I wear glasses, nice little ones with a flimsy wire frame. I stepped on them before and had to get the pieces welded back together. No, they weren’t on my face at the time. It gets frustrating having to watch out for them and it’s a bother getting around without them. Naturally I’ve taken an interest in getting LASIK done, especially now that I’ll be roughing it in the outdoors for all of October. I believe that wearing glasses, especially with this impractically fragile frame, will be a constant liability. Rich had LASIK done before his last trip to Nepal, so I asked him if it was a good idea to have it done, being that it was 3 weeks from departure and he was quick to tell me it was a bad idea at this point. If it were 6 to 8 weeks out it would work out much better, but he says for the first 4 weeks after the procedure your eyes are sensitive and vulnerable. Being in the dry, dusty air of the Khumbu, your eyes would not heal very well and you may end up scratching your eyes out.

Now I see that LASIK is not a reasonable option for me now before I go to Nepal. I’ll have to wait until I return and I’ll have to get used to the idea of keeping my glasses intact for the whole trip. Yes, I’m whining, but I’d really like to be able to wear sunglasses and be able to make out distinguishable shapes of the cool, shaded blobs I’ll see. Especially when we get to the snowy areas I’ll have to wear glacier glasses to protect from snow blindness. My obvious options would be to first of all get a copy of my eyeglass prescription to take along in case I need to get a new pair over there. I could also get a second pair here with industrial strength, boot stomp resistant frames. But then I could get some prescription sunglasses too. Since I’m splurging I’ll grab a Rolex and a Hummer on the way home.