Fri, 03 Nov 06
So, I've known for a while that I need bifocals. I already have to have computer glasses (mid-range), and for a while I could get by with just taking off my glasses to read, but it's getting to where it's not really workable any more. I really need the bifocals. I mean, I can't read my watch, for heaven's sake, it's absurd.
I went to the eyeglass place that I've been going to for years and said I wanted bifocals. They got out my history and it seems I haven't had an eye exam since 2005 (I thought I'd had one more recently). As it happened, the eye doctor on the premises was free so I got a checkup on the spot (and it was bulk billed so I didn't pay anything out of pocket), and then went on to the fun task of picking new frames.
Finally settled on some, and they were in the least expensive range of price, amazingly. I say "amazingly" because I have a knack for usually picking the most expensive item in any given collection. It's a talent of mine. Not that the frames I chose were inexpensive, mind you, they were just the least expensive of the ones I'd picked that worked well for me.
Then I had to get my eyes measured for the bifocals, and then.... the price.... Yikes.
We do have private health insurance that covers optometry, so that's good, and they kick in $250 per calender year (so I tend to get new glasses frequently; next year I'll get new computer glasses, I think, as these are starting to show a fair bit of wear). Until now, that $250 per person has been enough to pay for the complete cost or nearly the complete cost of new glasses.
Except that bifocals are bloody expensive, it turns out. Yikes. Well over $500 for the new glasses, even with the less expensive frames. Like I said, $250 of that was covered, but I had to cover the rest, myself.
The good thing is, I'll be able to see again, and that's very comforting. It sucks not to be able to read music while singing (I don't think I've mentioned it, but I'm singing in a choir now, just for the Christmas programme at the church where my mother-in-law is choir director; she needed more altos), and I'd really like to be able to read my watch without taking off my glasses...
So that's my big exciting day. Whee. Who says I have no life?
Yes they are bloody expensive. And HARD to get used to.
You'll need to learn to tip your head just right depening on which field of vison you are needing to see through.
For me sitting in front of the screen took a lot of practice, and I'm still not used to tipping my head just right to see through the camera lens.
But all in all it worth it to be able to see and read! I'm due to go back to my opthamologist in December and I dread what it's going to do to the bank account! (We have no insurance...it's all out of pocket)