Eye Doctor

I managed to finagle a long overdue eye appointment for this afternoon when I called yesterday morning. I was freaked out because I thought my right eye was getting blurry and my eyes were feeling tired. I had been trying to check my vision by closing one eye while looking out the other. Turns out, this is not how one checks their vision. Apparently, closing one eye can change the shape of your other eye and temporarily change the vision of that open eye which is why it's my left eye that's gotten worse not my right eye as I had self diagnosed. I was unconvinced that there was nothing significantly wrong with my eyesight and kept peppering the doctor, whom I had just met, with questions like

Q: Am I getting close to being legally blind?
A: No, blindness is measured by how well you see with glasses, you're very far off.

Q: Is a 10 degree rotation in my astigmatism alarming?
A: No, it happens all the time to almost everyone.

Q: How many spots would I see if I had a detached retina? One spot?
A: Not just one, a shower of spots.

Q: Will I be able to walk home once my eyes are dilated?
A: Most patients have no problem....haven't you had them dilated before?

Q: Why are my eyes aging, I'm only twenty eight? Is it the sun?
A: No, aging occurs in all ages, even 18 year olds and I've even seen it in 8 year olds?

Finally, he politely put an end to my questions with "I do this all day and there's nothing to worry about" and "why don't you do some research on the Internet, it'll be more informative than any explanation I could give you at this moment." On the way out, I asked when my next check up would be. I was internally freaked out when he said, "in two years," but then he changed his mind and said he would do another glaucoma test in a year. Woohoo! I have a feeling he was happy to get rid of me, but one has to understand that as a kid my vision deteriorated so quickly, I'd have to go every six months for a checkup so I'm perpetually convinced that I'll go blind spontaneously. I guess I should revel in my relatively good eye health rather than trying to conjure up reasons to be alarmed.