Scratching the Surface

One of my doctor's appointments was with the Eye Doctor. That happened yesterday afternoon late. I've been very concerned as my sight seemed - even wearing my prescription glasses... especially when wearing my prescription glasses - to be diminishing at a very rapid rate. I had mentioned this to other doctors who had reacted with cautious alarm. After all, Cimzia is an anti-TNF medication. Permanent eye sight loss is a risk when taking it.

So upon arrival, the usual protocol ensues. The nurse (or whatever she is) came into the room and had me read the eye chart with my glasses on. I couldn't see it! This, of course, confirmed my worst fears. Yes, she admitted, there is a sharp decrease in function since last year. She'll call Dr. Katzin in now to see me.

Dr. Katzin is a very nice man with whom I barely have a relationship. My eyes, fortunately, have not been much of a problem other than standard middle-aged deterioration, so I'm on a once-a-year rotation with him and this was only my second visit ever.

So he comes in and has me put my head into the usual device. "Read the letters. Is the image sharper with this lens or with that? With this one or with that one?" i answered the questions dutifully, and soon he pronounced that my eyes had not changed much at all over the last year. "Very good!" he said.

"But I can't see!" I replied. What about the fact that I can't see much of anything even when wearing my glasses. And he admitted that there was a sharp delineation between the results of his test and that of what his nurse had recorded. "Let me see your glasses" he replied.

He put them under some kind of microscope and peered into it. And then turned to me in surprise. "These glasses are more scratched up than any pair I've ever seen in my career!" he exclaimed. "What on earth have you been doing to them? No wonder you can't see!!!!"

I just shrugged. "I'm kind of hard on stuff."

And so the mystery of my dimming eyesight was solved. After I was dismissed, which was quickly, although not until I had the standard dilation, I went across the street to "Cedars View Optics" and ordered new glasses.