But it's self inflicted.
And it's supposed to get better.
You see, today I got a trial pair of contact lenses. I have never before tried contacts, though I've had people telling me for years that I would just love them if I would be willing to give them a try. Dh has had contacts on and off for years. I know plenty of other people who have them. I've seen them experience both the good things and the bad. Until now, I wasn't willing to put up with the bad.
Finally, though, I figured it was time for me to at least try them. If they don't work out, it's no loss, other than the ridiculous cost of getting new glasses, which I've been needing for a few years now. I just don't have half a grand or more lying around for something like that. Yeah, we've got insurance that'll cover 80%, but the company does it by reimbursal, so it's cash up front, first.
Things went well until it was time to actually put the things in. The first lens didn't work at all. It was for my right eye, and it kept flipping. The assistant thought it was behaving strangely, as though it were misshapen, so she got rid of it and found another for me to try. They didn't actually have one exactly like I needed, as I've got astigmatism in that eye, which needs a slightly different lens. The dr. is ordering the correct lens for me tomorrow. Until then...
It wasn't long before I could see the assistant helping me was getting really frustrated. I just couldn't get the lens in! You see, I can't open my eyes very wide. The lens is actually larger than I'm able to do so, even with yanking my lids apart with my fingers. I kept hitting my upper lid when I tried to put it in place, which would make me blink and out goes the lens. It took a while, but I did get it in, though not before my eye was all red and irritated. I actually ended up doing the one handed method, rather than using my other hand to hold open my top lid at the same time. It went in much easier that way, I found. I don't think it took too much longer than usual, though.
Then there was the left eye.
First, she had me trying to put the lens into my eye using my right hand, as I did for my right eye. I'm left handed, which I'd already told her. I kept positioning the lens too far out. She finally commented on it and wondered out loud why that was. I told her flat out, it's because I was using my right hand. Apparently most people, including left handers like me, still tend to do better using their right hand. So I switched hands, which solved the too-far-out problem, but I had an even harder time getting my eye open than with my right eye. I tried two handed and one handed, and it didn't make a difference. I'd have the thing on my eyeball, start moving my eye around to position it, only to blink the thing out repeatedly. At one point, I popped it out onto the carpet! Finally, because it was taking so long, I think, she was going to do it for me, so she could go on to showing me how to take them out.
Can you guess how that worked out?
Right. Not well at all.
Now, it's not like I've never had someone else poke around in my eyeball before. Usually my husband, trying to find and remove a loose eyelash I couldn't find on my own. You'd think that would've prepared me somewhat.
It didn't.
There she is, trying to put the lens in for me, and I'm feeling like someone's taking sandpaper to my eye. She's telling me to relax and not blink. Of course, as soon as she says "don't blink," what do I do? Yup. I'd blink. My whole face was practically spasming in my struggle to NOT blink and pull away - which I still ended up doing.
That experiment didn't last long.
Finally, she got me to try again myself. Eventually, I did get it in.
So there I am, wearing contacts on both eyes for the first time in my life, and what I want to do most at that moment is put on my glasses, so I could see properly! I felt like I just couldn't focus properly, even though my vision was actually clear. Meanwhile, my eyes felt like they were rubbed raw. I then got taken to another room so the dr. could check them and she asks me how I find them. How the heck do I answer that? Worse, I could barely read the eye test letters on the wall across the room, which I'd been able to read clearly with my glasses. I could make them out. I could even make out the row of smaller letters on the bottom she had me looking at, though it was mostly a combination of guessing based on shape, and remembering what they were from earlier. :-P
We're finally done and heading for home, and I'm having a heck of a time. I was actually starting to feel nauseous, like vertigo or seasickness, from not being able to focus properly. I was supposed to keep them in for 4-6 hours, but I only managed 3. The crazy thing is that, with my glasses back on, I *still* feel like I can't focus properly! That and my eyes are still burning like crazy.
I'm really hoping that'll be gone by morning. I'm supposed to wear these things from 6-8 hours tomorrow, and I'm going to be out most of the day.
I'm bringing the kit and my glasses along, just in case.
Time to go to bed now and give my eyes a chance to heal!
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