So I’m continuing to bounce from one doctor to another, including to undergo a scary oral allergy test to see if penicillin kills me after more than 50 years of thinking I am allergic to it (spoiler alert — it didn’t), when I pop back into my eye doctor’s office to check out the frames they special-ordered for me.
My prescription is high so the smaller the frame, the less Coke-bottle the lens (although small has apparently not been in style since the 70s and this has been hard to find). And since if I actually make it through medical clearance for the Peace Corps I’d have to wear glasses instead of contacts for the first time in 40 years, I need them to be light and comfortable in the heat and hard work that awaits me at the Equator.
Additionally, I’m concerned about being able to see both distance and the nearby ground while riding a bike (as would most likely be my transportation). So, progressives (which are typically helpful for distance and reading, not distance and seeing roadkill under your wheels), or not progressives? This is the question, and I’m not talking politics here.
But, truth be told, this is the least of my problems right now. I have an age-and-gender-normal issue that requires no current care or course of treatment, according to my Emory Hospital doctor. But Nurse Nancy at my Peace Corps medical portal has indicated that the Peace Corps doctors have rejected my doctor’s substantiation of this. I feel as if there is a possibility that the Peace Corps will require me to have major, life-changing, elective surgery (not covered by insurance) that my doctor says I do not medically need, in order for me to get medically cleared to serve as a volunteer in Uganda. I know I am not going to do that, and I realize that may mean the end of the road for what still feels like a calling. (Granted, I may be projecting here, but I like to anticipate all possibilities.)
I am grateful that the series of medical tests to date have confirmed my stellar health, and it empowers me, despite whatever happens next. And thus I keep Traveling at the Speed of Bike between doctor visits, while trying to see clearly and, as always, trusting the journey.
If I am meant to be on that plane next June, I will be. It’s just that simple.
My Peace Corps series of posts to date:
Maybe something will come of it
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Traveling at the Speed of Bike 