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Sunday, July 21, 2013

The "Oh what beautiful eyebrows you have!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Heading to the eye doctor for my yearly visit to see if my eyes are free of glaucoma and cataracts.  I have a family history of both and about a dozen years ago I was told that I needed to make bi-yearly visits to catch anything harmful in the early stages.  After filling out the multi-page questionnaire, Layne, the doctor's assistant checked to make sure I could still see the small letters at the bottom of the wall chart.  The exam room is rather small so the chart must be projected through a series of four mirrors in order to be the correct distance away from me.  Putting your hand in the air will block the light and leave the wall empty I found out.  "Only kidding" I told him.  No trouble with the letters!  Then it was time for the dreaded drops to numb my eyes.  After a check for pressure I got another round of drops.  We talked about the pigmentation in my right eye and how everyone actually has brown eyes and with changes in the environment, it changes the color of ones eyes.  What?  The coloring in the eyes is called melanin and depending on the concentration of melanin in the eyes, that will determine the color.  Blue eyes are the result of less melanin while dark brown or black eyes are a heavy concentration of melanin.  Same goes for the skin.  A dark-skinned person has much more melanin than a very light-skinned individual.  A person who is albino has no melanin and also has pink coloring in the eyes.  He also told me that the farther you are away from the equator, the more likely your eye color will be lighter.  "That's why Norwegians have mostly blue eyes," he said.  By now he really has my attention.  I asked him about my right eye which is half brown and half green and he told me that under magnification he can see a distinct line that separates the two which means that I shouldn't worry about cancer in my eye as a previous doctor had suggested.  When I met with Dr. Jones, a former student who I had in high school, I told him about the conversation I had with his assistant.  He just looked at me in amazement.  Then he said, "Actually the side of the eye that faces towards the rear is brown in every person."  OK, now I understand it!  Maybe!!  I wonder how he knows that.  Well, he examined me and examined me and told me that I was the same as last year and have no symptoms of any type of eye disease.  Told me he'd see me at Costco sometime in the future and to make an appointment for a year from now.  Talked with the receptionist about my appointment, grabbed a couple of dark plastic shields for my glasses and headed to the exit.  All morning the sky was cloud-covered and that's just what I needed since my eyes had been super-dilated for the exam.  But, as soon as I opened the exit door, the sun burst through the clouds.  Thanks a lot!  I looked in my rear view mirror and was amazed at the huge, dark black eyebrows I had grown in the past hour. It was another 
extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - I should point out that nothing in the story today is fact.  It is only what I think the doctor's assistant told me.  Could be I didn't hear it correctly or it could be I did hear it correctly and it is fact.  You be the judge.  For me ...... well .......

1 comment:

  1. Haha! you woke up funny the day you wrote this story. As for the glasses........well........

    ReplyDelete