I had forgotten to get my eyes checked for the past couple years. As a diabetic I really need to get them checked every year and my physician was the one that reminded me to not only get them checked but to have the optometrist forward the exam on to him so he could add it to my medical record. My vision has actually stabilized and I'm not concerned about needing a new prescription, but my lenses ARE a bit scratched up and my sunglasses are just screwed up beyond repair. So I figured I'd get the exam, show that everything was still kosher, order up some new lenses for my Oakley Currency frames (I still love those frames and see no need to replace them) and then get a new pair of sunglasses that will hold up better.
A word about the sunglasses. I chose my last pair of sunglasses like I do most of my sunglasses. They should look good, be dark as all get out, and the frames should be light but hug my face tight. I wear them both while driving and at work. I'm not all that worried about durability as I keep them in a hard case so they're safe all the time. That is until work screwed me over. They put in a new requirement for glasses cases... they have to be soft. My current pair of sunglasses are metal but not the good memory metal... just plain 'ol easy as all hell to bend metal. Not a bad choice when I can keep them safe, but a stupid choice when I have to keep them in a soft case all the time. Over the last 9 months since I've been forced to use a soft case I've had to bend my sunglasses back into shape at least 15 times.
Thankfully, the Oakley's have held up fine. So I go into my appointment and go through the motions of the exam. I'm all ready to hear the optometrist say that my prescription hasn't changed only to hear him say that both my distance and reading prescriptions have changed.
Fuck.
He explains that with my far sighted problem that it's to be expected and that my vision still isn't 'bad' for my age. It just needs a correction and that I'll see an improvement. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I'll see an improvement, especially since I'm not even noticing a deficit... but I was only expecting to buy a pair of lenses and a pair of sunglasses. If the prescriptions have changed though, I'll also have to replace my readers. Those are the glasses I use when sitting in front of the computer. I was prepared to spend between $800 and $1000, but if I have to buy two pair and an extra set of lenses, then I'm going to have to up that by quite a bit.
And to top off the sticker shock, the sales lady notices me looking at the Oakleys and immediately tells me that my insurance won't completely cover the cost of them as my frames.
Double Fuck.
I tell her exactly what I'm going to be looking for. A new set of lenses for my current pair of Oakley Currency Frames. These will be full on bifocal lenses with all the coatings. A pair of distance only prescription sunglasses in a durable frame that's as dark as humanly possible, preferably with polarization. A pair of reading only prescription glasses in a light frame preferably with no bottom frame. Neither the sunglasses nor the readers need any of the extra coatings.
She says that it shouldn't be any problem and takes my glasses to the back to take them apart and make sure they're in good enough shape to last another year (she subtly reminds me that I should be here in a year for another exam and therefore should have them checked again at that time!). While she's doing that I start looking for frames. One durable for the sunglasses and one light for the readers.
I try my damnedest to NOT look at the Oakleys as I'd like to keep the costs down. But after sweeping their entire collection twice, I have to admit that the ones that fit the bill perfect are BOTH Oakleys.
Triple Fuck.
I mentally debate myself for a few moments. I could go with a less than perfect pair of glasses. Especially for the readers. On those, it's rare that anybody ever sees me in them. My current pair isn't bad and if I could drop new lenses in them I'd do that, but I went cheap last time and they can't do it. The frames have held up more or less okay... they've bent a bit and show a bit of corrosion. If I go that route again, it would save me a couple hundred bucks now. But at the end of the day, it's a couple hundred bucks now vs a year or more of comfort and happiness in the very pieces of durable medical equipment that lets me see. My sight and my happiness is worth the expense.
The sunglasses choice is even easier. They need to be durable enough to handle being in that damned soft case and I have an example of a pair that IS durable enough... my current pair of Oakleys. So going with a pair similar to my Currency's just makes sense.
So I head to the sales lady's desk with my two fairly expensive pair of frames and let her put it all into the computer. She sells me on the newest coating (a 'blue' coating that cuts out more of the ultra violet rays from electronic screens and helps your eyes from being strained), and I add those to my daily bifocals but don't add them to my readers. Hell, eye strain while I'm at the computer is a good way for me to justify getting up and stepping away from the computer! I wait for her to get it all int the computer and figure I'm probably up to $1500 or maybe even $1800 as I see her add all the options on and take very little off from the insurance.
