With just a few weeks left before my driver's license expires, I thought it was about time to get my annual eye exam and ever stronger lens prescription. The place that I had been going to for several years had mysteriously closed up shop and vanished. As I walked by where the doctor's office used to be last weekend I was greeted by an empty storefront with empty floors and walls.
So, I reluctantly had to break in a new doctor. I showed up fifteen minutes early for my exam to give plenty of time to complete the new patient paperwork. The questionairre was quite confusing and I had to wander back to the receptionist several times to ask for clarification. It was interesting to note that this doctor insisted on some additional screening, which wouldn't be covered by insurance, and insisted that anyone wanting contact lenses also be fitted for glasses.
Once the paperwork was finished, I was led by the assistant into the back room where she began the initial testing. She seemed confused when one of the machines failed to scan my eye. You must have some cataracts or had eye surgery, she speculated. No, I had to respond, that eye is just really, really bad.
Next I had to play this little game where my eye followed a little dot that zoomed across the screen. When it stopped, up to four additional lights could blink on at different places on the screen. When these lights flashed, I had to quickly tap a counter button with the number of lights I saw. They had to restart this game for me because I was too dense to understand the instructions the first time through.
After taking some scary shots of eyes, I was led into the main examination room. When the doctor finally arrived I had to go over my long and involved history of poor eyesight. It seems that there are some new types of disposable soft contact lenses that could correct my vision, so we decided to give that a try.
I was surprised to hear that the doctor thought that my current glasses prescription was a little too strong. Funny, but I don't think it corrects my sight as much as I would like. Still, it was nice to hear that, for a change, my vision had not gotten substantially worse over the past year.
