Three Hours to Go

This may be my last message if things don't go well. Laser eye surgery in three hours.

I wasn't nervous yesterday, but I am a bit now. After all, you keep hearing that you aren't supposed to point laser pointers and similar devices into peoples eyes and here I go paying a large amount of money to have someone do that for me.

The real worry is the post-op stuff. It sounds like I need to get at least four different kinds of eye drops, one of which I need to use every fifteen minutes for the first week. Which will suck.

I am glad I am getting this done though. Barring the week of "discomfort" (which can be anything from dry, itchy sensations to searing, blinding pain) I think it's well worth it.

I've been wearing glasses since I was twelve, which means after twenty-six years, I'll be free. After getting my first pair, my father said, and I quote "If you break those I'll kill you". And ever since then spectacles have been an annoying part of my life.

Socially, well, nowadays there's a certain acceptance of specs, but in the seventies and eighties, if you wore glasses you were a geek/nerd/spaz/loser. Okay I am a geek but now I wonder if wearing glasses was a major contributor to that. When you have specs, physical activity of any kind is petty restricted so the only real alternative is pursuing more cerebral activities.

And glasses just ain't sexy.

About ten years ago I started wearing contacts, which I fully admit is a vanity thing. You can actually do something more physical with them on (skiing etc) but the level of maintenance required is considerable. And of course once in a while they decide to jump out of your head, which causes all kinds of trouble.

So after all is said and done (and dropped) the cost of the procedure is what I spend in about five years, and the folks at the clinic said at my current rate I won't need glasses again for about twenty years. Add to that miracle of waking up every morning and not having to fumble around for specs or go through the ritual of trying to get the damn things in. Add to that, I can do stuff, travel and generally walk around without having to worry about breakage, loss or the pure social outcast aspect and it's well worth it.

I know, I'm trying to convince myself here. But those who have been saddled with required eye-ware know what I am talking about. Those with 20/20 vision have no idea, no idea how much having to wear these things affects you.

So I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe.