Thursday, March 22, 2012

I Must Ask . . . How's Your Vision?

Sol had lived a long life, which was drawing to its end. As his family surrounded him on his deathbed, he asked to see his optometrist.

“Optometrist?” they asked. "Why in the world do you want to see your optometrist?”

“Just get him for me.”

So they go get Dr. Kaplan, who, on seeing Sol about to depart this life, asked, “Sol, it pains me to see you like this. What can I possibly do for you?”

Sol opened his eyes slightly and said, “Doc, before I go, there's one thing I have to know. Which one was clearer — A or B?”

Recap from two weeks ago: we talked about favorite chores. I'd originally intended to make it a two-part and do least favorite chores first and then do favorite chores the following week. But as I was writing that post, I didn't want to be negative. There's enough complaining in the world and when you look for the negative, that's what you find. Besides, looking at the poll, you can guess which chores are least liked :wink:. I thought it was fun that so many people picked cooking as their favorite and interesting that laundry was second. As usual, there were some categories I forgot. We'll give an honorable mention to car maintenance {changing the oil, washing, vacuuming, etc.}, shampooing carpets, a “day job,” paper work and chores at someone else's house.

I've missed you all. You always have such great answers to my questions. It's fun to be back this week. Now, on to today's question.

All week long, I've been meaning to order new contacts. During the day, I think of it before they open. Then remember again while I'm at work and probably shouldn't call and then I forget until 5 minutes after they closed for the night. I'm going to have to put sticky notes up all over the place to make sure I get it done tomorrow, because I've been wearing the same pair for . . . I'm not sure how long. Maybe three months?

I've started wearing glasses in the 8th grade. At first it was cool. But when the novelty wore off, I quit wearing them. When I turned 16, I decided that I really did need vision correction. And I decided I wanted contact lenses. I have a really bad astigmatism and at the time, gas permeable contacts were the only kind that could correct my vision. But my lenses always clouded over and they were so uncomfortable to wear. I'd soak them in protein remover twice as often as suggested and was always taking them in to have the edges polished. I tried everything I could think of to make wearing them comfortable, but I stuck with them for less than a year and went back to glasses. Almost six years ago, I decided to try contacts again. In the intervening years, somebody came up with this fabulous invention—toric lenses. They are thicker and larger {in diameter} than regular soft lenses, but they are soft and easy to wear. They are weighted so that they stay in the same place all the time and I can see so much better with them than with glasses. My eye doctor, who is amazing, could never get me to 20/20 with glasses. I'm pretty close with contacts. But, as much as I love them, it still kills me every. single. day to put them in :lol:.

Mr. Bug started wearing glasses when he was in the 8th grade as well. He's been wearing contacts for the better part of 30 years. Without correction, his vision ranks on the scale at right around “blind as a bat.” Both his parents and seven out of eight of his siblings all wear vision correction of some sort. Both my parents and two of my five siblings wear glasses. With those kinds of numbers, the Little Bugs were doomed. It was only a matter of time. LadyBug was the first to get glasses. She's actually farsighted, while the rest of us are nearsighted. She had a little bit of amblyopia going on, which the pediatrician caught at her exam the spring before she started Kindergarten. Luckily, they caught it early and it is corrected now. She just needs the glasses for the farsightedness. Grasshopper got his glasses just two years ago. We make a matching set now.

{LadyBug just after she started wearing glasses. One of my favorite pictures. Ever. Also, I can't believe she was ever that little!}

Now you know all about my family's vision, I must ask . . . how's your vision? This one is a little bit tricky to poll because there are so many possible combinations. Vote for the one that fits you most closely and then leave a comment. I'll meet you back here next week to discuss.

8 comments:

Jan said...

I've worn glass since I was 8. I'm almost 68. I had cataracts in my 50's, but when they were removed the dr. couldn't make my vision perfect, because my eyes were so bad. Now, my rx is very weak, I no longer have coke-bottle thick lenses. I can do most things without my glasses, but wear them all the time, because I like them.

Irina said...

I'm shortsighted and I needed glasses when I was 10. I've been wearing contacts since I'm 15 and I'm 33 now

Angie said...

I started wearing glasses in 2nd grade. By the time I was 15, I fell into that 'blind as a bat' area. About 5 years ago, I had lasik and now I can see near 20/20. I do not miss putting my contacts in every morning!

Jennifer Lovell said...

20/20 vision for me, I believe. I think all of my kids have been 20/30 or so, as well. My hubby wears glasses. He finally decided to try contacts for the first time a couple of years ago, but mostly he just wears his glasses, probably 95% of the time. Still, he takes them off when he only needs to see close-up stuff, like reading and being around the house. Puts them on to watch TV though. So I guess we're all pretty lucky.

Paulette said...

I've been nearsighted since 4th grade. Finally got hard contacts in my last year of high school. That was before soft contacts were invented. Then I went to a different kind of larger hard contact lens, which was supposed to be better for your eyes in allowing more oxygen to get through, but I struggled with those and found out I was allergic to the materials. Back to regular hard lenses for a while until my corneas became scratched and damaged from over-wear. By that time, soft lenses were on the market so I got those. I still wear glasses sometimes at home. I got new glasses at the end of last year because I had money left in my flex pay and splurged on a really cool, stylish pair by Fysh. I love them, though they do tend to make me look like the geeky girl in the Scooby Doo cartoon, which I think is kinda funny. Great question!

Shay said...

I cant read a thing these days without glasses (unless it's about 20 font ) so I wear glasses for reading, computer use and sewing. I have three pairs of prescription glasses and cant find them anywhere when I need them . Whats up with that ?

Unknown said...

I'm so nearsighted that I started wearing glasses in 1st grade, bifocals by college, tri-focals shortly after that. I suffered and suffered..... healthy eyes, but sooo bad! Most folks who wear glasses have a 'script of 1.5 diopters to 3.0. Mine were at 10.25 and 10.50 when I could finally afford Lasik. The docs that did it remarked that they had never done one so severe, and oh by the way the machine only goes up to 12 diopters anyway...... It went well and for 7 or 8 years I was fine. Then at 52 or so, I got cataracts (partly brought on so early, according to my nephew eye-doc, by wearing such strong lenses, which sorta had the effect of burning my eyes out!! Since then, my eyes continue to become more nearsighted (not farsighted as "someone my age usually does") and I'm wearing glasses all the time again. Dang.

Jill said...

Sorry I missed the poll last week!
I am probably a 20/50 in my left eye. It's my good eye. But my right eye is so nearsighted that I can only see clearly 6 inches (no joke!) in front of my eye without my glasses.
I started wearing glasses at the end of third grade. I thought about contacts about 2 years ago, but it was cheaper with our insurance to get new frames, so I stuck with glasses and found some super trendy frames! My eye doc once told me I'd see better and my bad eye would worsen slower if I had contacts, but I think I've always been a little scared. You know, jabbing my finger in my eye every morning and night?