Help Me See!

It all started at the age of seven when my teacher noticed that I had been squinting my eyes to see what she had written on the board. She moved my seat closer for that day and contacted my mother, suggesting I may be nearsighted. My mother promptly made an appointment with an optometrist and sure enough, nearsightedness was the diagnosis. Being seven years old and feeling like my eye sight wasn't THAT bad, it was easy for me to lose my first pair of glasses within a month of having them, not yet realizing that in the future they would be my lifeline. My parents had to buy me another pair of glasses and I am proud to say, I have never lost another pair of glasses. As I got older, my vision just seemed to get worse. My mom tried to give me hope, explaining that she had been nearsighted as a young teenager but by the time she was 17, she no longer needed glasses. I held on to this hope for many years. But each year, I left my optometrist visit with a stronger prescription. I'd say it was around the age of 18 that I gave up the hope of the possibility that maybe one day I would no longer need glasses. When I was 19 years old and had my own health insurance through my job, I began going to LensCrafters once a year. This was the most affordable option for me because of their 50% off lenses sales that they have. My lenses (high index, to keep the lenses from looking like Coke bottles) without the 50% off specials, would have cost me upwards of $800.00. Around the age of 24, an optometrist at LensCrafters suggested that I start seeing an ophthalmologist because my eyesight was consistently getting worse and that I should be receiving more thorough eye exams than they provide, to make sure there wasn't some underlying reason as to WHY my eyesight was worsening and my prescription wasn't remaining stable. To make things even more scary, I had started to see "flashes" and "floaters".So I began seeing a wonderful ophthalmologist who did exams/tests that were far more thorough. Unfortunately, she could not figure out why my eyesight was getting worse. So she eventually decided to send me to a neuro-ophthalmologist. I travelled over an hour each way to UMass Memorial Medical Center twice in two years. After extensive testing and exams, the doctor had no explanation for why my eyesight was as bad as it is and why it continues to get worse. The one positive thing he did say was that my eyes and nerves were adapting well to the changes in my vision; There didn't seem to be any damage that was being caused by the progression of my nearsightedness. Whew. From the age of 19 to 27, I had been fortunate enough to be employed with a company that offered a flex spending account. This helped tremendously with the cost of my glasses. Since leaving that job due to an injury that prevented me from being able to preform my usual duties, I have purchased my own health insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector and my current employer does not offer flex spending. For the last four years, I have not bothered to go for an eye exam because I simply cannot afford glasses. While I don't feel like my prescription has changed, it may have slightly. My former ophthalmologist (she doesn't accept my current health insurance) had said I would be an excellent candidate for laser eye surgery, if only my prescription would remain stable for at least two years. She said that if my prescription wasn't consistent, it could mean I'd need a light prescription sooner than later. Which, to me, would probably not even be necessary because my vision would still be a thousand times better than what I'm working with now! At first, I was completely against the idea of laser eye surgery; I'd seen videos and it looked like something out of a horror movie. So I resigned myself to being a slave to my glasses for the rest of my life. Around a year ago, I experienced virtual reality goggles. I put them on (WITHOUT NEEDING MY GLASSES!) and I was literally moved to tears at how beautiful the images looked without the filter of my glasses. It was one of the most emotional things I have experienced visually. All I could think afterwards was how freeing and amazing it would be to see the world, truly, with my own eyes, without the need of glasses. I felt like I was seeing for the first time. I imagined being able to swim at the beach without having to wear my glasses in the ocean. Do you know how hard it is to find your belongings on a beach when you can't see more than six inches in front of your face without your glasses on? I imagined being able to swim underwater, emerge, open my eyes and see! I imagined waking up in the morning and not having to grab my glasses case and put my glasses on before even getting out of bed. I imagined not having to have my face three inches from a mirror when I do my eye liner (even though I don't do it that often). I imagined being out in the rain and not having to deal with my glasses getting wet, and then having to try to dry them without leaving streaks all over them. I imagined someday being able to snorkel in the ocean and being able to see everything clearly instead of seeing blobs of color. I imagined being able to see in the shower while I'm shaving my legs. I imagined sweating and not having my glasses slide down the bridge of my nose. I imagined rock climbing without having to worry about my glasses potentially falling off or getting scraped. I imagined feeling more safe while driving in the rain because I would have no glare from my glasses. Before putting on those virtual reality goggles, I never would have considered laser eye surgery. While I had always felt the limitations of wearing glasses and it saddened me, I have always shrugged it off as something I would just have to deal with. I figured I would just always refer to myself as "blind as a bat", which is fitting because my birthday is on Halloween. But my eyes have been opened (haha). I don't have to live my life with these types of limitations. I don't have to be a slave to my glasses. But for the time being, I WILL have to until I can afford laser eye surgery. I'm not even sure how much it would cost. I'd assume around $5,000.00 max, but I feel like it would be worth it, compared to how much money I have/would spend through my lifetime of wearing glasses or even contacts. While my ultimate goal is laser eye surgery, in the meantime, I need help purchasing new glasses (my glasses are almost four years old and have acquired a significant amount of scratches over the years) or contacts. I don't even know anything about contacts! I haven't worn a pair of contacts in almost 18 years. But I've heard they've come a very long way and are much more comfortable now. Although I've always been skeptical of contact lenses due to the possibility of infection, it seems at this point that this would be the most affordable option. I can only hope that my eyeglass prescription can be the same as the contacts so that way I could always have my glasses as back up. I called my health insurance company to find out how much they cover for eyeglasses. They cover NOTHING. They only cover one eye exam every two years. So with that information, I spent a day calling around to different places, seeing who accepts my insurance, how much contact lens fittings cost, etc. After all my phone calls, Target seems to have the lowest cost for contact lens fitting: $79.00. And I believe the woman said a box of contacts were around $39.00 and I believe she said they were the 30-day ones. But I'm sure once I get the fitting done, I could find them cheaper online. Right? I have no clue, as I said, I'm new to this contact-game. So here I am today. I don't want to say I'm desperate but I am in need of some help. My life overall is pretty good. I don't want for much; I'm a pretty simple person. Little things make me happy. If I could raise enough money for new glasses, awesome! If I could raise enough money for contacts, awesome! Dare I say, if I could raise enough money for laser eye surgery, it would be miraculous. Not to mention life changing. Maybe there's a philanthropist out there that could come across this and want to help my cause and bring awareness to eye health coverage. I know I'm not alone in this.