Losing sight of the objective
A couple of years ago I got caught up in a bit of a tangle.
It started when I booked a home visit for the opticians to test Herself. While they were there, sure they might as well do me too? They did. They found a problem, and that’s when the fun started.
The problem they found was that I had dangerously high pressure in my eyes. They weren’t equipped to deal with that so I was banged off to the ophthalmologists who do everything up to and including eye surgery.
So for the last couple of years I have had regular trips to the ophthalmologists who flash lights in my eyes and poke bits of glass or something into them. Uncomfortable, but the pain lies in accessing the place as it’s up in Dublin. The one thing I do like is that they are in an area that’s notorious for parking but their little corner seems to always be car-free [as in lack of cars; it’s still fucking expensive].
The ophthalmologists have fixed my pressure problem and it has been fine for a while. However I have noticed that things are getting somewhat blurry and I need a change of lens. But the ophthalmologists don’t do prescriptions for lenses or anything like that so I have to go to the opticians. My eyes are fixed but my sight is crap if you follow my drift.
I phoned the opticians to make an appointment. A nice young man asked if I had a Medical Card and I replied with a nod. Grand says he, just drop by and we’ll give you a form to fill which you can post to the HSE and they will send you a letter. Fuck that! The opticians is in Skobieville and the thought of going there just to fill out a form gave me the horrors. Could they give me a free test as I’m over sixty five? No. Apparently they dropped that little gimmick a while ago. He took pity on me and filled out the form for me over the phone and he promised to post it. Decent chap.
This morning I got a letter. Great, thinks I, it’s from the HSE and I can make my appointment with the optician. But it wasn’t. It was from the ophthalmologists reminding me that I have an appointment this week [for a Humphrey visual field test?]. Fine and dandy but the fuckers have moved to a completely different area of a vast industrial estate. They sent me a page full of badly photocopied images showing me how to get there. Unfortunately none of the images are from a driver’s view point so they are pretty much useless. It didn’t seem to occur to them to send a map which would have been simple to understand.
I’m still waiting on the letter from the HSE.
But I suppose they are too busy running from the Virus.
Or transcribing my letter into Braille?
In a similar vein to sending an indistinct image to someone with dodgy eyesight, Mrs M is currently suffering significant hearing problems, all the NHS GP Surgery has offered is a telephone consultation . . . . . . You couldn't make it up.
And the lazy, obese, good-for-nothing, clap-recipients even want a pay rise!
Do you not realise that what you are saying is National Heresy? People have been hung drawn and quartered for less.
My own lady and I have this hearing/seeing/getting old thing down pretty good. I can't hear well but I can see okay with the help of bi-focals while she can't see so well but has the hearing of a newborn babe (rotten woman). And since we can't guarantee departure from this life at the same time we've have decided to just live forever.
Would laser surgery fix you sight problem? Just wondering.
Laser wouldn't work on the pressure thing [but that's sorted now anyway] but would work on the eyesight. However there are two reasons I wouldn't go for it. It is damned expensive and only really worth it if I were a youngun, and I have been wearing glasses for the last 66 years or so and would feel very strange without them. It would be like dressing without putting on my trousers.