My Old Diagnosis: Optic Atrophy: 04/22/09

Many of you may be wondering what exactly my eye problem is. Today I'm going to address this topic. Most doctors have labeled my eye problem as trauma at birth. Optic Atrophy is usually accompanied by color vision loss. Optic Atrophy commonly develops during early childhood. Since the optic nerve runs to the brain, there is currently no cure for this eye problem. On the other hand, since it's not a physical eye disease my vision should not deteriorate further. For years my eye doctors have shrugged shoulders and said anything from he's undiagnosed to he's got Optic Atrophy due to trauma at birth. I was 2.5 months premature when born. My lungs were underdeveloped so it's possible there could have been a lack of oxygen to my brain that may have caused this condition. The doctors actually told my mother I'd never live. hahaha They're SO smart aren't they?

Not only am I classified as legally blind, I'm also partially color blind. Now lets get this straight, I DO NOT see in black and white! Oh sorry, touchy subject. Yes, I detest that question as much as the "how many fingers am I holding up question", even though I fully understand why someone would ask. Bright colors are more easily discernible in bright lighting conditions. When colors get close to the same value is where my problems lie. At that point, confusion sets in. When I open my eyes very wide and more light gets in the bright colors jump out at me. But this is useless because I can't walk around with toothpicks prying my eyes wide open daily.

With these things in mind, my new specialist, Dr. De Carlo, took great care in providing me with any diagnosis. She didn't rush to any decision, nor did she buy into what other doctors had told me. After looking closely with some really bright lights around my eye, she had an idea. She said she has a hunch that I have a different eye problem, but we will not know for sure unless I agree to undergo additional testing. I told her to sign me up. I agreed to have a Electroretinogram done. I won't bore you with the medical definition unless you want to click the different links.

On April 22 2009 at 8:30 am I went to the Eye Foundation for my Electroretinogram. I had forgot my insurance card that day, but God takes care of fools and blind people. lol Anyways, this nice lady with a (I'm guessing here) German accent tested me. The electrodes were placed on me, I was dilated, the lights turned out and the fun began. Well that doesn't sound right in print. After dilation was complete, (Dr De Carlo says I'm a fast dilator) my testing began. I stuck my head in this thing pictured above that looked to me like a space helmet with a red light in the middle. We did a spot test where I looked and a tiny light flashed soft to bright. The ERG machine measured the electrical activity of my retina in response to light stimulation. It's actually a pain free test of my rods and cones. I tested with the lights off and on. After testing I walked out with those fashionable dilation shades to meet with the ERG doctor who would examine the results. This guy looked at my eyes extensively with more bright lights. Are we having fun yet? After all that, I noticed him flipping though my test results. When I asked, he stated he thinks he knows what I've got, but doesn't want to say until he examines my results more extensively. No shocker, I know how these people work. Now the waiting game beings again until Dr De Carlo gets my Electroretinogram results back from the ERG specialist.

The Ganzfeld Electroretinogram machine I was tested on looked exactly like the one pictured at the top of my blog. They had it connected to a laptop and my eyes to the electrodes. It was painless and a extremely simple test.

A Possible New & Improved Bioptic Design

Click here to check out the newest possible bioptic design : Bioptics

2nd Passenger Evaluation: 04/24/09 I'm Crushed

My neighbor and friends have been working a lot with me this past week to prepare me for today. I still don't think I'm an ideal bioptic user, but I should pass. Today Jennifer was kind enough to arrange to pick me up form work with another one of her pupils. This Friday was a bright sunshine filled day. I hurried to get downstairs from work to meet Jennifer at the curb of my workplace. She called my cell and said one of the girls she was training had put her a little behind and someone was lost in her building. I told her no problem, I had no choice but to wait. :) After about 10 minutes she arrived. I had no idea what vehicle she was in. I forgot to ask. When she finally arrived she rolled down the window and said my name as I cautiously approached the van.

