Swimming and keratoconus

 

I was diagnosed with keratoconus in my mid 40’s and when I was diagnosed I was told I had to wear these very big lenses called scleral lenses.  The lens itself is about the size of a dime and these lenses vault over the eye without touching it (they are hard lenses).  When you get these lenses one of the things they tell you is that you should not wear them when you are showering or in the pool, or any other time you might get water in your eyes.  The reason for that is because if water gets between the lens and the eye it can cause a terrible infection that could cause one to actually lose their vision.  The possibility of that has been very scary especially since I was so close to never being able to see again, and especially since I have spent well over $30,000 out of pocket just so I can see.  Anyhow, over the years I have never really been able to enjoy the swimming pool with my kids.  Don’t get me wrong….I don’t know how to swim and don’t enjoy being under the water, but I also couldn’t have fun with them and splash around for fear of water getting in my eyes.  I would wear sunglasses but that never 100% kept water from getting in my eyes which always caused me to panic and not want to be in or near the water.  

The other day we went swimming at my daughters pool and there was a kid squirting people with a squirt gun.  It was very powerful and he could shoot the water all the way across the pool.  It caused more than one incident of me freaking out after getting water in my eyes, and several times we asked him to stop, but he didn’t.  I didn’t know who this little boy was there with, but the people at the pool didn’t seem to give a crap.  At one point I was so stressed out I got out of the pool and sat on a chair.  That still didn’t stop this kid from squirting me.  

Then the next day we took the kids to hurricane harbor.  While we were on the lazy river I had to avoid anything that squirted water.  In the wave pool I couldn’t got too deep for fear of water splashing up in my eyes.  When we were at Pirates Cove I had to stay away from as many splashing kids as I could.  It severely impacted my enjoyment with my kids.  

After that I knew something had to change!!!!  I hate wearing goggles when I go to the pool because people look at you weird if you have them and are not swimming laps or going underwater.  I didn’t want to embarrass myself or my kids so I did a google search (ended up on amazon) for sunglasses goggles, and found the goggles you see here.  These are actually goggles, but when you look at me head on they look like sunglasses.  

Today we went to hurricane harbor again, and I wore my sunglasses goggles, and we had a blast.  I didn’t have to worry too much about getting splashed or getting water in my eyes, and didn’t have to worry about what people thought of me.  I also didn’t have to worry about the kids being embarrassed by their mom with goggles on.  We had so much fun in the wave pool, going down the lazy river and playing at Pirates Cove.  

I was so happy I found these goggle glasses that I ordered a second pair!!!!