I used to get my eyes checked in Fredericksburg by one of the chain type optometrist there. I had been perfectly satisfied with the service I got there but one unusual visit made me think that just maybe they had too many bells and whistles in their office. What used to be a routine eye exam where you look through some gadget that the doctor pushed up to your eyes and you’d try to read the letters in varying degrees of fuzziness turned out to be about 30 minutes of the most unusual machines to test eyes I have ever used.

On this occasion I was ushered into a room with two huge Star Wars type machines and instructed to look first into one of them and when I saw certain things I should ring a bell on the machine or punch a button and I did that for a while and then I was turned to another huge contraption that I looked into and counted the spots I saw there and registered that somewhere on the machine too.

Then a technician came in and ushered me to the office where the optometrist would be in to do some other tests. I sat and waited until the ‘Dr.’ came in and introduced himself and the first thing he said to me was, “Well Mrs. Smith, I see your blood pressure is up, what do you make of that?” I wanted to say “huh” but instead I said, “I beg your pardon but what makes you think I have high blood pressure?” He looked at me like I had asked him if he lived on Mars and he said to me, “Mrs. Smith it is right here in your chart that is how I know that.” I asked him if one of those space looking machines I had been told to look into had the ability to take blood pressure and again he looked at me like I was an escapee from the looney bin and he said, “No, why do you ask?” Then it was my turn to ask him crazy questions and I took my best shot. I said to him, “Do they still take blood pressure with a cuff tightened down till your tongue and eyes bug out and then pump it up until you nearly pass out?” “Yes, he told me, that is correct.” I then said well if that is the case and the big black tricked-out machine didn’t do it some weird way without my knowledge then trust me nobody has taken my blood pressure.

By this time I was getting pretty agitated and he was ready I am certain to call 911 and have EMS come get me and take me to the hospital because he was SURE I was lying or at least mistaken because right there in his folder with my name on it was the evidence and the numbers proving my extremely high blood pressure.

He then excused himself and went out to talk to the technician that had taken me to the machines and as it turned out once he pinned her down on the subject and she admitted she had put some one else’s numbers whose pressure she had taken the old fashioned way and written them down in my folder by mistake!

I got lots of apologies and she got fired. But I don’t think any one has ever before or since then routinely taken my BP at the optometrist’s office but I had had enough of all the bells and whistles and changed eye clinics quickly.

But before that day was over I was buying groceries and the young lady checking me out was making chit chat with me asking aimlessly, “How are you today?”, as she checked my groceries and I answered, fine thank you and how are you and she responded and then do you know in the next breath she asked, “You doing alright today? Are you going to need any help out with these groceries? I answered again, “I am fine and no I don’t need help, thank you.” I paid with a check and got my receipt and as I was leaving she said to me again, “Now you have a nice day now and are you sure you are ok?”

By this time I was wondering if maybe my face was crooked like someone having a stroke or if I had been slurring my words or what in the world could make her think I wasn’t doing just fine and I was ready to run out of there. Remember the doctor had just questioned me acting like I didn’t have any memory of having my blood pressure checked in his office and now this young woman was acting like I was about to drop over.

About 7 years ago I decided to go to a ‘real’ eye surgeon and visited one in the Hill Country. As I indicated earlier I had been using a chain optometrist for about 30 years and after having had that unusual experience with this last one I decided to try a real eye doctor. I had my eyes checked and this doctor who shall remain unidentified by me told me in no uncertain terms that the cataracts he confirmed in my eyes were way over due for surgery and that if I didn’t have it done right away I wouldn’t be able to pass my next drivers license exam. I thought that was strange as I was still seeing very well thank you very much but I figured he being the one with the medical license and if he thought I needed it then I guess I did and I made arrangements for the surgery.

In the next few days I was in the company of some people who had used this same eye doctor and when I told my story of how he had said to me that I wouldn’t be able to pass my drivers license exam in the next month because of my cataracts she told me he had told her the exact same thing in the same words. This sounded too much alike to be a coincidence so I changed doctors again and found a surgeon in Fredericksburg and she will be doing my surgery sometime around the time you are reading this article.

I am well aware everyone has stories of medical professionals that they either hate or love and I am no different but I figured after seeing three I have settled on one that I trust. I am a big sissy about anything that concerns surgery and so as I go into this surgery with my eyes wide open (pardon the obvious pun) I feel like I have done my due diligence with research and will have a good outcome, stay tuned and I will let you know what happens. Let me see now; maybe I won’t need glasses.