She was joking and called the van her new soccer mom mini van. Apparently, her employer had just given it to her to use for testing. Jenn introduced me to the teenage driver she was working with. Jennifer mostly talked and had a few cell phone distractions. It was obviously not a ideal day for her to do this test. She did ask me to spot a few things here and there. At one point we braked and she asked me if the car in front of us had blinking lights on or not. I had no clue, it was very bright and the bright light makes red light very hard to see. I can only see red perfectly at dusk or night. We tried a few other vehicles. No luck. With that, she was starting to get a negative tone with me about my driving prospects. I had mentioned moving to Oregon, and she said her sister lived there and I'd be a much better off there. That really did not make me happy, but she meant to be encouraging. I realized that, but this is NOT what I wanted to hear today! I was at my house before I could blink an eye. She apologized for not having enough time to test me more in depth today. I had to prompt her for information at the end of our trip. She told me what to work on and then gave me a little hope.

Jennifer explained that Dr. De Carlo has some options for users with problems seeing red lights. She mentioned some contacts and filters. She then told me that I should not contact her until I've seen Dr. De Carlo again for assistance correcting these problems. With that she was off, and I was left home alone on a early Friday afternoon to do nothing but ponder this unfortunate turn of events. I was CRUSHED!!! And the news gets worse from there. Monday I called the doctors office to setup this appointment Jennifer required. I was told by the secretary that it would be almost 2 months before I could see Dr. De Carlo again due to her extensive research and limited patient schedule! I took the next appointment: June 18th. This really sucks. I think it could be the end. Me going back to the doctor at Jennifer's request, sounds like a last straw effort. I'm in shock and frustrated beyond belief. I'm seeing red now...because I'm so mad, too bad I still can't see the red stop lights that well. I knew this may happen, I just don't want it to be over.

1st Passenger Evaluation: 04/14/09

Guess what? My new long term driving instructor is named Jennifer! I can't believe I was transferred from one Jennifer to another. Let's see... what can I tell you about my first impressions of her. She seems so efficient and good at multi-tasking. I get the feeling she likes to hang with the guys more than the girls. There's nothing wrong with that. We all need friends. Anyways, she asked me some basic questions, and much like my Dr.'s visit, they were simple. We did a short term memory test, a few eye test, I had to spell backwards.....not so good at that......and I had to draw something she showed me. These simple action / reaction test, were concluded with her asking for my paperwork......you know.....the paperwork I keep complaining about that Montgomery DMV never sends me. She said she'd make a call for a status update on those for me later. Then she asked to look at my Bioptic Training Folder and I was in for a shock. It turns out there was a eye chart test, flash card test and a spotting test in that folder! I had never noticed them. They were just laying in the folder pocket, obviously unused. I could not believe I had not noticed or remembered the other Jennifer even giving me those. I had my driving diary done at least, but this lack of practice noticeably troubled Jenn.

Well, I already felt bad about this, and she dug for some temporary paperwork to take the place of the DMV's delays. After that she got her purse and keys and we hit the pavement. My passenger evaluation was underway. We went toward my employers office and we began with spotting techniques. I was making errors looking through the glasses too long. I corrected this. Jennifer would ask me to see stuff that seemed too far off to care about or notice for the sighted person, much less a visually impaired person. She then asked me to spot closer up stop lights. This was working better. I was having trouble with the red lights but didn't voice this concern, scared of what may come of my revelation. I played it off as much as possible. My light sensitivity was bothering me some. More importantly, it seemed when we came to a cluster of trees that silhouetted the red lights I'd not have any chance of seeing the red light. This was also something I tried as much as possible to keep to myself. Who can blame me? Never mind...I should not have asked. :) But I can't let my dreams go this easily, so I wasn't about to let my first day of road testing with the bioptic be my last. I know it really wasn't in my control, but I could and did control as much as possible.

When it was all said and done, Jennifer did what I thought. After her obvious concern of no chart or card spotting practice I was reprimanded to another week of practice before she'd consider passing me. She said to call her next week and setup another appointment. She was kind enough to drop me off at work and I went home feeling dismayed and a little defeated. I really thought everything would go well. I thought I did ALL I could possibly do to make the 1st passenger evaluation a success. For the sake of other drivers and myself I know it's in my best interest to be an exceptional driver. With that in mind, I can't wait to try it again sometimes next week. I guess I'll be sure to do my homework next round.

