I needed to make an eye doctor appointment and put it off for months. (Procrastinators Anon, here I come...)
Last week, when I finally called to make the appointment, the secretary said she had time in JUNE. I nearly flipped!
I explained that I was worried that chemo was affecting my eyesight. So, trying to be helpful, she said "in that case, come Monday at 8:20."
Well, I am NOT a morning person AT ALL! In fact, everyone knows NEVER to call me before 9:00 am. (My good friends often wait until 10:00!)
Plus, I have finally figured out that if I want to be in Givat Shaul by 8:20 in the morning, then I have to leave my house by 7:30! (At other, more normal times of the day, it only takes 25 minutes. However, at that time of the morning, it takes almost an hour -- A traffic-jammed, VERY STRESSFUL, hour!)
YUCK!
But I couldn't just tell the really nice secretary, who just squeezed me in, "thanx, but no thanx." So, I smiled (even though she couldn't see me) and said, in my cheeriest voice, "I'll be there!"
Well, the advantage to having such a miserable cold is that when I went back to bed last night, at around 5:30 am, I still couldn't fall back asleep.
Moshe gets up at 5:45 anyway, and at 6:30, the kids all started popping their heads in.
So, by 7:00, as the kids were leaving the house, I "gave it up" and got up.
In the end, leaving by 7:30 was not all that difficult.
"Everything has its advantages and disadvantages." (Ask my kids. I say this ALL the time.)
Anyway, despite my lack of sleep, I was so put together that I remembered to call my doctor on the way, and got an appointment for 9:30! So, I just bopped from one appointment to the next.
At the doctor’s, I discovered that I have another STUPID COLD.... but we already knew that.
So I popped down to the pharmacy, and left with a big, giant bag of drugs… and a box of really soft tissues.
And my eyes?
Well, my long distance vision is fine. And, though I can not see up close as well as before (things get a little fuzzy), it is just a 0.5 or 0.75 impairment.
If you wear glasses, that might mean something to you.
I have never worn glasses.
Now I have to decide if I want to pick up a pair of off-the-counter reading glasses, which will help me read, but might make my eyesight deteriorate a fraction faster. Or, I could just leave my eyes alone. (And keep exercising those eye muscles!) (At the end of the day, they might be the only muscles I'm exercising!)
The vision loss might be slightly affected by the chemo, but mostly it is an "over-40" thing.
Since both my parents got glasses later in life, I basically knew that I would eventually need glasses.
And, since both my parents got glasses at a younger age than I am now, I should be glad that I held out this long. (According to the eye doctor, I can hold out even longer...)
But, I am seriously frustrated by the blurry vision thing and I'm not real keen on the glasses thing.
I have nothing against glasses... they would just be another item for me to misplace!
The day will come when I ask my kids "have you seen my glasses?" -- That will be the day that I officially turn into my mother!
(It started with the keys....)
**sigh**
Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.
With love and optimism,
RivkA
Monday, April 7, 2008
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3 comments:
Oh! Can I identify with the glasses thing! I also never wore glasses until at 41 I could no longer ignore the difficulty in reading what seemed to finer and finer print. All I can say about reading glasses is that for your sanity and composure the best thing is to get half a dozen pairs and keep them all over the place, glove compartment, purse, bedstand, desk and kitchen. I found the kitchen an especially annoying place because reading a recipe with foggy glasses and wet fingers is really is clumsy and it was then that I began trying to memorize favorite recipes :>)
However, cheer up, eventually you"ll be able to get multifocals (like me) and then you put them on in the morning and take them off before you go to be. Anyway if they get lost you're usually lost right along with them.
Refuah shleima,
I made my way through HS and the first year or two of Hesder fine. THen I went to an erev shira and squinted at the slides, assuming everyone did. Then someone gave me their glasses and I said WOW! Since I was going into the army, I got my first pair for free, but hardly wore them, then when I became a madrich one summer, I felt too responsible to not be clear about what I could see.
Since then, I'm steady at putting them on when I want to see, keeping them off most of the time:-) And for up close, they bother me. I hardly misplace them cause they live on the top button of my shirt.
Risa -- I love it!! I thought I'd get two pair, but six is even better! With that many, I should be able to find at least one pair when necessary!
Gidon -- and I thought those were just sunglasses!
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