I was preparing to go into the hospital for knee surgery and
wanted to wear some disposable contact lenses so I wouldn't have to worry about
my gas permeable lenses while in the hospital.
I had some disposables at home from the days when my kids were younger
and we used to go swimming and floating down rivers a lot, but the expiration
date on them had come and gone…like by ten years so I thought I'd better ask my
eye doctor if they were safe to wear.
I walked into the eye doctor office and handed them to the
assistant at the front desk and asked her my question. Her eyes got wide and she asked, "Are you
wearing these?" "Well, no, of
course not, I wear gas perms, I have
these to wear when I go swimming and I
don't do that much…I'm wanting to know if they are safe to wear."
"Oh no, I don't think so!" she answered with a
horrified look on her face. She turned to another assistant sitting at a
computer, "She shouldn't wear these, should she? Look at that expiration
date"
Glancing at the dates on the disposables, the other young
woman got the same horrified look on her face. I sighed, I realized I was much
older then either one of them but it's not like the original date on the lenses
pre-dated either of their dates of birth for heaven's sake. "I am going into the hospital for knee
surgery and just wanted to wear them there so I don't have to worry about my
gas perms getting lost."
"You should not wear these!" the computer lady
replied handing them back to me.
"Okay, okay, I get it, but can I buy some more disposables that are in date? Just a
package to get me through the hospital stay?" I asked taking back the
strip of disposables she held at arms length like they were going to explode
any minute.
"Well, let me see, oh I don't even see those
disposables listed on your record," she gasped while punching the keyboard.
"Well, I actually got them way before the expiration
date so…"
"Umm, well, I can't get you anything because those are so old they aren't
even listed on here. It says you wear
gas perms and the dates on those are even… oh wow."
"Yes, I know, I wear gas perms and they are not
new. But I take really good care of
them, no scratches..." I stopped
and took a breath, "Look, I just
need some disposables to use temporarily."
"I can't give you any because we don't have your
prescription for disposables."
"You can't use the prescription for my gas perms?"
I asked getting a little worn out from all of this. My knee was hurting from
standing so long.
"Oh no, no, no…that is something different. I'll have
to ask the doctor if it's okay and get a new prescription."
"I was just in here a few months ago…"
"I still have to ask the doctor."
"Okay…I can wait."
"She's not in yet this morning."
"Oh."
"What is your phone number? I can call you after she
gets in and I ask her."
I gave her my number which is also listed on my patient
screen, as is my gas perm prescription and my age, height, weight, line of
work, insurance, eye color… but whatever.
I hobbled back out
the door to my car. I wondered how many
things we use on a daily basis go out of date?
I mean I know there are expirations dates on milk, canned foods but why do
some things last forever and other things don't? I have a car that is seventeen years old and
it is still running great, but all the plastic in the car like the seat belt
covers, and the clips for the visors have become brittle and broken. Then I wondered if my gas perm contacts which
are also plastic were going to become brittle and break in my eyes at some
point in the future.
How come they don't
make all this stuff out of the plastic used in star foam? You know those
containers that were invented for fast food hamburgers? A few years back a study was done that found
these containers last like one hundred years in landfills and everyone was
strongly urged to quit using them!
I took a deep breath and
hoped I would make it back to work in one piece without having my eyes
fall out, my car fall apart and strand me in the middle of the street where I
wouldn't be able to walk because I need a new knee…oh no, horrified at the next thought that came to
mind; the new knee I was getting was
made of metal and PLASTIC. What would
happen if that plastic started falling apart inside my knee? Do I really want a
plastic and metal knee put inside my body?!!
Wait, I wondered;
could I get a knee made of star foam?
