I did a thing

Or, rather, I’m doing a thing at 1500.

This is purely an about me post.

You see, I’ve worn glasses since I was in 1st grade.

For those following along at home, this is 40+ years.

40 years of paying for eye exams.

40 years of paying for glasses.

40 years of waking my husband up to find my glasses because I can’t find them and can’t see to find them. This happens more often that you’d think.

40 years of being afraid of traveling without an extra pair of glasses or, at the very least, my glass prescription.

In the back of my mind, I have been aware of LASIK. I always believed that my prescription was too extreme, especially my left eye.

But it has been a theory of mine. Get LASIK when I am in my 40s and then, as my eyes deteriorate as I age, start buying glasses again as I need them. Kind of like doubling the life of my eyes and doubling the correction that I can have before I am legally blind. Because isn’t that what everyone who is severely myopic fears? Being blind.

What prompted the desire now?

When I was getting my glass adjusted because they continued to slide down my nose right after I got them, the frame snapped. This rendered the glasses unwearable. And me unable to see for my drive home because those were the only glasses that I had with me. And no one to come bring me my spare pair.

Stranded, no correction for my vision, less than 2 miles from home.

My plan was leaving my car at the optometrist’s office, walking home, and retrieving my second pair, walking back and picking up my car. I’m pretty nearsighted and that would have been terrifying. I can see movement and color and shapes without my glasses but not much else, definitely not any sort of focus. They were able to put my lenses into a loaner pair of glasses and I could drive home. The mind-eye dissonance of fitting my lenses into the glasses they were not made for was headache inducing. I only wore the Frankenglasses long enough to get home to my spare pair.

And I started thinking about what a disaster this could have been.

And I started reading more seriously about LASIK.

And here we are.

The LASIK doctor pointed out that my glass prescription already made me somewhat disabled. And that had never freaking occurred to me. My glasses had just been a part of me for 40+ years after all.

Tests and appointments and eye drops. And talking to others who have had it done, about how life changing it was for them.

LASIK here I come.

Fingers crossed.