I used to wear the sort of contacts that you take out and then put in solution to be cleaned of the eye gunk so you could see anew the next day. As modern times advance, though, such things are considered old school and the kids? Well the kids put in a FRESH PAIR of contact lenses EVERY. DAY. This is fine except that daily-wear contacts are expensive.
I was wearing the every day contacts but I guess I have really dry eyes and the particular brand of contact lenses I was wearing tore several times. All manner of bits of plastic have been lodged in my eyeballs. Twice I have driven home with one seeing eye as the contact had ripped in the other and I didn't have my glasses with me. I finally decided that maybe a different brand of contacts would be a good idea.
I thought that I could just go to my store of choice and get a different brand but they said I had to see the eye doctor first and have an exam.
Eye exams are innocuous enough. For me the most awkward part is when the doctor gets real close to your face with that light. I nearly always laugh out loud because that proximity makes me feel uncomfortable.
My other stressor, if it can be called that, is the pressure I suddenly feel to make no mistakes in citing the row of letters I must call out and the need I feel to see as many rows as possible. I don't care that the point is that no one can see that last teeny, tiny line. I CAN SEE IT. I CAN. You know, blind me, who is here for new contacts.
Also, I guess I am a big liar. Because I also feel worried that I will choose the wrong prescription.
When the doctor says: "Which is better, one or two? ONE? Or TWO?," I kind of panic. And they have to flip the lens a few times before I can say for sure One or Two. I am always worried that I will then end up with headaches from squinting or the exact same prescription I had which is not very good anyways which is why I am at the eye doctor. And maybe it was TWO! Why did I think One? Why can't I see? What is wrong with my vision? Will I end up blind? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
And then I answer: "Uhh...two?"
At this particular exam was a new fun feature because the doctor used that machine to do what is really the most worst part of the eye exam, that puff of air they shoot in your eye.
So, you know, you have to rest your chin on the...chin rest, and then press your forehead into that....forehead bar, and then hold your eye open. But I have no torso, so when I sit in those chairs, I am never the right height for the chin rest and the forehead bar. I sit at the edge of the seat and I try to force my large head and sunken torso into the eye-puffer position, but I am also not close enough or in the right spot. The doctors always try to adjust the chair and machine but my belly and "the girls" only allow for so much more adjusting. My optometrist was determined though, and she pressed and smashed and so I ended up with a new eye prescription and a mammogram.
The doctor also said that I have large optic nerves which means there is a chance I will have glaucoma or something so I have to go to another doctor.
Walking out of the store to my car, I started to stumble and kind of limp. I thought that it was because they had dilated my eyes and it had thrown off my equilibrium. It felt like every time I put down my left foot I started to twist and kind of spin. I keep looking down, feeling dizzy and disoriented. I finally figured out that my strappy sandal has blown a strap and so when I take a step it twists my shoe out to the left and to compensate my foot and then body twist and turn a bit and I feel like before I reach my car I have completed a series pirouettes on account of my broken shoe.
So, I have simplified as I now own less shoes.
The more important part is that I got my prescription and eventually I was able to get my contacts and so far, my eyes have been free of ripped contact debris.
It is nice to be able to see and it is nice to walk in a straight line.
