Another thing to look forward to at 40

Presbyopia. I have been trying to get into a pair of contacts for years now. Ever since I cut my eye with my gas permeable contacts several years ago, I just cannot find a comfortable pair. I've even gone to a contact specialist at UIC, who fitted me for "hybrids." While they were not powered by a battery, and had nothing to do with saving me gas, they were supposed to be a cross between a soft and gas perm contact.

One of the problems with my eyes is that I have astigmatism, which is "an optical defect in which vision is blurred due to the inability of the optics of the eye to focus a point object into a sharp focused image on the retina." Clarity is a distinct advantage of gas perm contacts over soft. You just cannot see as clear with soft as you can with gas perm (according to the doctor and to my actual experience.). I am not a candidate for laser surgery, and gas perm contacts are way too uncomfortable. So, I have had to forget wearing any lenses except the ones that are popped into frames and placed on my ears.

Glasses suck. I've been wearing them for 30 years. I hate the way they make me look. I hate the way they feel. I hate the way I have to fish around for them in the morning when I first wake up. I'm not a fan.

Cyndi's eyes are worse than mine. She's been wearing corrective aides since she was one. She had major eye surgery over ten years ago, when she--from no fault of her own--got a "giant tear" and a detached retina. She lost nearly all of her vision in that eye, cannot drive at night, but very rarely complains. It's just part of her life. She is, however, able to wear soft contacts and correct her "good eye" to 20/20. She's now in a new contact and I am going to try it too.

I called the eye doctor office to check and see if her new lens type would work for me. After a brief explanation that "all eyes are different" (really???), I was told that since I am turning 40, I need to be aware that I may get Presbyopia: "the condition where the eye exhibits a progressively diminished ability to focus on near objects with age...first noticed between the ages of 40-50..."

To summarize: I am almost half-way to 40, I've lost 18 pounds since March 30, I am now seeing a gastrointerologist, I have an appointment to see a nephrologist, I regularly see my internist and my opthamologist, and I am supposedly in the best shape of my life. Really?