Life is full of odysseys, or long journeys that are full of difficulties. People have to make sacrifices to make it through their odysseys. Whether it is a medical condition, a breakup, or even family problems can be considered as an odyssey. My personal odyssey falls under the condition of a medical condition. My left eye had almost no vision when I was in kindergarten. I believe that no matter how bad the situation is, people need to persevere and know things will get better.
While I was in Kindergarten, I was called down to Nurse Murphy’s office for my medical testing. After acing the hearing test, I was feeling quite confident going into the vision portion of the testing. My right eye flew through the letter, not even skipping a second. I was then told that I needed to move that little homemade paper covering, which was always an old math assignment recycled into a cover, onto my right eye. Since I was only in Kindergarten, I thought that everyone saw as bad as I did. My mom got a call that night from Fullerton Elementary, and was told that I could not even see the big “E” on the chart. My mom had a panic attack and immediately called the eye doctor.
My trip to the eye doctor was full of chills, and worried questions like, “Am I going to get a shot?” or “Is it going to hurt?.” I sat in the waiting room, squirming in my seat. I heard my name called from the door, and I got up slowly, afraid of what was coming next. I sat in my room, and looked around at all of the machines, thinking they were tools for torture. Dr. Troya comes in with a warm smile and calmly tells me that we are going to get started. I sat in the chair, stumbling over the letters that I strained to see. I tried so hard, my left eye began to hurt from attempting to focus on the tiny letters in the mirror. I felt so much better when Dr. Troya told me that we would fix this, but I thought it would be as simple as glasses for a little while. I was given eye patches to wear over my right eye, so that my left eye could grow stronger. I was so embarrassed to wear the patch, even at home. I always kept in mind that this was something I needed to do, and I wore the patch just so my eye could get stronger.
My next eye doctor appointment was six months later. I was so excited when I was told that I did not need the patch anymore! I just wore glasses until my left eye came from 20/100 in the beginning, to 20/40! I could finally see well enough that I could read and everything looked bigger to me now! I continued glasses until I was able to wear contacts in fourth grade. I loved my contacts and I gladly wore them every day, and would show off to my friends that I could touch my pupil without it hurting. I have continued to wear my contacts until about seventh grade. I started going to a new eye doctor, Dr. Crossman. He told me that since my left eye was at 20/40, I did not have to wear my contacts anymore if I did not want to! I feel so grateful that my parents spent the money to help me overcome this inconvenience. I finally can see with my left eye now!
With perseverance, any situation can be overcome, no matter how bad it is. This is supported by the fact that with little vision in my left eye, I was able to get my eye nearly perfect, even if it meant wearing the infamous patch. I knew that all I had to do was listen to the doctor and do whatever he told me to do. I was able to fix my eye, all it took was persevering through the whole situation. Perseverance is the key to unlocking people’s highest potential.
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