Appointments

I think I mentioned having an orthopedic and optometry appointment coming up in my last entry. Those dates have come and gone and there is some info that is newsworthy. My orthopedic appointment was supposed to be on the 30th, but I ended up being scheduled for a mission, so it was moved to the 6th, and now as it turns out I have funeral detail on the 6th (three funerals to do) so it's been moved again to the 20th. So sometimes no news is good news, but unfortunately I still have to wait to find any sort of prognosis for my knee.

I did have my optometry appointment on the 31st and it went well. They did about every test I've ever seen before on my eyes, very thorough. They have to measure the lens and eye shape and a few other things. Additionally you have to have an exam that's a year old to compare with a current one. I just happened to go to optometry in Iraq on the first of April so it was perfect. He then gave me a full eye exam on the 31st to compare. This doctor was good. He not only understood the troubles of a lazy eye he was impressed with the control I have over mine. I guess most people who suffer from a lazy eye have no control over when or how much that eye will drift. As some of you have seen I can move my left eye pretty much independently of my right eye. Also he said the extent to which my eye drifts in is pretty severe which added to how hard it is for me to control it. He spent about an hour on my eyes, different combinations of lenses, eye drops, filters, everything, and we came up with a solution I'm excited about. He's adding a good deal of prism to my lenses. The prism moves the image that my left eye sees to align it with my right eye, so both eyes are working together. I'm also getting two pairs of glasses; the army only allows one frame to be "wearer's choice" i.e. normal looking glasses, and the other set has to be the standard ugly Army issue frames. What's noteworthy about the two sets is I'm going to get the set of frames that looks normal in a mono-focal and the ugly Army issue frames in the bi-focal. I've often found that when I'm driving, for example, that if I need to look down to check a gauge, like my speed, that I have to move my whole head to avoid trying to see through my bi-focal lens. So I'm going to get the mono-focal set tinted ($10 at the PX) and use it for any time when I'm allowed to wear sunglasses. Formations and other formal times I'll have to wear the ugly frames since they won't be tinted but I'm going to look into having the lenses cut at the optical shop in the PX as well to see if they'll fit in my old frames.

No as far as the PRK (lasik), all the tests have been completed but they have to be submitted to the optical clinic at Ft. Hood for review since that is where the procedure is performed. Even if they approve me based on what they see from these tests there are a few more tests that can only be done at Ft. Hood, so even if I get sent to Ft. Hood I still may be denied the procedure. If that happens it really won't bother me, I've been wearing glasses since something like Kindergarten and as you can imagine I've gotten used to them.

I'll try to keep this blog updated more often now that I'm home. Work has kept me busy during the weekdays but I usually have weekends pretty free.