U2 and the lost contact lens

After vacation, I felt like I wanted to do a little more exploring around my own little Utah world. It's not big, so there aren't many options, but enough to satisfy me for a bit (at least until I get a hankering to leave the country and go on more adventures). So a few Fridays ago, a few friends of mine and I went to the Clark Planetarium at the Gateway. I've never been before, but I've heard about some of the exhibits and laser shows. We were going to be attending the new U2 laser show because how can you go wrong with U2?

**CAUTION: If you get squeamish reading "eye" stories, SKIP THE NEXT COUPLE PARAGRAPHS!**

We got in our seats and I started gazing upon the dome screen, wondering what was in store. I've been to planetariums before, but never a laser show. The lights went down and the music started (U2 is great!), and upon starting to try to intake all the images and everything else going on around me, my contact lens started to freak out. For those of you who don't know, I wear gas permeable contact lenses to correct my astigmatism. That's the hard plastic kind...which is my excuse for why I always look like I've been doing hard drugs. As a side note, you'd think that after ten years of contact lenses that I'd be more accustomed to them....I guess it's a good sign that my body will never get used to me shoving hard plastic in my eye. Well, as I'm sitting there in the show, weighing my options, I decide to do a quick-and-dirty cleaning method (sorry to gross some of you out), and I pop the lens out and put it in my mouth. I went to put it back in my eye, and usually I'll just put it anywhere on my eye (which is a feat with no mirror!) and then use my eyelid to move it onto my iris. Well, no such luck this time, and it felt like something was down in my eye, so I figured I'd just wait out the show (there was no readmittance once you left the theater!) and then find it afterwards. I mean, it had to be IN my eye for as much pain as I was in.

After the U2 extravaganza--quite good, but nothing like I thought it was going to be--I went to the restroom and had my friend Melinda try to help me find it. My eye was screaming red in color and it hurt like the dickens. The contact HAD to be in there! We couldn't find it. I figured I'd go home and flush it out with drops. So for about two hours, my eye was in excruciating pain and I could only halfway see. I tried to be a trooper and not keep mentioning how much it hurt...but it HURT.

Finally, we made it back home and I had Rachel poke around in my eye for a few minutes. We were both getting frustrated and a little grossed out and we still couldn't find anything. So I took out my other contact lens and put on my glasses. I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to go to the eye doctor in the morning.

**OK, I think it's alright to read again!**

Next morning, I called the eye doctor's office and told them of my predicament. The receptionist said, "I think we consider that an emergency. We'll double-book you with our first appointment this morning." Oh hallelujah. Well, guess what...the eye doctor couldn't find it either--which made Rachel feel a lot less frustrated about the situation.

The optometrist said I must have lost the contact and scratched up my cornea in the process. Awesome. And by awesome, I mean, NOT awesome. She gave me some soft contact lenses that were my prescription but didn't fix the astigmatism. They made my vision kind of halo-ish, everything just a touch out of focus, but they did the trick! I was supposed to sleep with those in, and they were going to act like a bandage for my eye while my new gas perms were coming in. I have to tell you, it was strange being able to see but not having my eyes bright red. A tradeoff of sorts, I guess...clear vision = pain? That doesn't make sense at all.

Anyway...long story longer...I have my new contact lenses now. And it's nice to see the clear, crisp world again. My recommendation? Take the money you would have spent on the U2 laser show at the planetarium and invest it in a U2 album. Lasts longer and you usually don't lose contact lenses jamming out to U2 in your car.