I have been with my husband for roughly 13 years – we have been married for four, and together for 13. When my husband informed me a few months ago that he couldn’t recall the last time he had his eyes checked out, I deemed it more than necessary that he make an appointment sooner rather than later.
Thankfully, his eyes are in good shape. But I think there are plenty of people who are under the impression that if they haven’t noticed any changes in their eyes or vision, then they don’t need to go for a checkup. I can understand why this might seem like the logical path to tread, especially if you live by the idea of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.’
Based on an experience my own dad had, however, I would beg to differ.
Quite a few years ago now, my dad went to his eye doctor for his annual checkup. He had not noticed any changes or anything of concern in relation to his eyes and vision, and wasn’t expecting anything too noteworthy to come from the appointment. One of the tests detected something out of the ordinary in the back of one of his eyes, and upon being sent for further, more in-depth testing, he learned that he had Melanoma in the back of his eye.
This sort of cancer is remarkably rare, but not unheard of. My dad had absolutely zero symptoms, and his surgeon explained to him that had this spot not been noticed, the cancer would have spread to his brain and killed him.
Regardless of whether or not you have noticed changes with your eyes and vision, please hear me and get your eyes checked out. It’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to a life-or-death matter.
Photo by Amanda Dalbjörn on Unsplash
