It’s a week and a half before I go to Tokyo. It’s the first international trip I’ve taken since my Keratoconus got worse and started to disrupt my daily life, so I’ve been a bit nervous about the trip.
OK, I’m understating things. I’ve been lowkey panicking about the trip even before I booked it, and definitely afterwards.
I wrote a “worry list” of all of the things that I am concerned about with the trip, which include getting an eye inflammation on the long flight, losing my contact lenses and being legally blind in a country where I have a 2-year old’s understanding of the language, probably the most ridiculous fear is somehow needing a emergency cornea transplant for some reason.
OK, I am understating that too, my most ridiculous fear is an earthquake hitting and me losing my contact lenses and my glasses and being totally helpless. So I have been preparing for the trip for the past three weeks. I started pulling together my big bag of eye crap, including artificial tears, more artificial tears, even more artificial tears, dry eye drops, more dry eye drops and steroid drops just in case all of that fails and I still get an inflammation.
I just went to LensCrafters to get a pair of glasses for my trip, even though my vision is so bad I can’t actually see with my glasses anymore, but I need to rest my eyes from the contact lenses for such a long trip, or I’ll get – you guessed it, an eye inflammation. Those mostly non-functional glasses cost me an assload of money. Like more than some people’s rent.
I got two different travel insurance plans – JUST IN CASE – and I have a list of English speaking ophthalmologists in Tokyo that I can go to JUST IN CASE. So… I’m ready. I think.
So can people with Keratoconus do overseas international travel without it being a pain in the ass, or at worst, a disaster? I’m gonna tell you! I’ll write about my adventures here later, but in real time, I’ll share over on my Instagram.
Keidra Chaney 
2 responses to “Flying Blind: The Adventure (Almost) Begins”
Glad to have come across your blog/journal. I also require sclerals (PROSE) for sight as glasses only give me minimal sight in only one eye. The inflammation is a problem when I’m out of my routine, or I fly, or keep them in too long. I recently took a long haul flight to Australia and had to figure out how to live a year here. If you say you have medical supplies in your carryon they won’t force check it if overhead space runs out, and they usually let you board first. I’m 10k miles from my doctors and paranoid also. I’ve also lost a lot of vision and my ability to drive at night or in the rain. But we always figure it out right!
Thanks so much for reading, and for the tips! I completely understand your situation, but you are right,we always figure it out! Cheers!