“I Remember When. . .” by optometrist Gregg Russell, Marietta, Ga.:

I remember going on a vision screening with other optometry students to a small border town in south Texas. It was in a makeshift eye clinic at a library, as I recall. Second-year students, like myself, were responsible only for taking case histories. The third- and fourth-year students did the external and internal ocular testing. As luck would have it, someone needed a break in the internal section and I was available to swoop in. I was excited to do my first exam “in the field.”

But my first patient—a crusty old migrant farm worker—proved to be an immense challenge. In his first eye, I could get a great view and identify landmarks. But I had a very difficult time viewing the internal structures in his other eye.

I felt flustered and confused, and the patient was starting to become, well, impatient. After what seemed like an eternity, he abruptly pushed himself back, removed his prosthetic eye, and placed it on the table.

“Son,” he said, “if you find anything wrong with this here eye, let me know. I have to go to the bathroom.”

I quickly went back to the station where I belonged.