As most of you already know, I'm 45 years old. Definitely, solidly in middle age. Yuck, how I HATE that term. Sounds so frumpy. And matronly. I don't want to be either of those things. (Though I suppose I'm a bit of each, actually). Anyway, until recently being "middle aged" hasn't really bothered me. I still feel young. I color my hair, I don't have too many wrinkles, I can keep most of my spider veins covered up most of the time and there's always under wire bras for a little "pick me up". So far it hasn't been too difficult to deny being "middle aged". Well, all that changed about a year ago. I've worn glasses or contact lenses for distance since I was 15 years old. But, suddenly I needed reading glasses. No big deal. I bought a few interesting pairs and off I went. But, I soon got sick and tired of having to keep a pair of readers handy at all times. I decided to try multi-focal contact lenses. My eye doctor gave me a few different pairs to try and said "be patient". I gave it a quick try, but then we went away for Thanksgiving and I decided I didn't want to bother with it. I decided to just wear my glasses while visiting family for Thanksgiving. Then I discovered something very interesting. When I took my contacts out and wore my (distance) glasses, I actually didn't need readers. I could no longer read with my distance glasses on, but all I had to do was take them off and I could read just fine. So, since last November I've been wearing my glasses and simply removing them when I want to read.
Well, of course, I got sick of doing that and once again decided to try multi-focal contacts. And yet again, I couldn't find a pair that gave me crystal clear READING vision. You can imagine how important THAT is to a bookworm like me. So, now I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I can wear contact lenses for distance and put readers on and off all day long. Or I can wear distance glasses and take them on and off all day. Frankly, it's a pain in the @ss. And I'm a little sick of wearing glasses all the time. So what's a middle aged woman girl to do?
Today I had to take Madeleine to the eye doctor for contact lens "training" (THAT didn't go too well). While I was there I shopped for a new pair of glasses. I found some frameless ones that I like a lot. I ordered the frames and I'm going to talk to the doctor about bifocals vs. distance only lenses. Not sure how bifocals would work, since I see fine WITHOUT glasses. Would he make the bottom portion clear? Not to mention I've heard lots of people who wear bifocals HATE them. Apparently, you have to turn your head to see clearly - as opposed to just your eyes. You no longer have clear peripheral vision. Oh and bifocals cost about twice as much as single vision glasses. My inclination is to go with single vision right now, since I don't really NEED bifocal. I'm so confused! So in addition to ordering the new glasses, I also ordered two more boxes of distance only contacts. Maybe I can continue on this (schizophrenic) path a while longer.
Is it too much to ask to have clear vision all the time (like in the good old days)? Have any of you dealt with this "in between" stage? What did you do? Got any advice for a youthful 45 year old with aging eyes? I'd appreciate any words of wisdom you can give.
Image from Google Images
Posts
