Eye can't take it!

On Sat morning at 2:45am I woke up with pain in my right eye.  My eye was red and watering a lot.  I thought I might have gotten a tiny hair in my eye, since I got my haircut the evening before, so I got up, removed my contacts, flushed my eye with water and went back to bed.  But within a few minutes my eye hurt so much I couldn't stand to keep my eye closed!  Still thinking I might have a tiny hair in my eye, I repeated the eye flushing and then took some pain reliever before getting back to bed.  But the eye pain became unbearable!  So I got myself dressed, put on my eye glasses, and took myself to the Emergency Room at 4:30am.  Spouse offered to go with me but I told him there was no reason for both of us to be awake at this hour.

Fortunately there was no one in the waiting room so I was able to check-in right away, and was seen by the nurse George within minutes.  George recorded my verbal explanation for my visit, took my vitals, and then put numbing drops in my eye.  Within 10 seconds the terrible pain was gone.

When the doctor came in a few minutes later I explained (again) my situation and he decided to flush my eye again.  His technique was much more thorough than mine as he held my eye open and squirted fluid into it for several seconds.  Then he used a special light and examined my eye.

He told me I had a small abrasion on my pupil.  There's no way of knowing how it occurred, or why it would suddenly wake me from my sleep with such pain, but I'm not ruling out a tiny piece of hair from my haircut getting into my eye.  The doctor gave me a prescription for steroid/antibiotic drops which I obtained before returning home.  He said my eye would likely heal within 2-3 days and told me not to wear my contacts for 5 days.  Here's a photo of me with my new haircut wearing my glasses.

The drops worked well and I've had no further pain. Tomorrow will be day 6 so I will put in fresh lenses and see how it goes.

I can see clearly now

I started wearing glasses when I was 12 years old.  I switched to contact lenses when I was 18 years old.  I'm 1 of 4 children and all of us wear glasses or contacts.

For many years now I've been wearing extended wear disposable contacts.  I wear them for a month (sometimes longer when I forget) then throw them away and put in a fresh pair.  I love them!

My prescription has been to correct nearsightedness (can't see distances) and astigmatism.  However, now that I am "of a certain age" I have had more and more trouble seeing things up close too.

I was able to compensate for this easily with my iPhone but adjusting the font to a larger size.  But for work I have to read MLS fact sheets that will only print at a set size in order to fit all the info on a single page.  I compensated for this by using a pair of cheap reading glasses, purchased at the dollar store.  This worked fine when I was at my desk, but when I tried to refer to the fact sheets while out on showings, I literally couldn't distinguish between some letters and numbers.

So I discussed this with my eye doctor during my last annual check up.  He suggested I try mono vision contact lenses.  This means you wear a distance correction lens in your dominant eye and a reading correction lens in your other eye.  Initially this sounded crazy as I imagined myself stumbling around trying to figure out which eye to use to see distances an up close.  

But my doctor said that your eyes automatically pick the right one to see what you're trying to see, and while some people take a day or 2 to adjust to this, most people adjust within an hour.

Still, I couldn't imagine how this would work.  So my eye doctor suggested we experiment with it.  I put my 'regular' (distance) lens back in my right eye, and then he gave me a reading correction lens for my left eye.

"Look out the window at that sign across the street.  Can you read the sign?" he asked.

"Yes" I responded.

"Good.  Now take a look at this" he said and handed me a piece of paper.  "Can you read this?"

"Yes!" I responded in amazement.

Its hard to describe how it works, but your eyes just 'figure out' which one of them to use for distance vision and reading vision.  I was sold.

So now I wear mono vision contacts and have not needed the reading glasses.  I will admit that some of my distance acuity is reduced, but its still satisfactory and is certainly better than when I couldn't read things up close.

Anyone else wear mono vision contacts?  What's your experience/satisfaction level?

Insurance

One of the benefits of our civil union is that I was able to join Spouse's terrific insurance.