Bioptic Training Day 1: 03/26/09

On the way home from the prior Dr. visit, Dr. De Carlo's assistant, Lisa, called with good news. She said there was a open slot for introductory bioptic training on 03/26/09. She asked if I wanted to take it. This was a no brainer, of course I wanted to snag the appointment. Things were progressing so well.......famous last words.

Thursday morning came quickly. Too bad the bus did not. It so happens 03/26/09 rain storms plagued the area overnight and into the early morning. My usual morning driver was late. It's very unusual for this particular driver to be late. It was getting close, so 30 minutes before my appointment I called the bus station. The dispatcher stated the rain storm had caused all the buses to leave the yard late, causing major delays. I was so angry about the ordeal, but tried to remain calm. I called the Dr.'s office about 10 minutes before my appointment and let them know I'd be about 10 minutes late. They said they would relay the message to my trainer. Great, now I get to meet someone who's upset I'm late. There's nothing like leaving a lasting first impression. The bus finally arrived and I raced out to my appointment. Upon arriving, I signed in and took a seat briefly before meeting Jennifer. Jennifer took me to the back of the office, shut the door, pulled out some folders and got down to business. After all.....I was late, very late.

She seemed as rushed as I felt. Turns out she did have another appointment immediately after mine. So with only about 30 minutes left of my hour long appointment we had to move swiftly. Jennifer sat down at the round table with me and asked me a series of questions about my basic life, bio, and vision. She showed me a manual that gives instructions and procedures for training to use the bioptic for driving. She and I reviewed some key terms, some driving principles, spotting techniques and assignments. Most of manuals contents shared common sense information. I was a little bored with how common sense all this seemed until her mouth uttered some shocking words. She proceeded to tell me that I would not be encouraged to read any street signs!!! She said I should rely on GPS for this sort of information. Jennifer went on to explain how I could easily get in a wreck trying to see every single street sign. Wow, I thought, how did people do this before GPS? After all, it's only been mainstream about 4 years at the most. I love gadgets so this was music to my ears. Plus, through my limited practice with the bioptic I knew reading street signs was near impossible because of the small print, angles they are placed, and crazy fonts. What a relief, I would only need to focus on things like traffic lights, warning signs, interstate signs, and speed limits. This would make things much easier.

Once we got the bioptic manual review completed we walked around to a long rectangular office. Jennifer was grabbing stuff as if we were in high school and she was fishing for books frantically out of her locker before she was marked tardy. It turns out this was her last day or two at the office. Dr. De Carlo told me at my prior appointment that Jennifer was leaving and she'd have to find someone else to replace her soon. When I realized this, I was even more thankful I had made it to the evaluation. Jennifer pulled out some flash cards and held them at about a 13 foot distance to test how well I used the bioptic. We did stationary and moving flash card test with symbols, letters, and numbers. I breezed through the test. Jennifer was confident I'd have no issues and said she was going to refer me to the next phase: a bioptic use evaluation while in a moving vehicle. Jennifer wrote down a phone number for me to call and schedule my appointment with my new instructor. I was fired up and ready for it. Too bad my new instructor was not. She would not have an appointment available till 04/14/09. My Dr. and my research had warned me all this would take time. Nine to twelve months to be exact. I was still disappointed, but knew it's a step in the right direction. Speaking of taking time, where are those papers from the Montgomery D.M.V. I need so bad? Still MIA (missing in action!) Looks like another phone call to them is in order.

Bioptic Fitting Day: 03/24/09

I couldn't be happier about my new adventure. Before I signed on the dotted line to buy the bioptic, I wanted to see if I could get purchase assistance from the Alabama Rehabilitation for the Blind. I called my counselor, Charles, and then I called him again and again and again. Apparently he was out of the office or at meetings or anywhere else but answering his phone. I started getting frustrated. My customer service job doesn't allow me much free time to make or accept calls. The phone tag was becoming a headache. I finally decided after about 3 failed attempts to reach my counselor, I'd resort to email. Suddenly, I got a response, then a phone call, then messages, then more emails. Apparently I tapped the communication sweet spot. Charles agreed that driving would certainly enhance my work abilities. With that, he sent a few forms over to reactivate my rehabilitation case. The evening I received them I was so elated that I signed everything and rushed to the post office the same evening to drop off the completed forms. What would happen next? How much could they assist me in the middle of a economic slump? All these questions danced in my head. The waiting game began.

