It isn’t all bad then, this disease of mine. I booked an opticians appointment at a well known chain of opticians, not that I think that’s a good thing, really I think we should support small businesses, but I haven’t because the money side of it swayed me, anyway. I haven’t been for a while, 3 years or so and as I get looked at at Moorefields every year and they know what they are doing as far as eyes are concerned. So the last time I went was in Barnet and this time I went to Woodgreen. They have a funny system of having to put you on their books, maybe it’s a franchise thing. The site test started as normal and then he asked ‘any problems with your eyes.’ ‘Well.’ I said and then I launched into… ‘I have a tumour on my optic nerve in the right eye and a small patch in that eye where I can’t see due to a crinkling of the maclia.’ The optician looked visibly happier at this news while trying o maintain his professional happy face, writing it all down in a box on his form that was far too small for all this. ‘I have Von hippel Lindau disease.’ I said smiling away as you do.
‘I don’t remember how to spell that.’ He said, his voice steadily controlling his excitement.
‘VHL will do.’ I suggested helpfully and he wrote it down. I smiled at him an ‘it’s alright to be excited smile.’
‘I used to work in a hospital and I saw all sorts there but not this, this is better than an average day isn’t it.’ He went about being very professional doing all the correct tests and I was pleased to hear that despite all that’s going on I actually have 20/20 vision. We talked about Moorefields and how when I go they often ask if the other people working there can have a look in my eye and I let them and so he tentatively asked if the other opticians could look, ‘of course.’ So for a brief time, my eye and my tumour had a slice of celebrity about them, we were now on first name terms and even though I hadn’t officially booked the contact lens appointment he saw me anyway so that I didn’t have to come back another day. Which was very kind of him (and I got that free which was even better) He discovered I had hayfever which was news to me and that I should change the type of contact lenses as I had a bit of an oxygen deficiency to my eyes. I have to say that I was very impressed by him. He told me off in a playful way when he heard that I don’t really check when I need to change the contact lenses each month. ‘with all that is happening with your eyes you should look after them.’ He’s right.
And so I left said chain opticians feeling special and rare and looked after and like I’d got a real bargain on my glasses (they did me a deal there too) Having a tumour on the optic nerve isn’t great but at least that day it felt better.
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