A New Pair of Eyes?

What was the distance between Tunney's Pasture and Westboro Station, along the transitway? Was it 400 metres? A half-kilometre?

I'm talking pre-LRT. I'm thinking about 2001, when DW was at home, on parental leave, when Kid 1 was a newborn. Twenty-one years ago, I used to take the bus to and from work because DW needed our vehicle and we only had one at the time.

In 2001, I worked at Corel Corportation, on Carling Avenue. In the mornings, I would take the bus from Fallowfield Station, in Barrhaven, and would get a good connection so that I could transfer to a bus that would take me right to the office.

In the afternoon, my connections wouldn't be that great and I'd often find myself on a crowded bus, especially the one to which I'd transfer, at Lincoln Fields. But I discovered that if I walked down Churchill Avenue to Westboro Station, I'd be able to get on an express bus that would take me all the way to my neighbourhood (Fallowfield Station, at the time, was the terminus for buses coming from downtown, except for express buses, which continued through my suburban community).

While I waited at Westboro Station for my bus—the 73—I liked to look down the transitway corridor toward Tunney's Pasture, from where the 73 would emerge. The distance, I guessed, was a half of a kilometre away.

But what I would also do, especially if there were other riders waiting at the stop, was to call out the number of the approaching bus as soon as I saw it emerge from a slight bend in the road, just after leaving the previous station. These buses were easily 400 metres away.

The other riders who heard me call out the approaching bus numbers would look at me with amazement. The numbers from that distance were very small, indeed.

"How can you read that?" one would ask.

"That's incredible!" remarked another.

In my 20s, I had my eyes tested and it was estimated that I had 70/20 vision. That is, what some could only read at 20 feet, I could read at 70. I also had very good night vision and to this day, I rarely turn on lights in a darkened room because I can make my way around quite well.

When I reached 40, my eyes started giving me trouble. When I read a book, I would find that I would hold it farther and farther from my face and I would need more light to clearly see the words. When it got to a point that my arms would be fully outstretched to read, I knew it was time for another eye exam.

It was determined that I had become far-sighted and that I would need glasses to read. But my right eye, which is my dominant one, was weaker than my left, and so I needed a different magnification for each eye.

But my eyes were still changing and I found that over the years that followed my first prescription, I was once again holding my books farther and farther away.

Being the lazy and cheap person that I typically am, I didn't want to take another eye test and fork out more money for new glasses, and so I picked up a set of reading glasses from the grocery store that corrected for my dominant eye. The other eye would just have to adjust.

More years went by and more changes caused me to buy stronger and stronger reading glasses. I also required different magnifications, based on whether I was reading a book, looking at my smartphone, or working at my computer.

I have reading glasses all over the house and in the car.

I think that over the pandemic, with me working from home, I spend more time in front of a computer screen. All of my meetings are now virtual, so I don't give my eyes a break from the monitors. Sometimes, when I finish work, I stay in front of my computer, choosing to write a blog post from where I'm sitting, rather than wait until later and work from my personal machine.

I watch more TV because I don't go out as often as I used to and I always have the television going when I work out on my spin bike.

As a result of the increased screen time, I find that I have headaches more frequently and I get incredibly tired, fighting most afternoons to keep my eyes open as I continue to do my job. Almost every day, I have to take 30 minutes to lay down and close my eyes, to get away from any and all screens.

I miss my old eyes.

Last week, for the first time in at least 15 years, I went to an optometrist and had my eyes tested. But I explained that I didn't just want the bandage solution of prescription glasses: I want a permanent solution.

The optometrist referred me to an eye clinic, where we could discuss laser eye surgery or even lens replacement surgery. Surprisingly, I was contacted by the clinic the very next day and, the day after that, was in the office, talking to a specialist.

I learned that laser eye surgery is performed on the cornea, where lasers reshape the cornea to better-direct the light before it passes through the lens. This procedure takes about 15 minutes, per eye, and after about 72 hours and a follow-up appointment, I'd be good to go.

I would need to have each eye set up for different focal lengths: one, for seeing things up close; the other, for distance. It takes about three weeks for the brain to adjust to focusing one eye for a specific function, but I've been told that my eyes have already been doing that for years.

Unfortunately, laser eye surgery is rarely permanent and I may find myself requiring glasses down the road or another procedure.

The other procedure involves replacing the lens itself with an artificial one. The lens would be designed so that I could see at all distances from the one eye. Because of my eyes differing, each lens would be specifically corrected. It would be like having a new pair of eyes.

Of course, my vision wouldn't be as good as it was before my 40s but I would never need prescription glasses again and I would never require cataract surgery.

But this option costs twice the price of laser eye surgery and I tried to curb my shock when I saw the price tag.

So now I'm reading up on both and I have a lot to think about. And I'm very interested to get feedback from any of you who have had corrective eye surgery.

Have you had laser eye surgery (intralase SBK)? Lens-replacement surgery (Refractive Lens Exchange)? Both?

I'm looking to hear about your experiences—good and bad. Please leave me a comment, below, and talk me into or out of one procedure or the other, or both/neither.

I'm not looking to read from half a kilometre away. But it would be nice to never put glasses on my face again.

Not a good look for me.

Happy Monday!

(BTW: today marks the 2,500th published post on The Brown Knowser! I love milestones!)