Welcome Back, Benjamin

Well, folks, I'm alive! And I tell you what, it's sort of a miracle.

I have officially survived the second professional year of Optometry school, and I couldn't be more ready...I mean happy. Second year is notorious for sucking every ounce of desire, drive, and enjoyment out of the art and science of Optometry.

It all begins with more classes than is humanly possible to tolerate coupled with dry professors who are convinced you have nothing to do but study their subject. Pile on top of this five or so labs and things are starting to get stressful. Allow me to explain these labs a little bit too: they consist of me practicing every invasive skill on my fellow classmates. Oh yeah, and they do it right back to me. Consequently, I had to endure never ending weeks of gonioscopy lenses suctioned to my eyes, bright lights shined to the farthest nether-corners of my soul, metal probes pushed behind my eyeball, little blue plastic tips being gently set on my "tear film," and let's not negate the sheer pleasure of having only one eye dilated multiple times a week. And not to mention the masochistic pleasure of giving/getting five different injections: Intravenous, Subcutaneous, Intramuscular, Intralesional (in the skin of the eyelid), and Subconjunctival (under the clear membrane covering the white of the eye). The final cherry on the top of the second year birthday cake is a consistant stream of test and practicals designed to break the strong and crack the weak.

In the end, however, I survived. I emerged triumphant and prepared to begin to see patients of my own starting next week! And I must say, I did it with finesse and style.