There’s something I’m really fuzzy about and can’t seem to clear up. I’m told by some very reliable sources that it is indeed a very difficult thing to visualize.
You see, I have this oddball eye ailment that can get in the way of things. You know, I can see OK for a time and then I can’t. Then I have some surgery or treatments and things look OK again, and then… etc, on-and-on, repeat.
During the not OK times I am doing rapid repeats to the ophthalmologist. Invariably it all comes down to an encounter with possibly the most boring and feared piece of diagnostic equipment ever placed in the hands of healers, the eye chart. Sure these things are feared! Get nailed by this tormentor and you can loose your driver’s license, spend a bundle of money on new glasses or lenses, or get some really bad news on why the monochrome monster beat you instead of you beating it.
I have been through the eye chart process so many times that I can pass it from a perch in a pub in some far off place like Poughkeepsie . It’s all in memory, from the towering “E” up on top to the teeny tiny “R” way at the bottom that would look like a “K” if I could see it.
For the sake of the doc’s sanity I try my best to read the letters that I know I can’t see without reciting them from memory. The temptation to score an easy 20/20 while facing away from the chart is overwhelming and would certainly be good for my ego and a joy to the NY State Department of Motor Vehicles on whose roster I would once again appear as a paying customer..
Anyway, back to the fuzzy thing. At some point the doc is refracting the old oculus and is going through the “better or worse” routine. Many, many times over. The nature of my eye ailment is such that my vision can change radically and rapidly or about as quickly as you can say “better or worse”. In the past this has caused some docs to become quite irritable and accuse me of playing games and wasting their time. But my present doc is super cool. She has a great handle on my eyes and really doesn’t need my input anyway as to better or worse. It’s perfect, automation with just a touch of human contact. A dream come true for a hardcore recluse who likes people.
Yes, the fuzzy vision thing. I don’t get it? Everyone, including my doctor on occasion and family members ask me if my vision is fuzzy. I understand blurry or blurred but not fuzzy. The large “E” on the eye chart never has hair or fur growing out of it. Kittens do, and Winnie The Pooh does, rodents, peaches, and unshaven chins qualify as fuzzy, but eye chart letters and female legs are never fuzzy. Especially female legs. Can you image telling your nearest and dearest female that her legs are “fuzzy”? You would probably never see her again.
So where is this fuzzy stuff going? I don’t know. I forgot what I was getting at. It’s all kind of fuzzy in my head. One thing is very clear though- Don’t take your eyes for granted. Take care of them. Treat them to a real eye exam every now and then. Not by the eye examiner at Freddy’s Fashion Frames but a real eye doctor who can see past the blurred fuzziness and get to the core of any potential problems.
My longest stint with extreme poor vision was five years in one shot. I thought I remembered the beauty that existed beyond the greyness but I really did not. When I stepped out of the fog I was amazed to see how vivid colors really are. How diverse and engaging facial expressions could be. Imagine being middle aged and seeing the world for the first time, again. As odd as it may sound, it was almost worth enduring the years of shadows.
The best to you all, and here’s looking at you.
