I got the occasional "four eyes" comments. It really didn't bother me because, after all, I could SEE! I put them on when I crawled out of bed and took them off when I crawled back in. I washed them when I showered and from time-to-time broke them.
My eye doctor was also our across-the-street-neighbor. That was pretty cool because if a new pair of glasses didn't quite fit right, Doc Phillips would hold them down in his toaster and bend them a bit until they fit properly! :-)
However, I quickly learned that the biggest drawback from wearing glasses was that you can't wear cool sunglasses! Bummer!
I tried everything! Remember those thin, plastic sunglasses that you slip behind your glasses. Bah! Then there were the famous 'clip-ons'. Boo!
At one point, I paid to have an older pair of prescription glasses coated to become a pair of sunglasses. It worked, but 'Not cool!'
Finally, when I left home and was working for a roofing company in Philadelphia, I sprung for a pair of wire-rimmed, hexagonal, prescription sunglasses! Now they were cool! Think John Lennon cool!
I wore them for years until one day when I was driving along in my '63 Chevy, I turned to look out my window - and (you guessed it) they blew off my face and were mangled beyond repair! So sad!
Then, in the 90's, they started making contacts for people with astigmatism! Woo Hoo! I went to Pittsburgh to be fitted for my first pair of contacts. It took a while for me to learn to insert them, but I got it. Wala! I was, for the first time since I was eleven, able to go out and buy a cool pair of sunglasses! Sweet! I loved it!
But after a couple of years, the contacts just weren't working out. I don't remember too many details, but I quit wearing them altogether. Awwwwww...
The years rolled by before my Walmart eye doctor told me that I had cataracts growing on both eyes. Shock! Cataracts? Are you kidding? That's something that old people deal with! He comforted me with the words: "They're not big enough to do anything about yet." Very comforting!
Each annual visit he would give me an update on their size. Then, we went to China for a year. A year became two. My vision deteriorated quickly! It's probably a good thing I wasn't driving in China! I was starting to have vision problems even in my classroom work!
So, I contacted Deb's sister, Cathy, and had her set up an appointment with a cataract specialist in Boardman, Ohio for July (when we would be home for six weeks). She agreed to see me and try to get both surgeries in during our window of opportunity.
Having cataracts removed was, for me, like a miracle! I immediately had 20/20 vision and have maintained it for the several years since the surgery! Wow! I have young man's eyes!
AND, I get to wear cool sunglasses for the rest of my life! Don't you just love happy endings?
No comments:
Post a Comment