Dilated

August 3, 2020

I went to the eye doctor last week to get a checkup.  I had my temperature taken when I entered the locked door.  She got a puzzled look and took it again.  Then she said, “That cannot be right.  It is way too low.”  I told her my forehead was wet from the rain.  She took it again, shrugged and wrote it down (96.6).  I answered all the (now) normal questions and sat down to wait.  The assistant came over and led me into a room where she asked the same set of questions again and had me sign waivers.  She explained that part of my procedure would require me to have my eyes dilated.  I agreed, signed another waiver, and then went through the preliminary exam.

When I was in Berkeley, I got an eye infection and had to switch from contacts to glasses for a while.  I have never liked glasses since being told I needed them in Junior High.  Somehow this pair became “lost” and I never had them replaced.   Now I had no choice.  I had my eyes dilated as part of the exam.  After the exam was over, they told me I could select my new frames from any of the ones hanging on the wall.  I looked them over and selected a pair I could live with.  When I looked at the price, I could not read it because of the dilation.  I choose several pair, just to be safe.  It turns out every pair I selected were from the expensive section.  When they showed me the cheap ones, I ended up buying the pair I liked.

The doctor told me I was fine and just in a normal aging process.  I told the assistant I did not need the paper sunglasses she offered as I had my pair in the car.  She gave them to me anyway.  I purposefully left them in the exam room, but she brought them out saying I had “forgotten” them.  After settling the bill, I said they could keep their sunglasses.  They were skeptical but did not argue.  As I went out the door I was told if I had trouble getting to the car to let them know.  When I walked outside the sun was shining brightly and it nearly knocked me down.  I squinted my eyes near closed and wobbled my way to the car.  I donned my glasses and finally found some relief.  Maybe I should have paid attention.

THOUGHTS:  As we struggle through the pandemic we have been told (and shown) what it takes to get back to some semblance of normal.  Many are taking the attitude that I took toward my dilation.  We hear the warnings but seem to think those are for other people and not for me. After all, how bad can it be?  I found out it can literally be blinding as I struggled to get to the car.  America has found out it can be 4.6 million cases and 154,000 deaths.  Perhaps they are called experts for a reason.  Change is coming and it starts with you.