I'll Be Seeing You!

Wow--long time without posting. . .I didn't realize. I have been posting over at the Evil Book Blog, so I haven't been entirely silent.

I got my eyes checked last week. I thought I was having some trouble seeing, but it's only been about six months since my last check. Should I go again so soon? What would the insurance company think?

And then I realized that these were MY EYES I was talking about, and who cares what the insurance company says--I can't see, so I'd better go get them checked.

Turns out I was right--BIG change in one eye, both needed stronger lenses. I really hadn't been able to see!

Would I be a good candidate for Lasik? Not so much, it turns out, with that much change in my prescription. Am I doomed to juggling five pairs of glasses the rest of my life? Regular (bifocal) glasses, prescirption sunglasses, regular sunglasses, reading glasses and contacts?

Why no! The doctor told me jovially, Which wasn't a mode that suited him, as he was younger than I am, so "avuncular" is not really working for him. Anyway--he had a possible solution! It's called "monocular vision:" I wear the proper contact in my right eye, so I can see distances, and then I undercorrect the vision in my left eye, so I can still read!

So, that was last Wednesday, and I've been trying this monocular vision thing. Some people can't do it--it requires training your brain to only read the input from one eye at a time, and it makes some people seasick to even try it.

I can do it, it turns out--but I'm not sure that I really like it.

It's fine for days where I putter around the house--doing laundry, working on the computer, running errands. Thing that are generally happening in the middle distance. Yes, it's nice to be able to be able to read the directions on a package without having to stop and find my glasses, and I don't have to wear two pair of glasses on my head all the time I'm out (readers and sunglasses) or else find myself inside a store still wearing my prescription sunglasses, so I still can' t see.

But I have already noticed that there are times that it just doesn't work for me: Some things at a distance (like road signs) don't become clear as quickly as I'd like, and I don't get the advantage of both eyes to focus. Similarly, when I'm working with close and small items--reading, or making jewelry or something like that, I can only see with the one eye, and so everything is a little bit blurry because my right eye can't stop trying to focus.

Yesterday, I kind of got the hang of the mental part, and I realized how flat things looked. There is a richness to the world that disappears when viewed with only one eye.

Besides, if I do this monocular thing, I can add even more glasses to my collection: readers that correct only my right eye, with plain glass on the left, and driving glasses that would correct the left eye and be plain glass on the right. Plus, then I could have sunglasses made the same way, which would leave me with what. . .

EIGHT PAIRS OF GLASSES TO KEEP STRAIGHT?

We need to rethink this plan.