David's Diary: Thursday, July 26, 2001

An Eye Doctor Visit

On May 3, 2001 I had a life changing experience. After wearing glasses for thirty-seven years I had laser eye surgery to correct my vision. While my eye doctor warned me that it was still likely that I would need glasses after the operation (if only to read), things have turned out so well that I can see both far and near and need no corrective lenses. The change was so big (my correction before surgery was around 7.0 diopters) that about a week after the operation I woke up in the morning, looked over at Karalee and said "Oh my gosh, I've left my contacts in all night!" To wake up in the morning and be able to see is like a miracle.

The style of operation that I had was PRK. With PRK recovery takes longer. It was two months before my vision had fully improved, and with PRK you must take eye drop medication and make regular eye doctor visits. I had a full slate of visits before I left Vancouver, but today was to be my three-month check-up after surgery. It turned into quite the adventure.

Before leaving Vancouver, I asked our host Pierre Senant to book me an appointment with an optamologist that spoke English. The appointment had to be late in July, since eye doctors, like just about everyone else in France, take the month of August off. Today was the big day to see how my eyes were doing.

I navigated correctly and on time to the doctors' office. There was mild confusion at the front desk when they were giving me directions to the specific office in French (I finally figured out that it was one floor up and turn to the left). Breathing a sigh of relief I said bonjour to Jean-Marie Le Bihan. He said "une moment" and shortly I was in his office. It was at this point that things didn't quite work out as planned. While Pierre had checked with the receptionist that Dr. Le Bihan spoke English and she had confirmed that he did nothing could be further from the truth.

I speak perhaps thirty words of French and understand even less. But as far as I could tell Dr. Le Bihan spoke zero words of English. We did manage to get my personal details in the computer, although spelling my name was a challenge (the challenge is getting me to say the letters in French correctly). I then pulled out the form given to me by my eye surgeon to fill out. I assumed, again incorrectly, that the terminology and measurements would all be the same. Later, I was to learn that this is not the case.

I will give Dr. Le Bihan bonus points for trying. He sat me down in a chair and then proceeded to check my eyes. The French use a completely different system for eye measurements. For eye pressure, they use a compressed air device. For the amount of correction, you wear special glasses to which corrective lenses are inserted. Even the letters on the eye chart are different (I've had some many eye exams in the last three months that I'm starting to think that I have the eye chart memorized). The chair you sit in is next to a circular table, the top of which spins. There are four different stations and each are spun around and stopped next to you. If nothing else, the visit was interesting to see different ways that things could be done.

But Dr. Le Bihan couldn't fill out any of the paperwork and try as he might I could not understand his French. He was very patient and eventually I called Pierre on my mobile phone. A short conversation took place in French, which Pierre summarized as "Dr. Le Bihan thinks your eyes are doing fine." Okay, but what paperwork am I going to send in to the Pacific Laser Eye Center in Vancouver? And just how fine is fine? Dr. Le Bihan then spent many minutes with what looked like the directly of optamologists in France and on the telephone calling around. I eventually figured out that he was trying to find me an English speaking optamologist in the area. He eventually succeeded and wrote me a note (in French of course) instructing me to call Dr. Marie-Claire Varin-Malvisi at 3:00 PM.

I drove home and just after 3:00 I got Pierre to call Dr. Varin-Malvisi. Remember that this is just days before every optamologist in France is going on vacation, but Dr. Varin-Malvisi could fit me in at 6:40. I asked Pierre to accompany me, perhaps just to help with the navigation, but deep down I knew that I wanted to have French backup. As it worked out, Dr. Varin-Malvisi was young, sharp, knew all about laser eye surgery, and spoke excellent English. She had the same setup as Dr. Le Bihan, but she was able to explain the various devices. She also measured my eye pressure using the French compressed air technique and the traditional technique that I was used to. She then explained that the French using different measuring techniques than North America and she filled out the form using commentary and French measurements. She then explained that I no longer should use my eye medication, but that she would prescribe some specific natural eye drops for use during the day and at night.

Communication is always a challenge. Fortunately, neither Dr. Le Bihan nor I lost our cool when we could not communicate and things worked out in the end. I'm sure that as our year progresses language difficulties will continue to be a challenge. But in the end, I keep hoping that we'll figure things out one way or another. At least it will be another three months before I have to find another optamologist.