Since becoming self-employed I was purchasing private health insurance which gave me minimal care with a high deductible.  Since Spouse is a State employee he has terrific health insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance.  Joining his plan costs a whole lot less and I'm getting far better coverage!

 

The 1st thing I did upon receiving my ID cards was schedule a long-overdue eye exam.  My eye doctor is close to my home and office and he advertises in the local gay publication.  Plus an acquaintance of mine works there.  So I got my eyes checked and ordered a year's worth of contact lenses which arrived the next day.

Shortly afterward I started having sinusitis symptoms so I took Claritan-D for a couple days.  It helped with the congestion part but my glans were still swollen and I just couldn't seem to clear my throat at times.  My previous doctor took a position at the hospital so I knew I'd need to find a new doctor if my symptoms didn't improve.  I asked Steven & Thad because they used to have the same doctor I had, and found they liked their new doctor.  I called his office in the morning and was able to get an appointment that afternoon.  I didn't know it at the time but I later found out my new doctor also advertises in the local gay publication.  Anyway, my co-pay was only $15 and my antibiotic perscription was only $3.87.  That's correct... $3.87 for a week's worth of antibiotics!!

All of this just underscored how important it is for people to have insurance.  Without it a doctor visit and perscription could easily be $200.  When people without insurance can't afford to pay out of pocket, they usually don't go to the doctor until they become so sick they have to go to the hospital, which winds up costing way more than if they just had insurance in the 1st place.  I certainly hope our government can find a way to make health insurance for everyone a reality.

Eye exam

Yesterday evening I went to my new eye doctor for an eye exam.

I wasn't that thrilled with my last eye doctor so I took a friend's advice and made an appointment with her eye doctor. Once I got there I realized this new eye doctor advertises in the local 'Letters from CAMP Rehoboth' magazine, which is nice, and that he's also a friend of Dorothy.

Upon entering the exam room we exchanged initial greetings and then he noticed that my flip flops and t-shirt were the same color. "Did you buy them together?" he asked. "No, but I intentionally wore them together" I replied. "But that's a good idea... I should open a store on the boardwalk called 'Flops N Shirts' and sell flip flops and matching shirts" I suggested with a snicker. "I'm sure it would be a hit" he encouraged. From this exchange I knew we'd get along better than my old eye doctor who didn't get my sense of humor.

After several tests he announced that I don't have glaucoma, cataracts, or any other eye issues. Next it was on to the vision test where they flip the lenses around and ask you "Is 1 better than 2?" and "Which is clearer, 3 or 4?" I always find this tricky, as sometimes just blinking will make the same lens look different. But I got through it with less uncertainty than with my last eye doctor.

My new eye doctor advised me that was adjusting my prescription and suggested a similar but new contact lens. He provided me with a trial pair and I am finding them to be extremely comfortable. Plus the prescription adjustment was just the tweak I needed for additional clarity. I feel like bursting into song "I can see clearly now..."

Once the eye doctor kissed me goodbye (just kidding) I met up with 1 of the assistants out front to discuss my insurance and product choices. According to her, I have very good vision benefits which she indicated would be better used on glasses than contacts. This was just what I needed to know, since I really wanted new glasses.

My current eye glasses (which I never wear) are at least 6 years old and 2-3 prescriptions ago. They never fit me correctly (so I never wore them) and I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I picked them out. My pupils must have been dilated or something. Did I mention I never wear them?

The assistant picked out a dozen different frame styles and had me try on each one and tell her what I did and didn't like. With that info, she selected another dozen and I did the same thing. Lather, rinse, and repeat. Such service! I eventually narrowed down the huge selection to 5 very different frames and even got the input of the doctor and another assistant. I narrowed the 5 down to 2 that I liked equally. At that point it became a question of price, and the decision was made. I really like the new, modern frames and think I might actually wear these glasses occasionally just for looks.

Since my insurance covers glasses or contacts, I will simply order new contacts online and pay out of pocket for them. My new glasses should be ready in about a week. I'll try and remember to take a photo of myself in them and post it in next week's Friday fragments.

Crush du Jour: Marc Jacobs