Taking My Contacts Out... For the Final Time!

Back in the day, School Nurses actually did a lot of real work. One thing they did was annual Vision and Hearing checks. When I got my vision checked, she told me that I needed glasses. I never knew my vision was bad! On the way to get glasses, my dad pointed out a far away road sign and told me to say when I could see it clearly. We got closer, closer, closer, until it was almost parallel to the car before I could crisply and cleanly see the speed limit sign. I said so, and he whistled under his breath. Yeah, I needed glasses. So, I spent the last 2 years of high school in some dorky wire-rimmed glasses. 

I miss that gloriously thick hair (The guy? Not so much)

I also had them in my first year of college, and I can confirm that guys DO make passes at girls who wear glasses, because I got married to a hot guy that year. 

Today I Learned that this phrase is actually a poem by Dorothy Parker!

I used some of my student loan money in my second year of college to finally get contacts, and man, I never went back to glasses! So easy to wear, I was never 'blind' again! I wore them all the time, longer than I was supposed to, even sleeping in them every night. The only downside was that they were expensive back then! And we were pretty poor when we first got married. So I started hoarding them; instead of throwing them away at the end of the week, I'd clean them and put them into rotation. I'd wear two pair, rotating them every week, until they irritated my eyes so much I had to rip them out and throw them away. I did this for years, even after the need to hoard and save money had gone away. It was just habit at this point. 

Over the past few years, though, I don't know what changed, but I would start to get irritated eyes much easier than I used to. It felt like at least once every few months, I had to take a contact out and suffer through a day or two of an eye infection. Like, the logical part of me knew that it was all my fault that I was suffering, because I didn't change my contacts, but it was just such an ingrained habit that I never changed what I did. 

Around 2020, I started thinking seriously about Lasik. A lady I know at work had it done, and she told me about it - and how much it cost - and I realized that it was something I could probably do! I'd always thought that Lasik would require multiple days of me being laid up, not being able to see, not being able to function as a human, and not being able to be the boss of the family (you know, the cooking, the cleaning, the Mom's Taxi?) But I was wrong! 

And, then, of course... Covid happened. Shit got weird and I put thoughts of Lasik on the back burner until 2022. At that point, I made a plan to get it done in 2023. I set up a larger limit on my FSA (Flexible Spending Account) to cover the cost. I picked out some dates on my calendar to aim for. 

And then, 2023 happened. I got as far as going to the initial consultation to see if I even qualified to get Lasik, but after that, all hell broke loose, and there was no way I could take the time to deal with my eyes. Plus, because of some of my own health issues, I had to use up a lot of my FSA funds on other things. So I readjusted my plans, refilled my FSA and set a concrete plan for Lasik in the fall. 

And here we are! I've worn glasses or contacts for the past 30 years. And now... I've taken my contacts out for the very last time. It was a little sad, honestly? Like, it's it's been a part of my life for all of adulthood. And now? I can just throw it away with a little flick of my finger. It doesn't seem real yet, honestly. 

For the next week, just like for the pre-op time, my eyes will relax and go back to 'normal' before I go in for my Laser Eyes, and I join the ranks of People Who Don't Need Glasses. 

And I'll leave you with these parting words:

Your eyes aren't even real... they're just in your head!

This is the Year I Get LASIK!!!

After debating about it for a few years, I finally decided it's time to take care of my eyes. I originally kicked around the idea of doing it in 2022, but the money wasn't there. When doing my Annual Enrollment at work for 2023, I upped my monthly contribution to my FSA (Flexible Spending Account) as high as comfortably possible so that I'd have the majority of the cost just sitting there waiting for me. 

I spent the first few months of 2023 debating whether I should have the procedure done locally, or if I should take advantage of "coupons" available through my health insurance; I could save up to $1000 IF I got the Super Mega Lasik at Eyeballs 'r' Us... you know the typical deal I'm talking about. 

The issue was two-fold. How expensive is the Super Mega Lasik? And Eyeballs 'r' Us only had offices in metropolises like Tampa, Miami, and Orlando. Was it worth driving to Orlando to go to the big office, to save a possible $1000? And places never give you any idea of what costs are like, so I didn't even know if Super Mega Lasik would cost $5,000 per eye, or anything like that! 

So I made the decision to visit the local office first, Gainesville Eye Associates, to get a better understanding of everything, and then decide if I should get a second consultation at Eyeballs 'r' Us. 

I took some time off of work and went over there by myself. Hubby had to work and since it was just a consult, I didn't think it was anything he needed to go to. They tested my eyes with just about every machine they had, and I got the all-clear that even with my astigmatism in my right eye, I was a good candidate for Lasik!!

I asked the nurse (are they nurses if it's not, like a regular doctor's office? Are they iNurses, haha?) her opinion on why I should get it done here instead of Eyeballs 'r' Us. She said that GEA has been in town for decades, they've done thousands of procedures, and treatment here is caring and personal. Just from the 20 minutes I was there, I understood the "caring and personal" claim... everyone was just so nice!

She told me that to have both eyes done would be $3,600. That included the pre-op appointment, the procedure, and four follow-up appointments at one day, one week, one month, and three months post-op. I choked a little when I got the price, I won't lie, but after thinking about it, it didn't seem that bad. A single eye doctor appointment could be $100, so there's $500 right there. 

And once I knew that there needed to be multiple follow up appointments, I knew that staying in town was the smartest idea. If we went to Eyeballs 'r' Us, we'd need a hotel the night before and after, plus gas to and from, for five trips. And we'd both have to miss work, wasting precious Vacation Time we wanted to use for other things. 

So it's a no-brainer. I'm going to stay in town and go to the local guy for my Lasik.

I'm hoping for around June 2023, because there won't be a lot of work stuff to deal with, and I can afford the time off to recover for a few days. 

I'm getting Lasik!!!!! 

If you made it past Kermit, here's a joke for you...

How many eye doctors does it take to change a lightbulb?

One… or two? One? ……..or Two?