What I'm thankful for in 2009

Are my eyes.

My eyes are nearsighted — even with contact lenses on they could see only as clearly as a 40/50 ratio (on whatever scale measures them) AND with constant lurking floaters at that. They are demanding — they consume two bottles of Systane monthly. That keeps them moisturized and fresh. I don’t even use lotion on my skin. My skin is jealous of my eyes. Which is why I try to stay away from the beach and what they call summer heat as much as possible. AND they are wandering eyes. Both them. Like they have ADD or something. Sometimes they could not focus on one object for a long time and sometimes the opposite happens — they just stare for non-voyeuristic purposes. Good observers these eyes are but picky ones if you know what I mean.

If you know what I mean you’d realize by now they are not perfect, my eyes, BUT they are primarily the reason I quit Prozac and Zyprexa and sleeping pills all at the same time.

First months of this year, I was experiencing muscle pains, neck pains, extreme head aches, lightheadedness, and lacked focus. This is not the state you want to be in when you are in university especially when you just enrolled yourself to another field of study entirely different from your first course. I was legally prescribed the earlier mentioned pharmaceuticals way before my initial complaints were cleared up. Something was wrong.

I undergone laboratory tests and therapies to know what this wrong was. The coolest of which were the EEG where my skull and brain was examined by reflected ultrasonic waves (Oxford Dictionary, 2006) and an ink for my eyes that made them tear up yellow fluid. I consulted a neurologist, dermatologist (!), psychiatrist, pain management doctor, dentist, cardiologist, metabolism doctor, ENT doctor and finally, an opthalmologist.

The results of exams conducted by my opthalmologist revealed that I had very high astigmatism that did not match the grade of my current eyeglasses. I had to shed my librarian facade to make way for toric lenses.

So this meant that I am not diabetic or schizophrenic and I don’t have a tumor, multiple sclerosis, hypo/hyperthyroid, Bell’s palsy or cancer or aliens living in my ears. I’m just a hypochondriac paranoid (paranoiac?) human/person with genetic visual impairment heightened by a lifestyle of American television shows and non-required readings.