I am a massage therapist. One day, I was visiting patients at a factory and happened to play around with the eye chart on the wall. I couldn't believe how much worse the vision in my right eye was than my left.
Later that week I visited my eye doctor. He put lens after lens in front of me, but it didn't really improve my vision. Then he brought me to another room, Did some more tests and told me I had Keratoconus. He explained to me that we would have to try contacts instead of glasses.
After multiple visits and multiple contacts, I was referred to a optometrist who bluntly told me, "come back when you need a corneal transplant." Are you serious? I had an almost 3 year old and a 6 month baby... I can't loose my vision. I was only 25! I went back to the original eye doctor and he then referred me to Ohio State University. There I was accepted into a corneal crosslinking study and received crosslinking on my right eye. I have been very fortunate. My right eye hasn't progressed since the crosslinking and even though my left eye has keratoconus, it is pretty mild.
Throughout the last 6 years keratoconus has made me make decisions that I may not have otherwise. I got my eyeliner tattooed on, because it's hard to put eyeliner on when I close my "good eye". I bought a 1 story house within walking distance of work... Just in case. I have actually wondered what the point of taking pictures are because someday you might not be able to see them. I have had my daughter's eyes scanned for piece of mind. The list goes on. It's always in the back of my head.
On the other hand, it makes you treasure the smiles on your children's faces, sunsets, green fields, flowers blooming, and clouds that touch mountain ranges. It makes you want to go on random adventures to see new things and it makes you want to permanently save the feelings you have when you view those things. It makes you love your husband and family even more for understanding. And because they don't seem scared, it makes it a lot less scary.