Going to the eye doctor was the thing I hated most. I have terrible vision so I have to keep going, but I'm so sensitive to light that I come out squinting and rubbing my eyes for the whole day after my appointments.
I walked up to the reception desk. The receptionist, Mary, greeted me with a smile. "Hi Aoife! 3:30pm appointment?" I nodded and smiled back, and after confirming my details I turned my back to the desk to head over to the waiting room. "Oh Aoife," Mary called me back. "One more thing, Dr. Roberts has moved clinic so you're in with a new doctor today" she explained.
I wasn't too delighted as I quite liked Dr. Roberts, he knew how much I hated eye exams. Now I'd have to explain to some new doctor that my eyes are stupidly sensitive. I sat down in the waiting room, wondering who the new doctor would be.
"Eve?" called a dark-haired man with caramel skin and a white coat. I looked around, but the only other person in the waiting room was an old man - he definitely wasn't called Eve. The doctor looked puzzled. I assumed it was me. "A-o-i-f-e?" I spelled it out and the doctor nodded. "It's Aoife, ee-fa" I explained. He smiled at me. "Ah, sorry about that. Come on in." he said as he held the door open.
"Alright Aoife, I'm Dr. Malik but you can call me Zayn". I sat down in the dreaded chair. "Did Mary tell you about Dr. Roberts? I nodded. "Perfect, so I've had a read through your chart and it says your prescription is L-4.75 and R-5.25. It also says your eyes are very sensitive and you struggle with light, does that all sound about right?"
"Yeah," I said. "I struggle with eye exams, you know, the lights and all that irritates my eyes a lot". He gave me a sympathetic look and nodded. "Nothing we can't work around, so have you got any concerns with your vision?"
"Other than being half blind as usual," I smiled. "My right eye has been getting a bit irritated, especially when I put my contacts in." I really didn't want to be a hassle, I'm probably already a nightmare of a patient considering I can't look at a light for 10 seconds, but I wanted to get it checked out.
"No problem," Zayn said. "So you've had your eyes tested and prescription checked recently, so today it's just an exam. I know an exam is probably gonna be harder for you but we'll work through it".
Zayn went over to the counter where he had an ophthalmoscope. I knew the routine already, I put my head back against the chair and opened my eyes wide. Zayn flicked the lights off and turned the scope on. "You seem to know the drill already," he giggled. "If the light gets too much you can stop me whenever you need to."
I normally hate this part but Zayn was really gentle. After a few minutes of examining my left eye with what felt like the world's brightest light, he asked me to look in different directions. Left, right, up, down, everywhere. As I looked down he gently pulled up my eyelid and held it in place with his cold finger so he could see my eye.
Eventually, he stepped back. "You doing okay my love?" I nodded, rubbing my eye. "Just relax for a second and then we'll do your right eye. You said it was getting a bit irritated?" he asked me. "Yeah, especially when I have contacts in." Zayn picked up the scope again and brought it up to my face. "Again if you need to stop just tell me love".
After looking in a few directions my eyes were really watering. "Can we take I break?" I squeaked. Zayn stepped back straight away. "No problem, you doing okay?". "Yeah, sorry, just the light." He smiled at me. "Don't apologise, you're doing really well".
I took a deep breath. "I think I'm good now". Zayn brought the scope back up to my eye. "Look down for me sweetheart". He lifted my eyelid again. After a minute or so he still had me looking down, which started to worry me that something was wrong. He stepped back from me. "All done with the scope now". I let out a sigh of relief and he giggled. He turned to his desk and started typing on the computer.
"So when you were looking down I was looking at a little scratch on the top of your eye," he explained. "It's nothing to worry about, we're going to put a bit of medication on it today to help it heal". I bit my lip. The last time I needed meds put on my eye we were there for about half an hour trying to keep me still. He seemed to catch on. "It won't be painful but it can be a bit uncomfortable, and seen as your eyes are very sensitive I think numbing drops would help". This day kept getting worse. "O-okay" I squeaked.
Zayn caught onto my nerves like wildfire. "I promise you I'll be gentle, you have nothing to worry about". He patted the bed in the corner of the room. "Lay down here for me when you're ready". I swung my legs up on the bed as Zayn brought a switched-off light over my eye. I started to tear up and he noticed. "I'm just doing the numbing drops now love, no light yet." He held my right eye open as he dropped a couple drops of numbing solution in.
I blinked them in and sat up for a second as my eye numbed. Zayn got the medication and an applicator out of a box on the counter. "I promise you won't feel a thing love" he said as he spun back around to me and ushered me to lay back down.
He coated the applicator in the medication and switched on the little light. "Okay, look down for me when you're ready angel" he said. He lifted my eyelid to reveal the top of my eye and gently coated the scratch in medication. "All done sweetheart" he said as he released my eyelid and switched off the little light, turning on the main light in the room.
I sat up and blinked, rubbing my eyes a little. I looked at Zayn waiting for the next horrible task. "You're all good to go Aoife" he said. I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Zayn, I hope I wasn't too difficult". He smiled back at me "Not at all, trust me I've had some bad patients". We both laughed as Zayn showed me to the door and I made my way out.
