Thursday

[fajrdrako]

A medical sort of day.

It's been about ten years since I've been to an eye doctor. I don't like going to eye doctors because for years, they would insist on giving me eye drops (not believing I could possibly be allergic) and then I'd faint and go into convulsions. Which would mess up the rest of my day. So I developed a disinclination to go to eye doctors.

But the prescription for eyeglasses I got a decade ago is long out of date and the drugstore reading glasses I've been making do with aren't quite making the grade. Sandi recommended her eye doctor, Dr Sololowski, so I trekked over to his office this morning.

And I mean trekked: he's not very convenient by bus. Both Sandi and the receptionist told me to 'just walk over from Greenboro transit station" so I did. Carefully found it by map last night. Today - well, thankfully it wasn't icy, but it was very cold, and I was tired, and it seemed like a very long way. By the time I got to Albion and Johnston I thought I was hopelessly lost, but no, there was Tapiola Crescent just a few metres ahead of me.

Sandi was right: the doctor was good, pleasant, and efficient, and did what he had to do without drops. Best of all, he explained why drugstore glasses weren't helping me enough and might be harming my vision (because of the unadjusted difference in focal length in my two eyes).

Then I went to South Keys, bought myself the Watchmen graphic novel - yes, I have the original comics, but I wanted the TPB as well. Also got Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies and a box I fell in love with at Winners. Is it déclassé to admit to falling in love with something at Winners?

Comments

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

There is No Substitute for medical people who Get It (sorry about the caps, but they really were necessary [g]).

I had ISSUES with dentists for years, nay, decades until I found the one who takes care of me now. She doesn't try to play God with my jaw, bless her.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes - it was just so terribly clear that the doctors didn't believe me when I said I reacted to the drops. The first time it happened I was ten - and then it happened consistently every time, and every time I let them put the drops into my eyes because they assured me that this time I would have no reaction. And ever time I ended up waking up on the floor feeling as if I'd been knocked out by an electrical storm. Never again, I swore.

Looks as if I'm onto a good thing with Dr Sokolowski, though.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad you didn't end up in the ER. Although I have to say it would have served the optometrist right for not believing you.

I had something similar happen, although just the once. I am in the rather awkward situation of being allergic to Tylenol. Or sensitive to it or something. Anyway, it makes me sick to my stomach. I once had a doctor insist that it wasn't possible for Tylenol to do that to a person, and she also insisted on giving it to me. I threw up on her shoes [eg]. Nobody from my HMO tries to give me Tylenol anymore for some reason...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Throwing up on her shoes is the least she deserved... I wonder why the don't like to listen to us? Or believe us when we talk from experience?

Last time I let a doctor give me eye drops, I woke up to a nurse telling me accusingly, "You didn't tell us you had epilepsy!" "I don't..." I muttered.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I think they think we're malingering because we don't want them to do what they want to do to us. Either that or they really do think they're god.

I do occasionally wonder what the notation on my electronic medical records says about the incident...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Either that or they really do think they're god.

Probably both. It is just so clear they simply didn't believe me. Probably thought I was delusional or something. If it was something they hadn't experienced before, it couldn't happen, right? And it was my health and welfare I let them gamble with - !

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm seeing Watchman on Tuesday.

Then I might get the graphic novel

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy it - !

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah I hope so.

Still all the fans of the graphic novel think it's excellent. I don't really listen to critics.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd believe the critics who liked it, and not the ones who didn't - because it seems likely to me that they missed the point, thinking "comic book" and not going beyond that.

Of course, I'm prejudiced in its favour.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

On CBC this afternoon, their movie reviewer, Robert Fontaine, gave _Watchman_ a general thumbs-down. Actually, he said that the first five minutes are an utterly brilliant recap of cartoon history, and the movie tanks from thereon in, He also mentioned it was brutally violent. Enjoy (I guess).

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

Two critics in Australia thought it was brilliant, it made one of them buy the comic book.

The movie really as to appeal to the fans, as they are the true critics.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I saw an interview with Zack Snyder yesterday in which he said he was a fan, and he was trying to live up to his own standards for it. He said he thought he mostly succeeded, though failed in some places. It's clear he had very high standards, and didn't quite meet the mark, but because his standards were high, the movie is excellent and its flaws irrelevant. He really knew what he was doing - which is incredible in itself.

Of course, Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore pointed the way.

It's like Peter Jackson faced with The Lord of the Rings - knowing the fans are passionate abdou it, know the material well, and will want it to be good enough.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

LOL. Well, yes, brutally violent, and fair enough if he didn't like it, and h's right that the first five minutes are brilliant - not for cartoon history but for American history. Otherwise, it seems obvious he missed the point.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I too have heard about the tendency towards violence in Watchmen. I think I will give this movie a pass. :-/

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

That said, I was off today, and I would have liked to meet you somewhere at or near South Keys. :-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

We'd have had to time that closely... It would have been fun, though!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

As long as you're prepared to close your eyes sometimes, it's worth it. Not that I would push it on anyone who didn't want to see it, but it really is worth it.

Have you read the graphic novel?

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

good glasses can be a real boon! Seeing the world is so nice :-)

And I cannot judge the status of falling in love with something at Winners, never heard of the establishment before this post, but I would say, love is love and don't be ashamed of it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And a beautiful box is a rare and wonderful thing! I'm happy to have it.

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

Holy cow, the drops are potent medicine. Just because they put them in your eyes doesn't mean they don't affect your body. Atropine to dilate can make your heart stop for crying out loud. And the topical anesthetic...don't even let me go there. Stupid people.

I haven't been dilated in a while which I appreciate just because it's inconvenient if you have to drive yourself home. Or walk home or go outside for any reason. And the last time I went, I didn't even get numbing drops to check my pressure because they had a new toy that isn't so new but they'd never had one, that puffs air against your cornea to get the pressure reading. I was very happy with that.

Glad you're getting or got new glasses. I finally got a new pair of reading/computer glasses in addition to my bifocals and I'm in heaven.

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

Oops, forgot. Watchmen. Nope, not going to see it. This time I'm not taking your advice. I'm sure it's a good movie but eh, I don't want to see a movie like it. I did watch a bit of the sex scene between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre and howled with laughter. I didn't think that was a good omen.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Heh! Nobody should go to it if they don't want to. And the Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene was funny. While the Silk Spectre/Dr Manhattan sex scene was creepy. Which is as it should be.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Stupid people.

Yeah. I guess I'm lucky my reaction wasn't worse than it was.

I don't have the new glasses yet, but they're on order. I'll be picking them up on Wednesday.

[laitosto.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that you found an eye doctor that was responsive to you. Knowing a couple people with glaucoma, it is important to get a yearly pressure check.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes - though thank goodness, my eyes seem to be all right. Just slightly far-sighted.