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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Working "Blind"

Vets have to deal with many problems in their daily careers.  Some of them deal with life-or-death situations or serious complaints from clients.  Some problems are annoying or silly.  And some are just plain frustrating yet you can do little about.

For the last few years I've worn contact lenses to work.  It started as a way to avoid having to wear glasses when I'm doing costuming at sci-fi cons like Dragon*Con.  However, I discovered that I liked not having to worry about my glasses fogging up when I have a surgical mask on.  So most of the time I work with my contacts and leave my glasses at home.  Normally that's not an issue.  But it was today.

I'm not a morning person.  Or, as my wife puts it, "'Not a morning person' doesn't even begin to cover it!".  So as I'm getting ready for work in the morning I'm still pretty groggy and don't really wake up for at least an hour.  On a typical day this is not an issue as I've always been this way and know how to cope and handle my routine.  For some reason this morning I missed the fact that one of my contacts fell out.  This is not unusual as I'm a bit of a doofus when it comes to putting them in, but I normally notice when one doesn't go in well or falls out.  Not so today.

So I'm at work and I can tell that my vision is a little blurry.  At first I thought I was still waking up, but the problem didn't go away.  Then I thought I was getting a migraine, which will sometimes happen.  But it didn't really feel like one so I went into the bathroom to try and take out my right lens and try to clean it.  That's when I discovered that I had nothing to take out! 

All day I've been dealing with it.  Thankfully I can still see well without corrective lenses, though edges are a bit blurred.  I can even read up close without contacts or glasses, even if the letters are somewhat fuzzy.  So I'm not completely blind.  But I'm not used to trying to see without anything other than my natural vision, so it can be a strain.

No, I don't typically keep my glasses with me as a backup (though I really should).  I also work about 35 minutes from home, so I don't have time to easily run home to get the glasses or a new contact.  So I just have to put up with it and get through the day.

Yes, even vets have to worry about minor problems like this.  We're just as human as the next person.