DATELINE: on the kitchen island in Indy, 30 Oct 2006

When I had to drive home from Oak Ridge last Thursday in a one-way rental (flights canceled, so that's how my big China trip wound down), my night-time fatigue double vision (why I wear prisms on my glasses) got so bad I had to drive with one eye shut the whole way from Louisville.

That's about as scary as I care to drive.

So the next day I went to the eye doc's to pick up my glasses and the distance ones felt okay, but they struck me as being as weak as my current distance glasses (I actually still see close to 20/20, it's the misalignment of my eyes that haunts me as I get older, as my left eye is substantially higher, thus my distinctive head tilt). Meanwhile, the reading glasses totally freaked me out, because when I put them on, everything went super double vision. I simply couldn't believe the prescription was right, but it was the heavy prism correction I was promised, so I was confused.

Right on the spot I get a follow-on second appointment with the shop's owner (I had seen the other eye doc the previous time) to check me out a second time.

So today I went and had the prism confirmed on the reading glasses, to my amazement. The problem with the distance ones was that I needed the same strong prism correction there but didn't get them (how they got that confused, I don't know, because it makes sense you need the same alignment correction whether you're talking up close or distant).

Still, I was a bit taken aback, as that meant I somehow had to get used to these glasses that seemed to make my world go crazy visually.

Well, first thing we corrected the panoramic position of the lens so I looked through the middle of the lens (the usual correction for head shape), and then I wore the glasses for about 5 minutes. I was told this correction would take time to get used to at first, because I'd been self-correcting through eye strain for so long that I'd naturally fight having that done by the glasses themselves.

So I waited the five minutes, and amazingly, my close-up vision became incredibly clearer than it's ever been--stunning really.

The problem then becomes, what happens when I take my reading glasses off? Well, I'll need to put my distance glasses on, or relearn to squeeze my head like crazy to do the re-alignment physically myself.

In other words, the more I wear the stronger prisms for both distance and close, the more dependent on them I'll be, meaning the more I'll need to wear my glasses period, which, quite frankly, I don't do that much now (just for movies, driving, intense bouts of reading).

A sign of aging, for sure, but a bit intimidating to feel the dependency grow.

Still, wearing my reading glasses now is really quite stunning in terms of how different my head feels. I no longer have to squeeze it so to make everything focus. I can relax my skull all I want, including my usually aching right eye (I suspect much of my perceived sinus pain of the past decade or so was really eye strain). It's quite liberating really, but it also means I'll inevitably end up briefing and appearing places with glasses on, which will be weird, because most people don't know I wear glasses.

But the trade-off is just too good to turn down. I'll simply get addicted to the lack of strain and pain, plus I have new super-light distance glasses which don't even feel like you're wearing anything, so that will help with my usual disdain for them.

Still, humbling to join the ranks of those who basically see a very fuzzy world without glasses.

Then again, better to have lived long enough to suffer this problem.