Monday, September 3, 2012

"It's Like You Have a Superpower."

I pretty much have a new superpower. 
Really. 
Mr. Spots says so.
I CAN SEE!

After putting it off for far too long, I went to the eye doctor on Saturday. Mr. Spots joined me on this little journey, and boy, it's a good thing. First of all, my vision has decreased...a lot. I don't think either of us realized just how bad it has become until the eye doc said, "You have glasses you wear to drive?" I replied, "Yes, I use them at night." He responded, "Please wear them."

The entire visit was quite interesting. He began the appointment by asking if I have any serious health conditions. I responded with no. I guess I thought he meant did I have any serious eye conditions. After a brief hesitation, I said, "Well, I have stage III melanoma." He said, "That's serious." Through conversation we learned that he has been battling cancer himself for 7 years. What started as prostate cancer has now spread to his bones. His first oncologist gave him 18 months to live. Not happy with that statistic, he traveled to see another doctor, "a cowboy." He's still here. (Point--GET A SECOND OPINION!)

After failing yet another vision test, the optometrist said, "Please never drive without glasses again." I told him, "It used to not be this bad." He quickly responded, "You also have never been this age before." Ha. Valid point, Doc.

Because melanoma is sometimes found in the eyes, and the possibility that Yervoy can cause inflammation of the eyes, he (begged) asked if I would mind if he dilated my eyes. Never having experienced this before, I quickly said sure. Man, I had no clue what I was getting myself into! He totally warned me that it would be an odd experience, and that I would heavily depend on my sunglasses and Mr. Spots for a few hours. He was right. Mr. Spots fully enjoyed giggling at me. (But he didn't let me walk into anything, so if he got some enjoyment out of it, that's OK with me. I was grateful for the dude.) Afterwards, we went home and I turned off every light in the apartment besides the TV. I had a headache from hell. Reminder, do not schedule that appointment if you have plans that day.

Because, in typical Chelsea & Mr. Spots fashion, we are ridiculous, we decided to have some fun while trying to pick the right frames.

Channeling my inner Janine from Ghostbusters.)
 
Harry Potter-ish 
 I think Mr. Spots was going for the Tom Cruise look?

What I actually decided on:


And now I keep singing, "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!"
After insurance, these came to a grand total of $286.
 
 This is my lazy Monday look.
Hey, I didn't have to work today. 
Why do my hair?!
 
I have enjoyed being able to see so much--and I have noticed how dangerous I have been--I went back and dropped more money on a pair of Rx sunglasses! It was going to be $265 to add lenses to my Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses which seemed a bit much to me, so I ended up getting a new pair of Ralph Lauren frames with polarized lenses for $208. (Pictures to come.) I was very thankful that my insurance also has Blue Vision included and it saved me a grand total of $383. Yay, insurance!
 
And yes, I have been super annoying by pointing out and reading every little thing that I used to not be able to see. Let me tell you, people watching is even more fun when you can actually see people from across the bar. Ha! 

How are you all spending your Labor Day? No matter what you are doing, I hope your with your loved ones! 
 
 
PS--did you see the PSA featuring Ryan Reynolds? I shared a link to it in my previous blog post!

6 comments:

Jennifer Childress Martin said...

What, there is a Ryan Reynolds PSA???

So glad you can see now! It will be nice to see at your new job and when you do your speech! Well, I guess it will be pretty nice to see period ;)

Nichole Koch said...

LOVE the new glasses!!! My daughter got glasses when she was 3 and began pointing out all kinds of things she couldn't see before, we had no idea how BAD her vision was.

Titus 2 Thandi said...

LOL! As someone who's terribly short-sighted, the joy of being able to SEE is amazing.

Chelsea said...

It really has been nice to be able to see. I honestly cannot explain how AWESOME it actually is.

Chelsea said...

ryan is fabulous, isn't he?

Erin said...

Love the new glasses!! They look great on you. Your eye doctor sounds like my last one. The doc was very frightening though & made me get a test to see if I was going blind. Super scary! Dilations surely aren't a joke either- the last one I had I saw red for a while. Hope your vision is better today other then the glasses!