She looks at what I assume is the total and hesitates. I lean back, giving her time to give me the price as well as giving me time to get ready for the price. She taps a few more keys and prints out the invoice, circles the total and hands it over.
$1083
She tells me that the insurance didn't cover all that much, so she through on all the discounts she could seeing as I've been a good customer and got it down as low as she could.
I just have to say that I absolutely love when a business thanks me for being a good customer and when I seemingly get rewarded for rewarding myself. I get the distinct impression that if I'd have chosen two cheaper frames that I'd have ended up at nearly the same price.
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As long as I'm updating on a health related subject, I should update on the root canal. It was done this past Wednesday. I've heard plenty of horror stories about root canals as well as plenty of good stories about them. I went in with the expectation of a major piece of dental work... a little discomfort but relief afterward. I can't express just how bad my mouth was hurting for the past couple weeks, and the thought of any relief was an enticing one.
Well, the procedure was somewhere in the middle. The endodontist was calm, cool, and professional. She numbed me up good and got me as comfortable as I could reasonably expect. The chair was actually even equipped with a massaging back, and the numbing agent was good... for the majority of the procedure. There was even a television positioned above me so I could be as distracted as possible.
The part that I appreciated the most was the bite guard. It's a plastic piece that sat in the back of my mouth on the opposite side she was working on that prevented my mouth from closing. It actually let me flex my jaw while she worked without any worry of moving my tooth while she drilled away. And drill away she did. She had a HUGE magnifying device that she was looking through, but I could hear the drill and feel it's vibration the entire time.
I mentioned that the numbing agent worked for the majority of the procedure. Well, near the end it seemed to have not gone in enough. That last 1/4 or 1/5 of the drilling was about the worst pain I've ever experienced. During dental procedures I clasp my hands over my belly so I can grip my own fingers during any times of pain or discomfort without visibly worrying the dentist or dental hygienist. Well, I think I was close to breaking my own fingers. And my hands. But once she was done.... the pain was just gone. I know how it works... the nerve ending that sends the pain signal was literally drilled away, so there was no signal to send. But wow... it was just GONE!
The smoke coming from my mouth while she added the filling was worrying, but again with the pain gone I really just didn't care.
My jaw DID hurt afterward but it was from her gripping it and me bearing down on the bite guard. There's still a touch of swelling and it hurts just a bit when I eat... but that's it. The pain I've been experiencing for going on three weeks now is gone. I can think, I can experience all the other minor aches and pains, I can experience a LACK of pain. It's pure Bliss!
The next dental step is to get the temporary filling taken out and replaced. Thankfully she didn't damage the crown beyond the hole for her work, so I shouldn't have to have it replaced. After that's done, I'll have to have the crown done that was scheduled long before this problem came up, and then I think I"m scheduled for my dental cleaning in August. I'm probably over my insurance limit, so I might be waiting for my crown... but I'll talk to them next week when I schedule the filling.
And one last little health update, I up my topamax again tonight. 75mg a night now. At this point it has changed the texture of my migraines, but hasn't reduced the intensity or the frequency of them. It did shorten the length of the two migraines I've had on them (from the recent average of 40 hours to an average of 24 hours each), but I'm also experiencing a difficulty in remembering formal nouns. Names, drugs, places... stuff like that. Things that I shoudl easily remember take longer to recall, and things I don't know take a very long time to comitt to memory and some i'm not able to comit to memory. Like endodontist... I can't remember that specialty. It' something I've talked about quite a bit and written about several times, but I can't seem to commit the name to memory. And I"m a fucking nurse... I need to remember specialty names and relay them to my patients. So if I don't get a major improvement in the migraines and keep this side effect, I'll have to come off the topamax.
2 weeks at 75 mg, then I'll go up to the final does of 100 mg. Then I'll see the neurologist in June.
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