My poor eyes.  Today I went to the eye doctor (optometrist? ophthalmologist? I don’t know) for the first time in a few years.  I had never gotten numbed or dilated before, and both were some of the weirdest feelings ever.  At least the numbing wore off in a few minutes; it’s disconcerting to be able to poke your eye and not feel it (yes, I tried.  Repeatedly).  I’m still getting over the dilation.  Now I know what it must be like to be far sighted.  As I waited for the dilating drops to work, I read Entertainment Weekly (hey, it was that or Yachting Magazine), and with every passing minute I had to move it further from my face, til I was reading half-heartedly about Kate Winslet with my arms fully extended.

The drive home was even more fun.  I didn’t want to put my contacts back in, with all the crap that had just been in my eyes, so I put on my three-prescriptions-ago glasses.  Attractively layered over that were the sunglasses that I’m glad as hell to have brought.  You know how bright light can make you sneeze?  Yeah.  I was a sneezing, squinting machine all the way home.  I hate sneezing while driving.  But the office is less than a mile from my house, so I didn’t feel horrendously unsafe.

My giant pupils looked really creepy.  I tried to take a picture, but they aren’t as dramatic here and I just look cross-eyed (I swear I’m not).

My eye doctor looked like an Indian Dr. Troy.  And had a hot British accent.  And there was very little FA talk.  Whenever I go to a new doctor, there’s a worry that he or she might just ask me lots about FA and not the actual issue I’m there for.  This has really only happened once, but it’s made me wary of the possibility.  That’s why I drive all the way out to Ft. Washington to see my physician who barely even mentions ataxia.  There’s not really any need for us to discuss it; my neurologist takes care of anything even remotely related to FA, or refers me to someone who can.  Hot Eye Doctor just said “Oh, I remember that,” which I get a lot from doctors- I guess I remind them of some brief mention one day back in med school.