One day about a week or two later I was checking my voice mail. I was at work in the lobby waiting for my bus to come. Suddenly I yelled "YES!" Dr De Carlo's assistant left me a voice mail stating the bioptic was ordered. I knew this meant the Rehabilitation office had agreed to help me. What I didn't know was how much. So I began to wonder. I decided there was only one way to find out. Fearing that it was too late in the evening to call the doctors office I wrestled to decide if I should call. Curiosity got the best of me and I called and spoke with the Dr De Carlo's assistant, Lisa. I wanted to know how much financial assistance I was approved for. She then told me Rehabilitation paid for all $1500.00 of it ! This meant the world to me. I could more easily afford to make a down payment on a used car now. Plus, they were already ordered, I didn't have to think about it. This made my day, my week, my year. So Lisa helped me get scheduled for a fitting with Dr De Carlo on 03/24/09. Since the glasses and bioptic are custom ordered, I could add at least 2 more weeks of waiting to my to do list.

March 24 2009 arrived quickly. I came in the Dr's. office ready to see what my new bioptic glasses were going to do for me. I was disappointed that Dr De Carlo did not show them to me. Instead her assistant, pulled them out of the pleather case. They looked like the photos, but the weight of them did shock me. I could tell that my nose would hurt after just 15 minutes of wearing the bioptic glasses. But who cares, there is no price you can put on independence and freedom. With that thought out of my head, I was told the doctor would now come in and take a look at the fit. Dr De Carlo showed me how to adjust the lens using the screwdriver provided. It seemed like making adjustments were a trial and error task. With that done, she showed me a strap that could help bear some of the weight of the glasses. We also talked about the special sun shield she ordered to go over the glasses. It was around $25.00 alone. She said the company can charge what they want for these since they are one of a kind, so I should guard it with my life or pay the price. After that we did a few test with the eye chart. I was amazed at what I could see.

The doctors always do these test but never tell you what they are writing down, unless you ask. It seems like we all should be conditioned to ask questions by now. I have always had people ask me what my vision is. I swear, I just never remember the numbers because it's so rare its discussed in depth. Today I wanted to see what exactly the difference was. I weighed in at 20/150 without the bi-optic glasses and 20/25 with the bioptic. This was only when reading in ideal lighting conditions on stationary high contrast letters. That was a point I didn't think anything about, until I took them for a road trip. Dr De Carlo was feeling much better since getting over the walking pneumonia. I don't understand how she drug herself to work the day she met me in February, but was so glad she was better. She took time to explain to me the next steps. I would go for training using the bioptic. This would consist of self training, training with the occupational therapist and passenger training with my driving instructor. That's a lot of training. I hoped my job would help me get the time off needed to do all this. All this was exciting, but the future came with a few obstacles. Dr De Carlo explained the resident occupational trainer on her staff was leaving the job soon and it would take her several weeks to get a new employee to do my training. Knowing the time it takes to get through this whole process, she remained encouraging and told me she'd try and work something out sooner. Another delima was the state paperwork required to become a licensed bioptic driver was being revamped. Information I dug up online in January warned me I should get this paperwork early. But I was hitting brick walls every time I called the Department of Motor Vehicle Office. Dr De Carlo stated she was involved in some of this process and she was hopeful the newly revised paperwork needed would be approved and sent to me soon. A few weeks later I contacted the D.M.V. office again and still got sympathetic apologies and was told I was on the mass mailing list. This list consisted of many individuals across the state waiting on this paperwork in order to get licensed to drive. It angered me, but i just told myself it was out of my hands. I didn't think it wise to bug these people, but I did feel like a bi-weekly call was healthy encouragement.

