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Like a beautiful painted canvas (media.piefed.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] 29 points 1 year ago* (14 children)

I was getting my pupils dilated for the optometrist to properly measure the extent of my astigmatism.

Had never had that procedure done before.

...As I am leaving, with eyes blurry as fuck from being dilated...

Receptionist tells me if I leave now, I might be able to dodge rush hour.

... I wish I could have actually seen the expression on her face when she said that, but I couldn't.

Due to being temporarily legally blind.

From the procedure that she had just-

sigh

So yeah I made it about two blocks in my car, said NOPE, and just fucking sat in a parking lot for something like an hour, till I could fucking see again.

American health care just literally is a sadistic joke.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Lol I had the same procedure and sat in my car after calling someone to come pick me up, but they took too long and I decided to just drive myself anyways. I couldn't read signs, but traffic lights and other cars were visible enough. I bet there are a lot of old people on the road driving around regularly with eyesight that bad or worse.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    To your last point:

    Oh yeah, I am of the strong opinion that everyone should need to fully redo their drivers test, written and practical, every 5 years, hit 60, every 3 years, hit 72, every single year.

    There are way too many idiots who don't know how to drive, and driving is such a ... multi faceted skill that requires so many of your body processes to be working well... and basically all of those start to nose dive after a certain age.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    I was prepared for this when I went to see an optometrist. I went to a local one, just a couple blocks away from me on purpose because I knew I wouldn't be able to drive home.

    Even though I walked I also had someone with me who could help guide me home, because I was worried that the summer, midday sun would be too bright for me to bear, even with sunglasses, and I would not be able to see well enough to follow the path home. Everything turned out fine, but I'm glad I took the extra care anyways. It just wasn't nearly as bad as I had planned for it to be.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I was unfortunately super busy with work, did not live within walking distance of any optometrist...

    ... and despite telling multiple friends and family who had had this procedure done before, none of them mentioned anything about it to me, oh and no medical staff anywhere in the entire process between telling me I should have this procedure done, to scheduling that procedure...

    ...none of them told me that the procedure makes you legally blind for ~1-2 hours either.

    I am glad that you knew this was a procedure that required planning for.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Wow, that seems like a violation of their duty of care.

    What makes me happy is that you knew that you couldn't do it and pulled off until you could again. I swear some people drive when they really really shouldn't, and just rely on everyone else to make up for their lack of eyesight.

    Kudos where it's due. Thank you for being a reasonable and responsible driver.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (5 children)

    Oh, I've straight up been the victim of medical malpractice/fraud/misrepresentation multiple times in my life.

    Not like I can afford a lawyer though.

    Being temporarily rendered legally blind with no forewarning, thats one of the more mild ones.

    But uh yeah, unlike seemingly just most people, I have and will always treat driving as if I am operating a potentially lethal device.

    Because... I ... am, when driving a car.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I don't think it's possible to agree more.

    Motor vehicles are designed to keep you safe in case someone else has a bad day and hits you, they are not designed to keep any other people safe if you hit them. It is, IMO a lethal device.

    Irresponsibly using that device, so you can benefit at the risk of others (as many seem to do), should be criminally negligent at best. It's selfish and self centered. Anyone with a shred of compassion for their fellow humans should avoid using such a device if it is unsafe for them to do so.

    But people often downplay the risks and have more confidence in their ability to do something that they really really shouldn't do, with no justifiable reason to believe that they are capable of that.

    I was very tired yesterday and instead of driving home on the little consciousness I had remaining, I deferred to my S.O. to take over and complete the journey home. I probably could have made it, and risk was mitigated because we were on country roads, but I'm not taking that chance. The remainder of the trip I dozed in and out of being awake and my mind started mixing dream images with reality as I was drifting in and out.

    To be fair, I stopped trying to stay awake after I left the driver's seat (I got us about 1/3rd the way home before conceding), but if that micro sleep happened while I was still behind the wheel, I can't say I would have made it home no matter how much I tried. I also can't say that I couldn't have.

    If I had been alone in the car, I would have stopped and taken whatever sleep I could before finishing the trip. I've been driving long enough that I know my limits, and I hit it hard when I pulled off.

    I was so tired that once I got home, I slept from around 5pm or so, to around 11pm, then went back to bed before 1am and woke up at 7. I slept for nearly 12 hours and I still feel tired. I pushed hard to complete my task because I know my SO doesn't like driving very much, less so in unfamiliar areas, but I appreciate that they could, and did, take over when I just couldn't do it safely anymore.

    I'm not trying to one-up anyone, and you're situation was very different from mine. But I told this story because it happened literally yesterday. Driving isn't just "I'm good" and you go until you get there, it's a constant evaluation of whether you are still capable of operating the vehicle safely; for you, your passengers (if any), for other road users, and for their passengers, loved ones and families, as well as any pedestrians or other people. If you cannot reasonably say, without bias, that you are capable of operating the vehicle safely, then don't. It's just that simple.

    But, like I said, most tend to be biased that they can do anything, which makes it difficult to get people to do the right thing sometimes.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (3 children)

    I am not even yet 40, and basically, 80% of the people I've ever known in my life have at least once, driven drunk or high or while on prescription drugs that make them considerably uh, dulled, or as with your scenario, overly exhausted and fatigued.

    I don't drive any more, barely at all.

    America's roads suck shit, and the drivers are fucking astoundingly unsafe.

    But, because our mass transit generally sucks as well, we are stuck in a destructive feedback loop, we are running our cars and our minds and bodies untill they just totally give out.

    Anyway, completely agree with your perspective on driving, you would think that would be common sense, but evidently not.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I don't like the term "common sense" because anytime is used, the sense that is in question is almost always, not very common.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    I agree, which is why I only use the term in a kind of negative reference: this knowledge is evidently not common place.

    Err... well ok, unless it is the proper noun form, directly referring to Tom Paine's revolutionary war era pamphlet... which... I think is the sort of proximal etymylogical / cultural origin of the phrase as we use it today?

    Either way, yes, its a bastardized term now, like how 'literally' now also means roughly 'figuratively + extremely' in certain contexts, from certain speakers.

    I think that back in 1770's English, 'common' was also often used to mean something ... simple, unremarkable, basic.

    Not just uh... plentiful, easily found in many places.

    So then, 'common sense' would roughly translate to modern English as something like 'basic logic'.

    And to loop that all around, I would say that people who ... do not treat driving a car like they are operating a ton or two of mass that can move up to 80 or 120 mph or whatever... you know, as that, well they actually are not excercising what I would call basic logic.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I get it. I miss when words meant something specific.

    The one I'm still unhappy about is jealousy. It used to just be the fear of losing something you have. Now it also means wanting something you don't have.

    Envy is a term that always meant, wanting something you do not have.

    Over time, people have used the terms so wrong that the definition changed.

    I think it says something about society that we have a word that means something, but we used another word to mean that thing so much that we changed the definition of the word to fit the usage.

    Oh well. This is why we can't have nice things.

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