20/20

As I sat in the eye doctor's office yesterday after hours, I found myself in an all-too-familiar situation.

He was stumped.

As I sat there, tapping my foot and willing myself not to cry (my eye was tearing- they weren't tears!) while he muttered under his breath that he just didn't know, I experienced flashbacks.

...To Dr. Patel telling me that my foot problems were caused by the fact that, "My feet just weren't made for running." (a month before the Chicago Marathon)

...Or the time that the gastro-guy told me that regardless of the extensive list of problems I was experiencing, "There's nothing wrong with you!!" (as if this was supposed to be reassuring)

But yesterday, because the eye doctor was just so sweet, I felt sad for him. How frustrating must that be to sit there and realize that regardless of all those years of schooling and practicing you still couldn't fix everyone's problems? His brain was probably reeling with thoughts of being out-dated and too old to be able to do it all...

It would be like telling an NFL player that it's OK if he can't really catch anymore, because he's still really quick.

Or telling a pilot that it's OK if he doesn't understand how to fly airplanes made after 2005 because he's still got the preceding years under his belt.

Or telling Barbie that even though she's going gray, she's still America's favorite blond (this might be a stretch).

I'd imagine the frustration my doctor felt must be how these experts must be feeling. They realize that there must be some sort of correlation, and yet, they can't quite place it. They just can't quite figure it out.

While I wait for the eye doctor to find a solution, I will commiserate with the concerned triathletes. It makes me feel better if I think about the fact that my eye-ache is just too advanced for doctors today. I'm bettering medicine by making them dig deeper. Well, this is just the way I see it...but let's be honest, my vision is a little shady as I only have one perfect eye.