With all that information to process, Dr De Carlo then offered a interesting revelation for me. Unlike almost every other optometrist I've ever seen, she said she disagreed that I was born with my eye problems. Most all my eye care professionals have diagnosed me with : trauma at birth. The medical term is Optic Atrophy. She stated she was not so sure. In an effort to get the most information possible she offered a suggestion no one ever had before. She said in order to tell if my eye problems were optical problems or macular problems she could order a Electro-Retinogram. She explained it was painless, and while the answers would not solve any of my eye problems in the near future, it may be helpful in the distant future. I couldn't believe she cared enough to suggest this. Why did no other optometrist tell me about this? I'm no doctor, but it was evident she was doing everything possible to help me and my eye condition. I easily agreed to get the Electro-retinogram. She explained it would be painless and they would take me in a totally dark room and put something similar to contacts on my eyes. I wear contacts, so none of this bothered me in the least. She stated she'd let me know when she got it scheduled. After that I grabbed my new glasses and was ready to explore riding in a car with them. Dr De Carlo told me to use them as much as possible, but don't develop bad habits of looking in them for more than 2 seconds. With that, she locked up the office and called it a day. I wore the glasses on the way home and couldn't believe I could read the Vulcan sign on the Red Mountain Expressway home. This was my first success using the bioptic and my mind rattled with anticipation of all the possibilities. What an amazing day.

The Journey To A Day: 02/19/09

It's 6:45 am on Feb 19th 2009 in Birmingham Alabama. A cold morning that started with my usual bus ride on the Birmingham MAX Para-transit service. I rode to work and back most every day using this service since September 2002. I had a love hate relationship with my transit providers. I loved most of the drivers as I loved my own family, but detested the way management got away with providing such poor quality of service to paying customers. To sum it up in the words of a colleague of mine, the Birmingham transit service at times seemed it couldn't put together a 2 car parade. The words from the dispatchers were just that, words. Sure these words read kindly, but they sounded brazen and meaningless so many days. My vision loss forced me and others like me to put up with this service. I can't tell you how many days I wanted to utterly destroy each and every one of their cars, so they could understand what it was like to be late for work or not know how much longer it would really be before you'd ever make it to your home.

Now that I have that out of my system, I can tell you more about this particular morning's bus ride. My driver stopped to greet me in the middle of a cell phone conversation. Technology makes its way into everyone's day in America. This day proved to be no different. Upon boarding the bus with my flashy holographic monthly pass, I said "what's up", my usual greeting, and sat down in the front seat. I reminded my driver this morning's destination would be different. I was elated to not be going to work. The change in itinerary would take me somewhere I had not been before. I read the address to him to be sure he knew it. He said he'd been there before.  I was thinking, I wish I had been there years ago. Around 7a.m. I was dropped off at the Callahan Low Vision center at UAB. I was 30 minutes early for my eye evaluation. Upon entering this obviously retrofitted building, I wondered to the information desk. Seeing my obvious confusion, a receptionist promptly asked if I was there for my surgery. I laughed and told her I hoped not. I told her I was to see a particular doctor and she pointed me in another direction. I passed a sea of elderly people whom I guessed were in fact awaiting surgery. Upon arrival at another small desk, a young guy sat like the bouncer of the eye center. Again I asked directions and realized I was in real trouble because he had no clue who my physician was. Back to the information center I walked. This time I approached another person, who instructed me to hang a right, hit the elevator and take it to the 4th floor. Yes, finally some real directions from somebody that really knows something. The elevator dinged and I walked off the 4th floor with 3 directions to choose. I had no idea this was going to be a maze. I struggled to read the signs in the eye center due to the small print they were in. Imagine that, a low vision center with signs in tiny print. So I wondered around. Not a person was on this floor. I was sure the woman said 4th floor. I walked around in circles. It was 7:15am. I started fearing I'd be late. Out of desperation, I fished my cell phone out of my coat pocket and called the doctor's office. To my shock and horror, just a machine picked up.

