The Eyes are Starting to Show My Age!

 I think my mom was way into her 50s as was my dad when they needed to get their first prescription glasses. I got a pair when I was 58, but I never wore them because (and as the Opty told me) the Rx was less than 100+ readers. He thought it would be cheaper for me anyway if I just bought a pair of those with the blue screen protection and call it a day.  He made me the Rx glasses, and I really liked the frames I picked out, so I may end up using the frames on a second pair of my NEW glasses, which actually do have a real Rx....because I'm OLD and my eyes are starting to prove that point.

    My O.D. is here in OKC and I'll give the shout-outs to Oklahoma City Vision on N.W. 63rd.  GREAT people, great work, great team!! I think I'll end up paying $117 after my insurance picks up the tab for the standard lens without anything special like the lighter poly, the bluescreen, and the something else that you need and they don't pay for. Insurance did pay for the new frames, so I'll keep the ones I have now, and just get a second pair using the same Rx in about a month or so. I like having two pairs of glasses; one for the office and one for home. I know it sounds really dumb, but I don't like being responsible with things like glasses. I want to have several of them scattered about so I don't have to remember to put them in my purse. What if I change my purse? What if I lose my purse? It has happened.

    Three years ago, when I went in to get the first set of real glasses I've ever had to get, I really didn't need to get them. My company, which was a school district, thought that teachers looked more authoritative with them, so they asked us to get them and it was more of a strong recommendation than anything else. Since I was already on their bad side because I DARED to introduce Bloom's Taxonomy to the 6th graders, and fought the wrath of several staff members because of it, I decided to smooth things over and wear the glasses. I hated it.

    About six weeks into the experiment my left eye developed a floater, and I swear it was because I was being forced to wear stupid glasses. Of course, my Opty disagrees and said it was...get this....my age! No. Sorry, that's impossible.  Apparently, people aren't built to last 1000 years and it makes me wonder if back in the day if all the Biblical characters we know and love had a need that they couldn't fix. How many of our beloved story heroes and villains ran into walls, trees, and other people but it was never mentioned in any of the 66 books of the Bible. Not once.  You know there had to be folks who squinted! C'mon. 

    Well, Dr. Forester was thorough, and his assistants were equally amazing. I know you've probably seen or experienced having the BRIGHT white light treatment on both of your eyes while being examined. It's torture, and you have to sustain it, take it, suffer, and make it happen for about a nano-second, but you have to do that 4 times, twice for each eye. I blinked, and the gal still managed to get the shot! BAM! Then, when the good doctor showed me my eyeballs all blown up and full of veins he started telling me about the freckle I have on my right eye, the floater I have on my left, and tiny tiny tiny white dots on both that were caused by cholesterol issues when I was heavier and didn't eat as well I do now. He said they won't go away, but with good health, they won't get worse. 

    You'd think he'd stop there, and tell me how amazing I am, that at 61 I have 20/20 vision when I have the corrective lens; which again are really low in number, but for sharpness (since I read a lot and am on a computer). NO...the man did not stop there, he added an even higher Rx than I had before, but it really did make a difference in the shapes of the letters he was showing me.  He even let me wear some really cool steampunkish-type glasses with interchangeable lenses. He said Benjamin Franklin designed the original type set. 

    What I see as a thinner font with my 100+ readers at 20/20 I will see thicker and bolder but the same size with the 150 Rx. I'm doing the single lens, no bifocal. I don't like that whatsoever, no thank you.  He said he could make me a 2nd Rx for distance and driving, but after taking another vision test I didn't need it. He said the readers with the bluescreen protection will work as the only issue I have when driving is when it's dark and the headlights are glowing and showing halos. Don't tell me you don't know what I mean! Yes, you do. It doesn't mean we're old. It means people have stupid halos on their car headlights!

    Anyway, the man would NOT STOP (because he's really fantabulous at what he does) and he told me I have the beginnings of cataracts? WHAT THE HELL? That's something OLD people have!!  He explained to me that they were incredibly small and nothing to worry about for another 5-8 years and he also said that people my age usually have them because of the computers, tablets, cell phones, and such that do have blue screens.  He didn't give me a name but said he recommended a patient (female) who was 44 years old, to have full-scale cataract removal surgery as she had been using a computer since she was 18 or so, and never had been told to wear blue screen protection. I'm telling you now...you need blue screen protection!! I've been wearing my readers for about 3 years and I do see a difference. If I have them on the screen is more yellow. If they are NOT on, the screen is white. 

    Readers are super cheap and they make them with no + at all I think; just clear plastic but with screen protection. Worth it!! Amazon has a box of 6 for $13.00 and with Prime, that's free delivery. I think the box I bought 3 years ago still has 2 sets unused. They last a long time; a really long time. I guess hearing the words "cataracts" and the fact that they added an Rx that was greater than my readers just sort of caught me off guard. I'm really old now. I was happy that I still have 20/20 vision with the corrections. I mean, I could have 20/20 without them if I squinted really hard and pulled the card away far enough. LOL.  I read all the time, so it's best to have really good eyes to do that. I love my Kindle because I can control the size of the font and even the style actually, but I can see where reading a book would be good too, and the glasses will allow me to do that.

    There you go. The woman is falling apart at 61. One of the assistants takes your heart rate and does a little mini-physical when you go in to get your eyes checked because a family history of hypertension, Diabetes, or Glaucoma can also be a big deal when you're being examined for glasses.  My mom's side of the family has ZERO issues other than weight, and my dad's is 50/50 on illnesses. It could happen. I'm in good shape (or my age, dammit). Believe it or not, hypertension and/or blood pressure actually affects your eyesight. It's not just about the beta carnitine you know. You really do have to keep the rest of your body in shape if you want your sight to be at its optimal (pun) best.  My blood pressure was 122/79 and my standing heart rate was 90.  I don't know what it means, but my eye pressure was 11 and he said that was good. I have no idea. I really don't. I just said, "Thank you".

    Laura and I were picking out my new frames and I am really not the best person for this particular job. I have NO style whatsoever, I just knew I didn't want the standard black rims and she picked those first. LOL.  She's obviously not the best one for the job either. I pulled out my other pair with the frames I love and gave them to her. I told her to find something similar. She and the sales agent at the office were able to come up with about three to choose from, and I just let her pick. I really hate looking at myself in the mirror anyway, but to do so while finding glasses is not fun for me. It's more of a chore than trying on clothes. I don't really do that either, which just drives my best friend crazy. I just order clothes online. If they fit I keep them. If they don't I send them back. That's me.

    Well, that's my glasses' story.  I'll pick them up around the end of December and have a final fitting. By final fitting they mean they ask you to put them on your face for the last time that they see you before you leave their office for another two years. I do have to go back next year for the follow-up for my big fat nasty ugly (in reality tiny minute and barely noticeable) cataracts!! Maybe I'll become more reasonable by that time, but I certainly wouldn't hold my breath for that one. Ha! I can almost just tell you now that I'll go down fighting before I accept age as a reason for decline. 

Photo Credit: Zenni.com