Paint the UK Pink

Thursday 5 September 2013

Not what I was expecting..

I haven't written a blog entry in a few weeks as I have had a bit of a problem. My sight has been a bit "off" to say the least. 

I first noticed it about 4 weeks ago, so after a couple of weeks I booked an optician's appointment. I didn't do it sooner as I had taken quite a tumble with one of my epileptic seizures and that has in the past knocked me out and my sight has been a bit fuzzy for a few days after. Naughty for not getting it checked up straight away, I know, but when you can have up to 60 seizures a week, you tend not to dwell on the small things. 

My eyesight was a bit fuzzy and I noticed that things seemed to be in "soft focus", almost like an Instagram or Snapseed filter. 2 weeks ago I started getting a bit of cloudiness in my peripheral vision too. 

I didn't think too much of this as I had already made my appointment and it was for yesterday. I have glasses for reading and working on the computer but noticed that they weren't doing a thing last week, again not too concerned as I had my appointment coming up. 

So, yesterday I went to see my Optician (a fantastic man called Dr Corlett who has been looking after my eyes since my teens, I am now in my 30's). 

He has recently had a total refurb at his clinic with lots of fancy new machinery so I was quite looking forwards to seeing (no pun intended!) what he would be using on me, especially as he trained in Dallas, TX and had recently been away to buy more specialist equipment. 

I have astigmatism in both eyes (bit of info here) and have been long sighted for as long as I can remember so thought it was just a case of a bit of ageing and a bang on the head taking a while to sort itself out. 

I had the usual chart test, the test when they blow air on your eyeball (whoever thought that one up is not my favourite person!), and then the test which checks for the "tilt" (measured in something called diopters - you learn something new everyday!) in my vision. All standard stuff that I am used to. 

Then we had the "look into the light" bit of the proceedings which was when I mentioned to him that I had been finding things a bit brighter than normal. I am so glad I said this as he brought out another arsenal of tests too. I have no idea what most of them were for, but I do have a snazzy pic of the back of both of my eyeballs now! Ohh, and the dilating drops that make me look like I have had my nose near naughty things too! 

Test over and my ever so lovely Dr Corlett looked at me quite gravely. He is referring me to the specialist at our hospital as....... (drumroll please)......... bilateral cataracts. 

Were you expecting that? No, me neither. I am in my 30's and thought cataracts happened to old people. I guess I am old people! Joking aside, they are rapid onset cataracts and my right eye is going pretty quickly. 

Apparently my eyesight is going to deteriorate quite quickly and I am going to have to wear glasses permanently until I have them removed. The cataracts that is, not my eyes. 

I am going to have my eyesight tested monthly from here on in and can expect to have to need a new prescription each time which is a pain in the backside to say the least! 

As I live in the Isle of Man, we do have an NHS but it works a little differently. As I now have the cataracts I can get free glasses (the dreaded NHS ones) each time. One drawback is the choice. Limited is an understatement! I also need a tint to stop the glare too which the NHS don't provide until I have seen my specialist (current waiting time of 4 months). All the NHS glasses have really small lenses which is a real pain as I need something that covers most of the eye (literally think sunglasses size). I found the biggest ones I could and have ordered them, in plastic tortoiseshell, because I could! 

To get a pair of glasses made up that I actually liked would have cost me over £200 which is quite a depressing thought considering £80 of that was on lens additions. 

Needless to say, I was just a tiny bit upset so I came home and had a look online. Well, talk about a moment of clarity. I remembered a website that I had used ages ago to get some prescription sunglasses (they were fantastic though alas the glasses are now defunct!) but for the life of me couldn't remember the site name. 

Google could though! Please welcome Glasses Direct. The company was only in its infancy when I bought off them last so I was pleased to see them online and going great. Considering that I had just found out that I have been diagnosed with bilateral cataracts, I wanted to email them to see if they would do my glasses. No, no email - they could do one better and you can now call them and speak to a real life optician! I rang them and absolutely not a problem. The lady I spoke to even helped me put my prescription details in the website too which was great. 

I found a pair (with my husband's help) that I liked and would fit my face so I am just about to order them now. I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind yesterday but am ready for it now. All in for just over £40 which is fantastic considering it has the filter and everything I need. If my prescription changes every month or so, I can cope with that for sure. 

I am not going to bother with sunglasses as we are just going into Autumn but they do them too (which is how I knew about them before). If any of you lovely ladies or gents reading this wear glasses and fancy a "second pair" or some sunglasses, I know this is the place to go to. 

I know for now that my eyesight is only going one place and that is backwards, but I am going to do it in style, that is for sure. 

A HUGE downside is that my perception of colour is not great at the moment but I have recently bought some goodies that I will be sharing with you when I can actually see them, lol! 

Anyone late for an eye check? Make that appointment today, please. If there is anything wrong, the sooner it is found the better. 

Much love to you all

Fi xoxox 

2 comments:

  1. Oh, too bad... I hope you get them removed soon. The cataracts, not the eyes :-D

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    1. Aww, thank you - fingers crossed that I will. Everything is a bit fuzzy with a "halo" round it (and now I have typed halo I can't get the Beyonce song out of my head!). My eyes are really sore but my daughter is going to help me photograph some more stuff for blogs soon

      xoxox

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