Hep C Discussion Forum

So...after my 100% Cure of HepC...(ta da) I got this crummy eyeball infection, herpes in the eyeball. Who comes UP with this stuff? And of course I got the infection that would not just go away, and it left me with reduced clarity in my right eye.

Ok, not the end of the world, unless you are in California where they have changed the criterion for Vision Testing... meaning that it's really up to the Clerk you just happen to get at DMV, as I found.

In California you are required to show up in person,  if you are lucky enough to live to  66 years of age and want to keep your driving privileges.;  you are required to pass the newly revised, and much stricter vision test. 

Bummer! or Really Bad Timing. Right?

So I show up, my number is called, and the first thing the clerk says is "Oh, you have an existing restriction on your license, you "must wear corrective lenses"... yes, I just happened to have my glasses in my shirt pocket 10 years ago and they made me take the test wearing them, and forever after my license was branded, "Must Wear Corrective Lenses"... not the biggest deal, but my vision was 20/20 left, 20/30 right at the time. I just liked to have better acuity for driving, and ....well there it was.

Flash Forward: So I put my glasses on and failed the test. My right eye could not make out even one line, left eye still pretty perfect, but right eye, not good enough.

As I gazed across the room, I saw a wall of old license plates on the far wall, like 100 feet away, and could easily read the characters, so I mentioned to the clerk that I could read them, and she turned to look them as I read off the first 2 rows.

She got up and disappeared in to the back room and had a longish conversation with someone. She returned a while later, and announced, "You can use the GT1000 to take the test." Gt1000? Sounded like a motorcycle to me, a Suzuki or something. Anyway, I was directed to a mysterious black box that sat on the counter, the "GT1000".

The GT1000 is a vision testing device, or so they say. I put my head up to the indicated place and the clerk conducted the test. As it turns out, I saw everything, with both eyes, perfectly, not missing any of the tiniest characters.   

"Ok, here is your temporary license, your regular one will come in the mail"......

10 days or so later, it did come, good for 5 years, with no restrictions, none.    So I went from thinking I might not be able to drive at all, to having all the restrictions removed. I still can't see clearly out of my right eye, but I don't need glasses to drive. This proves the theory, "You never know what'll get."  The really good thing of course, even though I am somewhat suspicious my Epclusa treatment played a role in the herpes outbreak, it ultimately got my driver's license renewed, as well as curing my HepC.

In my exuberance I chased down a completely age-inappropriate bike to ride, with my totally unrestricted driver's license...

-- Edited by LamontCranston on Tuesday 22nd of May 2018 03:04:14 PM