20/20

I had my first eye exam today. Actually, I had an exam when I was about 10 years old in Houston but I don't remember much about it. So this was the first eye exam I've had in 14 years. It was very interesting.

One of the main thing I remember about the first exam 14 years ago was this irritating machine that blows air into your eyes. As I sat down at the table for the exam, I wasn't sure what to expect so I wasn't prepared for that irritating machine to still be in use. We went through a few tests that used all sorts of blinding lights and pictures. I sat there quietly waiting for the next test. The technician instructed me to place my head against another machine and I obliged. Little did I know that this was the infamous air machine and the technician didn't really warn me. Well, okay, she warned me that I would feel "a little bit of air". A gust of air shot out of the machine into my eye and I fell off the chair! Mom, who was sitting in the room awaiting her turn, dissolved into laughter. She remembered that I hadn't like the air machine 14 years ago. You'd think that after 14 years they would have figured out how to test your eyes without the wind tunnel.

Anyway, the good new is that I have 20/20 vision. Which is probably why I haven't gone to the eye doctor in 14 years. The reason for my visit today was some annoying floaters (probably a result of my extended illness). This eye doctor is a really great optometrist who goes way beyond just studying the eye. He actually studies the way the eye and the brain interact. It's amazing how much they rely on each other. He was able to diagnose that my whiplash has closed my brain's visual range. So I'm undergoing some "light therapy" that entails staring at a blue/green light every night for about 20 minutes. I hope it works quickly because as interesting as the eye exam was, I don't want to go through the agony of having an air gun shoot into my eye again.