So I pick him up yesterday to take him to the appointment and he's got that look on his face that tells me he's in a very crappy mood. Tells me again that he thinks this is a waste of time. Like he's got anything better to do? So we make the 45 minute drive down to Palo Alto. Down 280 so it was very pretty and the sun was shining. We get there and walk in the door. They tell us to sit down and there we sit for like a half-hour. I'm afraid to look at Dad cause I know he's about to jump out of his skin. So I finally face the music and look at him. He says "I think we should go." I said "Nope." He tells me he's going to go use the restroom and then says he may not come back.
While I'm sitting there, I'm starting to feel like I'm either at the Goodwill Store or at a Notary Exam. Everyone there is old and has some degree of vision loss. Everything is also giant...giant clocks, giant calculators, giant watches; you name it. I'm starting to feel like a Lilliputian. Martha, the lady behind the counter is complaining about something in that old person way. "I can't help you now, I'm busy with this." Like the world is going to fall off it's axes if she doesn't finish what she's doing.
Now this guy comes over to give us some forms for Dad to sign. He's also visually impaired so this requires him to sit about three inches from us. He also has coffee/cigarette breath which is making me want to ralf. You can imagine at this point, Dad's about to blow. So he says to the guy "Are we ever going to get to the real reason I'm here." The guy says "Hey man, relax. I'm a child of the 60's. We all need to relax." I thought Dad was going to deck him.
About 10 minutes later, Dr. Chin comes out to get Dad. She's very nice. We go to the exam room and get all settled in. She asks Dad what he hopes to get out of this. Dad says "I don't know, I'm not even sure why I'm here." DOH! She says "Your here because you were referred by Dr. Kirshner." Dad replies "I've never seen Dr. Kirshner." Double DOH! I tell Dad it was the eye doctor we saw in June. Now I'm feeling much smaller than a Lilliputian, sweating profusely and would like to crawl in a hole somewhere. Dr. Chin is very patient with him. She pulls out all this stuff for him to try. Long story short, she gave him readers and a LED magnifier and now he can read. She also had him try some amber polarized sunglasses. This changed everything for him. All of a sudden he sees detail and contrast. Now life is good and he can't wait go do some reading.
I'm tired and looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
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