Ol’ Blue Four Eyes

I started wearing glasses in 7th grade. I distinctly remember the first day in class after I got my glasses. I remember looking at the clock in the classroom and was surprised to see that there were dots noting the minutes between the numbers. I never been able to see them before. The reason no one had noticed my vision problems before 7th grade was that I was one of those kids who always sat in the front of the classroom, so I could see the blackboard just fine. Turned out my vision was pretty awful - 20/425 in my right eye and 20/375 in left. So, from 7th grade on, I wore glasses. I officially became a nerd and totally looked the part. We were poor growing up. When wire rimmed glasses came into style, I wanted a pair so bad. I was convinced wire rims would make me cool. We were on public assistance during my junior high and high school years. The good news was, for the first time in our lives, we kids got medical, dental and vision care. The bad news was, MediCal would only cover plastic frames, not wire rim frames. Goodbye cool. By the time I was a freshman in college, I decided I really wanted contact lenses. But in 1972, the only contacts regularly prescribed were hard {crunch} glass lenses. They were notoriously difficult to adapt to. Then, a scientific miracle (to me at least) - soft contact lenses!! By the end of my freshman year of college I had saved enough money to get them. I'll never forget the first day I had them. I could see everything, no frames, no borders, I could see! I adapted to them very quickly, wearing them all day within a week. I was in heaven!

I endured the mixing of saline solution to clean them, the boiling to disinfect them, the milky white spots that would form on them, necessitating replacement lenses (later discovered to be protein deposits that were cooked on during the boiling process) a couple of times a year. I was one of the first to get extended wear lenses back in the early 80's. I've done it all when it comes to soft contacts. I've worn them exclusively for 32 years. I never saw any reason to wear anything else. But my astigmatism in my right eye has gotten worse, necessitating that I wear a toric lens in my right eye. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, the lens wants to twist off axis when I wear it. I've tried about 5 different brands. Some are worse than others, but they all twist. Even when the doctor sees that the lens goes off axis 10 degrees to the right, and orders a lens weighted to sit 10 degrees to the left, hoping to negate the twist, it still twists. He doesn't understand it. He did say there are about 200 brands from which to choose, and one is bound to work, but it's getting frustrating. Adding to the problem is the fact that, with my contacts in, my near vision is not as good as it used to be. If the light isn't bright enough, if the print is really small, I need reading glasses. Without my contacts, I can read anything in any light, I just can't see past the end of my nose (well, it seems like that anyway). So, I decided it was time to get glasses that corrected my myopia, my astigmatism, and my presbyopia, and just accept the fact that I need to wear glasses during the work week. So, I ordered drill mount (rimless) glasses with progressive lenses. I've been wearing my "backup" glasses (they don't correct my near vision) for the last few weeks while at work since I've been getting headaches trying to deal with the twisting right lens, lifting them up to read small stuff in poor light. I figured the new glasses would look better (less like I'm wearing glasses) and let me see everything in every light condition. So, they came in last night. Actually, they came in day before yesterday at the optician in Coeur d'Alene I had to go to in order to take advantage of the vision coverage I now have under Tom's insurance. I had Tom pick them up on his way home last night. I put them on only to discover that they are in serious need of adjustment. I'll get that done this morning at the WalMart vision center. Beyond that, wow, is it weird to have this portion of the lenses magnifying everything. If you don't look through them properly, like tip your head down a bit to look at the computer screen so you're looking through the myopia correcting part of the lens and not the presbyopia correcting part, you can't see. Tip your head to the side and everything gets distorted. I hope I can adapt to them. Millions of people do, so why wouldn't I? But boy, it's really weird - and a bit nauseating.

So, now, instead of being old blue eyes, I am definitely old four eyes. Just in time for my 50th birthday. Ugh.