The madness of King Matt

My sister and one of my 21-year-old nieces are mad at me.  I am mad at me, too, but not for the same reason. Stupid eyeballs.

About a year ago, I got new glasses. I was surprised because they were a significantly different prescription -- before that, my eyes hadn't changed in a while -- but whatever.

The glasses place warned me that the frames I picked out might not work with my eyes -- astigmatism, I think -- but I liked them so we tried them.

My eyes worked OK on their own, but they did not cooperate well. If I shut one eye, I saw fine, but I often saw two images, one with each eye.

I went back to the store and got new frames to fit me properly, and as I recall it was a better fit. Maybe not perfect, but when does someone with FA find perfection in anything body-related?

I figured I needed time to adapt to the new prescription, and anyway it was fine on a computer.

This went on for a while and didn't really get better. I began talking with Mom about seeing someone, maybe a neuro-ophthamologist back in the winter, but I was still dealing with my stupid bladder.

Mainly, though, I dragged my feet because I didn't really want someone to tell me I was going blind. (It has actually happened before -- a doctor wrote that a spot on my eye was on the wrong eye, and when he saw the same spot on the other eye he thought things were just falling apart.)  Problems with your eyes are not that odd with FA.

I kept getting adjustments on my glasses and cleaning them because both helped, but I never told the glasses place the problem.

I went to an ophthalmologist Wednesday, and he quickly noticed the problem: The prescription I got a year earlier was wrong. It was too strong in one eye.

My niece got mad at me when she learned I waited a year to deal with not being able to see.

My sister got mad the next day after learning I paid the glasses store for replacement glasses.

I didn't think it was their fault. It was the fault of the Independent Doctor of Optometry, who granted operates out of their store.

And they didn't charge me full price. For my daily glasses, I paid just $30. For my sunglasses, I paid regular price. But they'll be new frames and all.

Mostly, I am mad I was scared of going blind. And I am mad I stayed quiet. A tiny part of me is mad my sister is right.