General health update and the continuing eyesight saga

Abby was complaining a little bit the other day about some minor aches and pains. When I asked her what was wrong, she sighed resignedly and said, "It's just what happens when you get older."


Now, I'm not sure where she heard this type of talk, as we don't typically engage in discussions on the topic, but I've been feeling the same way lately. Not in terms of aches and pains, but I had a physical the other day. No real surprises there. I'm generally healthy, with lower-than-average blood pressure and all the oxygen my blood can handle. Body mass index is too high, but I've known that for a while and am working on it.

The latest measurement, incidentally, is surface area. I feel like a newly-discovered planet or something.

Out of that physical, though, I have three upcoming specialty visits plus some blood work I have to get taken care of. Three! One is the obligatory, you're-40-years-old-now mammogram. Another is a GI doc for some low-key tummy troubles, but prompted by some family history. And the third is a dermatology visit, for a complete skin check, which I've never had.

Earl had a skin check a couple of weeks ago, and it's a good thing he did, because he has a small area of skin cancer on his chest. It's squamous-cell carcinoma, and everything I've read says it's very curable if caught early, which his was. He's scheduled to have outpatient surgery to remove it on April 5.

Cancer is a scary word, but Earl is pretty serene about it. After a few days of freaking out, I'm calmer now, too. We need to tell the kids, hopefully in a way that will prevent Abby from perseverating on it.

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I also had the long-awaited eye doctor appointment yesterday. After pricing frames with my prescription online, I was disappointed to see that eyebuydirect.com wasn't going to be all that economical, after all. The biggest problem (other than not being totally sure of the appropriate frame size) was that I also need prescription sunglasses, and those are outrageously priced. Furthermore, it didn't appear possible to take a set of regular frames and tint the lenses to sidestep the expensive sunglass frames. This is above and beyond the fact that a regular pair of glasses was going to be nearly $300 for my prescription (with very moderately priced frames.)

So, I trotted into the optical shop today, and was disappointed by how expensive glasses were there, too, even with a discount for my health insurance. The day was saved by choosing frames that come with a sunglass clip-on (a cool magnetic thing) so I wouldn't have to pay for another whole pair of prescription sunglasses.

$500 isn't bad if you say it fast, remember that it includes sunglasses, too, and figure they'll last for a few years, at least. I've had my current glasses (the ones held together by Krazy Glue) for eight years. If the new ones last for 5, that's $100/year, which is still less than LASIK (which I doubt I'd be a candidate for, anyway.) Also way cheaper than getting a seeing-eye dog and hiring a chauffeur, administrative assistant and chef.

A nagging little voice in my head is telling me I should have checked at BJ's to see how expensive glasses would have been there, but I'm ignoring it. I'm glad my new glasses have been ordered, and I should have them in about a week. Then I'll be able to see the optical shop charges on my credit-card bill more clearly.