Return of Four-Eyes

I had a traumatic experience last night. I went to the eye doctor for a routine visit. It's been almost two years since I have had my eyes checked and I was almost out of contact lenses, so I figured it was time. I also figured that since my glasses were about eight years old and I can't see out of them, it was time for a new pair. The doctor takes one look at my eyes and says, "Uh oh, that's not good." I told him that was a horrible thing to say to a patient. After he finishes looking at my eyes, he tells me that I have a problem. Apparently I have a condition called corneal neovascularization. What this means in English is that I have been depriving my eyes of the natural oxygen that comes into them by not changing my contacts often enough. Because I have been depriving my eyes of oxygen, they have formed blood vessels to carry oxygen into them on their own. If this continues, the blood vessels will grow into my pupil and cause permanent damage. Of course, this was totally out of left field to me, so I contacted an old friend of mine who is in optometry school (I am so proud of him) to make sure what this doctor was saying is for real. My friend confirmed that this condition is for real and that I better not put contacts anywhere near my eyes until my doctor says I can. The good news is that by wearing glasses instead of contacts for a while, I can reverse the damage that I have done to my eyes. The bad news is that I am not used to wearing glasses, so now I am nauseous and head-achey from going to contacts to glasses without any transition. So, I went last night and got myself a new pair of glasses. Amazing what they can do in an hour. As if I hadn't entrenched myself enough in geekdom by my new intellectual pursuits, now I have the glasses to announce to the world that I am officially a four-eyed nerd. Oh well, at least I have my eyes. As Tom (the aspiring optometrist) put it, "You only have two eyes, you better take care of them."