My Visit to the Eye Doctor

I had my first eye exam in probably over 10 years yesterday.

I’ve been having problems with my vision whenever I have a migraine – which those of you who know me know that happens a lot. I am unable to focus, which concerns me a little bit (understatement there). Add in the fact that most everybody in my family wears glasses plus the fact that my job puts me in front of a computer for 10 hours a day – I felt it would be prudent of me to have things checked out.

My appointment was with Dr. Kjome (pronounced “Cho-Me) at the Dimond Vision Clinic – conveniently located next door to the bookstore! I didn’t need to be there until 3:30, but went ahead and left the office at 1:30 so as to have time to browse for some books. Lord knows I need more books!

There was paperwork to be filled out, of course, since I am a new patient. They also ran the typical eye exams on me – but with “new fangled” machines instead of the old eye chart on the wall. The machines are much more accurate, but I must say they do aggravate the head – I started getting a migraine about 2 minutes into the tests. I actually got a little nauseous, even.

Back out in the waiting room, I sat and tried to read my book (“The Firecracker Boys” by Dan O’Neill) and listened to the lady next to me speak on her cell phone for half an hour. It was a fairly private conversation she was having – and yet she didn’t seem to realize (or just plain didn't care) that the whole office could hear her. Cell phones should be banned… but that’s a whole other story.

The doctor was finally able to see me, so they took me back to the exam room. Dr. Kjome is a very nice man, and was very solicitous of my burgeoning migraine. He kept offering to postpone the exam rather than exacerbate the problem, but I decided that since I was going to have a headache anyway, I might as well do what I’d come there to do.

I explained why I was there, and a little of my history. He checked out my eyes and pronounced them healthy. The drops in my eyes stung a little at first, then turned them numb and a little tingly (not the eyes, exactly – they have no nerve endings – but the tissues surrounding the eyes). I could tell from the tissue he gave me to wipe off excess drips with that it was a fluorescent yellow. I could just imagine what my face looked like, so kept wiping my eyes so as to not have yellow streaks down my cheeks.

When all was said and done, I walked out with a prescription for glasses and a bill for $148.00. The glasses are not mandatory, and will not help the migraine problem (I knew going in that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about that; I just wanted to know for sure that there was no serious problem developing) but are to help with my far-sight. Should I feel the need to be able to see things sharper farther away, I can get them.

I’ll have to talk to my family and see what they think. I’d need help picking out glasses anyway, since I probably would get “nerdy” ones if left to my own devices.

As my nephew Robin would say, “Oh Aunt Ruthie… you’re so not cool.”