eyeballs

It’s spring break.  On Tuesday, between rounds of snow, in what has become an every-two-years family outing, we all went to the optometrist.

The good news is, my vision has changed so little Doc P said I didn’t really need new glasses.  Woot!  I am getting them anyway.  I told him that, with my courseload, and so much work to do on the computer, I live with an almost perpetual eyestrain headache.  The computer screen is too far away for the reading portion of my bi-focals, and too close for the distance portion, so I mostly work with no glasses at all.  I especially do this when I am doing work that requires me to go back and forth between the computer and a text book, near to far, near to far.  The eyestrain headache is nothing compared to the headache I get trying to do that with my specs on.

Doc P said that since my problem is going from near to mid-distance, a pair of computer-specific spectacles wouldn’t help, which I already knew.  I told him I didn’t actually think there was probably a solution, other than tri-focals, which I adamantly do not want, which is why I have just been living with the problem.  He suggested that I consider trying no-lines, which he wears.  And since I had been watching, somewhat jealously, as he went back and forth from a paper chart to the computer screen, I took the suggestion seriously.  Last time, two years ago, I rejecteced no-lines because a.) they cost a hundred dollars more, b.) my mother told me she had a much tougher time adjusting to no-lines than to her lined ones, and c.) I thought the absence of lines was merely cosmetic.  It seems they’re not.

He explained that with no-lines bifocals there’s actually a gradient of vision (not his words exactly).  Somewhere in the gradient should be a range where I can see the computer screen clearly.

Yes, it’s a hundred bucks more and it might not work or I might hate them so bad I can never adjust to them.  But I hate having a headache all the time too, so.  And on the up side, I still have my perfectly good pair (and I still love the frames) that I can fall back on, so the worst thing that can happen is being out a hundred (and twenty, which is my frame co-pay) dollars for glasses I can’t use–but I’ll still be able to see.

So I’m going to try that.  I really didn’t find any frames (in my price range) as well as I like my old pair, but I found a pair in the not-too-hideous zone and only a few dollars more than the allowance.  I like to have wire eyes and plastic earpieces because I like the look of wire but my skin doesn’t play well with metal.  It eats the finish right off at the temples.  This pair has that, but I’m not so sure of the shape.  The glasses-picking helper lady kept suggesting these cat-shaped angular shaped glasses and saying how trendy they were.  I finally said, “I’m not really a trendy person.”  What I wanted to say was, “Do you see me in my sweat pants and man-tee?  Do I look trendy to you?”  But she’s a very nice woman so I curbed myself.

We’ll see how that goes.  The specs are supposed to be ready in two weeks.

Now for the bad news.

Mr Moth has glaucoma.  Mind you, they told us this last time, and he never followed through, but maybe the numbers were worse this time, but Doc P has laid down the law and Mr Moth is there right this second on his follow-up appointment.  He is probably going to have to get eyedrops, and hopefully that is all.

On the up side of the bad news, glaucoma runs in Mr Moth’s family and no one is blind from it.  It’s treatable.  His mother and brother have both had surgery, and only one of them (I forget which) still has to take the drops.  They both had my eye surgeon, and he is among the best there is.  So the bad news isn’t terrible news, only another little stress-ding in our lives.

Now I need to get cracking on some school work.  I haven’t accomplished much this spring break except dog-butt-care and sitting around nursing a backache (and not having eyestrain, which has been wonderful), but all good things must come to an end, probably because all things must come to an end, good or otherwise.

When you think about it, I choose the headache.  No one beat me and forced me to go back to school against my will.  But I still reserve the right to whine a little about the time pressure and the headaches…because it makes it easier to put up with them.

Thanks for listening.