I've been having some sight problems, and my contact prescription expired in the middle of August. I had a couple of contacts remaining, so I didn't go to the doctor until August 27th. At some point, I went to America's Best, back in the day, and bought the club thing, so I had free appointments. Mistake? Probably, but I paid to be in the club thing, so I didn't want to waste what I paid. Anyways, that appointment is where this conversation took place:
Dr.: I see you changed the brand of contacts you use. Why?
Me: My eyes couldn't breathe in those.
Dr.: That is not true. They are made of the most breathable material.
Me: Well, my eyes turning bright red, the contacts being stuck to my eye, and the cloudiness on the lens seemed to me that the only explanation was that my eyes couldn't breathe.
Dr.: Well, you are wrong. But if you're needing to go old school so be it!
Do you see anything wrong here? It got worse. "Is 1 better or 2 better?", I responded with "they are the same." "Well, that's not possible!" It may not be possible, but either way I couldn't read it. One of my friends told me I should've asked if he wanted to flip the coin or if I could. My prescription hardly changed, but he said I had developed an astigmatism since the last time. He said to wear my new glasses, when I got them for a few days, without wearing contacts to get used to them.
So, my glasses came on Friday. I wore them, and could see some things better, but my eyes burned really bad, and my head hurt. My eyes felt extremely tired after a couple of hours, and everything was really blurry. I told myself to keep trying, because he did say it would take some time to adjust. On Sunday, I went to my brother's ward to listen to his family speak in Sacrament meeting. I couldn't see their faces, and I couldn't even see numbers on the hymn thing. Yesterday, still wearing my glasses, having a migraine, I was trying to work on the computer, and couldn't see any words. After a lot of ibuprofen and a couple hours of keeping my eyes closed, I put my contacts in, and could see totally fine, and my migraine subsided.
I took my glasses back today, and said the contact prescription was perfect, but I couldn't see through my glasses. The lady checked them, and they were correct to what had been written, and then she checked the computer, to make sure things were put in correctly. They were. So, she talked to the doctor, and he told her that I needed to wear them for a week straight, and then I'll be able to see. I told her that was not possible, because I couldn't work, drive, teach piano, or do any computer work.
So, twenty minutes later, she came back to tell me that the doctor wanted to see me. I waited 15 minutes to see the aide, and she ran a test- that one where they scan your eye, and the machine guesses what your prescription is. I then waited another 10 minutes before he saw me. (I got a lot of reading done!) He looked at me, and said, "Weren't you just here?" like he had no idea I was there, after she'd just talked to him. I explained the situation, and he was thrilled that I liked my new contacts better than my old contacts. I had to say that there was no difference in the wear of the contacts, I just liked being able to see better. He said that I should notice a huge difference in the breathability of my contacts. That was never the problem with my Acuvues, which we had discussed, as mentioned above already.
So, he looks at the test, and the test is considerably different from the one they did a week and a half ago. "There is NO explanation for this!" Well, either the machine is wrong or there is something wrong with my eyes! Looks like there are TWO explanations. So, he did the test of "which is better- 1 or 2? higher or lower?" It all ended up being the same. So, he wanted to send me on my way, and only where my glasses. I told him it was unsafe to drive in them, so he had me see which line I could read wearing them. Squinting, he said I was in the legal limit to drive. I was SQUINTING! Yes, I did tell him, "well, with me squinting, it looks like..."
You know that part in You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan says she wishes she could come up with a real zinger, but can't. That's me-- most of the time. Instead of being able to come up with something, to tell someone exactly how I feel, I bawl. Yep, you guessed what came next. I cried. He looked at me, and said, "well, what would you like me to do?!" I told him I'd like to be able to see, so I could function like a normal human being, and he told me that it wasn't that I couldn't see, it was that I wasn't used to wearing glasses. In 2007, I didn't even own a pair of glasses, so I need to take time to get used to them.... Yep, he told me that! 2007! -Well, for anyone who knows me, I wear glasses every day at work, and I'm often wearing them, when I'm not at work. He told me I needed to regularly be wearing glasses 14 hours a week. I average about 28 hours a week, most the time more.- In my bawling, I informed him I needed to return those glasses, and see someone who would really help, and take care of the situation. After which, he decided he'd take away the astigmatism numbers on the lenses, and we can try my glasses without that, and see if that makes it better. Once again, telling me I needed to wear the new ones, when they're done, for an entire week with no contacts before he'll see me again.
So, alas, this stupid drama is still not over! Don't go to America's Best, at least not the Riverdale one!
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