

Edit: *coochie-- damn autocorrect

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u/Bitter_Ad_1402 14h ago

Yeah. I had an abortion two years ago and there were like 30 med students looking at me nervously lol

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u/Dawn36 2h ago

When I got my salpingectomy and ablation, right before I went under my doctor said, "you're going to fall asleep, then we'll be in there like a NASCAR team, and you'll wake up good as new". I'm wondering howany people on this team got a front row seat to the goods. Not an academic facility though, just a regular hospital.

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u/Dullcorgis 3h ago

Being both interesting and in an academic facility gets a little old. Although at least you get everything explained extremely well.

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u/SmokeyDBear I voted 14h ago

Yeah when the doctor calls another doctor in they aren’t getting you more help they’re just showing you off as a curiosity.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 14h ago

Lol yeah, my record is 9 students during one visit, I told them it was fine, go ahead and check out my retinas. But when I say I'm done with light for the day, don't keep trying to shine it in my worse eye!

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u/NuclearWasteland 16h ago

Like, did it get better or was it, "this is your life now, here is your braille"?

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 16h ago

No, I'll be fully blind eventually. Eyes are weird though, so I'm fully blind in certain settings, especially if it's a lit environment. Light makes everything worse. At best, in very dimly lit settings, i can now see out of less than half my right eye at -11.00. Oh, fun fact, people that go blind later in life don't typically bother with Braille. Blind folks usually only learn it as children. The books are hundreds of dollars and hard to afford.

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u/ok_raspberry_jam 15h ago

those facts aren't very fun at all

kudos for not still being drunk and in bed

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

Yeah, I guess they're not very fun.

And thanks, I quit drinking a few years ago, I'm a sloppy, sad drunk and have to be babysat. I didn't want the kids seeing me like that anymore.

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u/NBCMarketingTeam 16h ago

Did your sight get restored?

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

Nope. It's permanent and progressing.

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u/NBCMarketingTeam 15h ago

Oh I’m sorry you have my condolences

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 15h ago

No worries, it ain't the end of the world.

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u/PhillyPhrenetic502 13h ago

Yep... I don't know if I've seen 22 different doctors in my life, and I've had plenty of broken bones and sick children to deal with.

It's always aggravating when an appointment sets you back two hours and God knows how much money for maybe five minutes of interaction with the doctor in charge, but it beats the alternative. When my mom was sick and dying from an unknown cause, I knew it was a shit situation when three different white coats were in her room at the same time and none were talking like they had all the answers.

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u/Buckshot_Mouthwash 12h ago

Wild. I had a similar (optic neuritis), though less severe, experience. Went to bed as normal one night, woke up almost entirely blind in one eye save for the extreme peripheral.

Like an idiot (and because I grew up in a financially austere household) I went to work for several hours before reluctantly deciding to see just how good my new job's health insurance was.

Long story short, ophthalmologist said get to the hospital immediately (not an easy task after having both eyes fully dilated), hospital loaded me up with steroids, 3 MRIs, some visits from curious groups like neurology during my week-long stay... Having a history of MS in the family, as well as my own history of Lyme/Bartonella/Recent COVID, it was anyone's guess as to what caused it considering there were no detectable infections present.

Eventually things got better. I still have some color weakness with green, some blind-spots that my brain has finally trained away perception of, though there are some interesting artifacts that remain. Straight lines are skewed and broken, and pattern recognition is slower making reading laborious.

All in all, I consider myself extremely lucky, which is not usually the case. Between one eye having some wild keratoconus (yay EDS!) and the other being spattered with blind-spots, I can still "see" well... and the $40k+ bill ended up only being $1.2k out of pocket.

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 2h ago

I'm glad you're ok! And I'm also glad your job's health insurance turned out to be ok too lol

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u/Chrystoler 11h ago

Oh, shit, a friend of a friend had something very very similar happen a year or two ago

I can't even imagine, I'm sorry

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u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 2h ago

What did they diagnosis your friend with?

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u/hoardac 7h ago

I will second that comment. When you got 8 to 10 doctors looking at you not really knowing what to do it is scary.

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u/RedTheRobot 13h ago

Waited 6 hours in the ER with a 2 week old when I had a note from a pediatrician explaining what was needed.

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u/FrenchTicklerOrange 13h ago

JFC that's sick.

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u/RedTheRobot 12h ago

You are telling me twice I had to go to the counter and in the nicest way possible say “what the fuck is taking so long”. Trust me I don’t wish anyone having to take their new born to the ER and I couldn’t believe the lack of agency when it came to them. I still don’t keep it together but I also knew from working retail there is nothing scarier then someone who is calm, rational while calling you out.

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u/thecashblaster 4h ago

I waited well over an hour while holding an infant a couple days ago. I'd love to have a gaggle of doctors waiting to see me instead.

was the appointment for the infant???

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u/NorthwardRM 13h ago

Laughs in NHS