I made my way back to the elevator about to ride back down for the 4th attempt at instructions and saw a sign that said Callahan Low Vision Center. Wow, I finally made it. Time to relax. No, it wasn't time to relax. There were no lights on. Had I misunderstood that appointment date? Surely not. I took a seat in front of the dark office and quietly pondered where the people could be that ran the place. After about 2 minutes a person whizzed by and unlocked the door to the doctor's office. I sat quietly.  She peered over her shoulder before entering the room and confirmed who I was. She apologized for my waiting, and said I was the earliest appointment and they rarely are there much earlier than that. I wondered my way into the waiting room, filled out a sign in sheet, and was told they would get my insurance information later. The doctor's assistant did this interview with me. She asked me who the president was, what day it was, and I started to wonder if I had read the sign wrong and walked into the Alzheimer's treatment unit. She then tried to get me to enter a study that I was not really interested in investing my time in. With that, I was escorted back to the waiting room. By this time the real receptionist had arrived. She was coughing on the phone. I could hear her following some orders between coughs. Apparently the doctor was canceling appointments. I thought please God don't let her cancel mine. After some more casual ease dropping, I learned it was the afternoon appointments only. After a few more minutes, the receptionist escorted me to the examination room where I answered more detailed questions about my health. She was obviously sick. This was the time of year I usually get a sinus infection, so I was not so zealous about being in the same room with her too long. She was nice enough to make every effort to ensure she didn't spread germs to me. After she finished questioning me, she left me alone to have that quality thinking time before the actual doctor arrives. I thought, this day has been in the making 30 years. Please don't let it be for nothing God. Soon the door swung open and a middle aged woman entered the room and introduced herself as Dr De Carlo. I had read online that she was a low vision specialist. She asked me more medical questions and finally got to the point.

What do you hope to gain from your visit with me today? Is there anything you would like to do with your vision that you feel you can't do today? And with that, my simple reply was, I would love to be able to drive. She immediately looked at me with purpose.  I feel she could tell this was in fact something she could definitely help me do. She then told me that she would have to do several test on me to see if I qualified. We talked about my vision care and she realized she knew my optometrist. This seemed to spark more zeal, she immediately asked her assistant to get my optometrist to fax over copies of my medical records. It felt reassuring that there was some connection between my regular eye doctor and Dr De Carlo. She backed up in her rolling chair as she talked to me. She was like her assistant: very sick and probably shouldn't have been at work at all. But her dedication showed as she struggled to talk without coughing. She tried using a cough drop, but it didn't help her cough. She said she'd not been sick in the 3 years she's worked at this location and yet today she had already cancelled half her appointments. Now this really made me think more of God's plans. How amazing that I happened to be the person she saw on a day when she probably should be at the doctor herself. I couldn't help but feel gratitude.

Since she had my updated eye information from my optometrist, she was able to proceed with a visual field test. If you've never taken one of these, it's like playing Jeopardy while looking for alien space craft. Your affix you face in a small dome and the doctor controls the size, speed, and direction of light you see. This test how far up, down, left, and right you can see things. Oh, did I mention there's a fun eye patch you must wear. Upon finishing her notes, I waited quietly for the results. You passed. Wow, I couldn't believe that my dream of 30 years had only one more canyon to jump.......a color test. Yes, I was born, color blind. Not completely color blind. Bright colors were easy for me to see. The muted earth tones and colors in the same value posed the most problems. You'd think they would have you look at a traffic light, a few signs, and that would be that. Nope. They had this color coffin. Okay, bad analogy, but it was pretty intimidating for me because it was about 15 colors lined up in this clear plastic tray. These were pretty muted colors in value, so I immediately felt disadvantaged. The doctor took them out of the coffin, and jumbled them all up. She then told me to put them back in the order she had them. I was instructed not to touch the tops with my fingers as oil on the colors would distort what one sees. After that she finally left me to my challenge. I was agitated by this. I thought if I don't pass this last test due to a few stupid color choices I will....I can't think that way, do it Rodney, just concentrate and do this. There is no second chance. I played around with the colors staring intently. You'd think this would be a trivial task to an artist, but not this color blind artist. The doctor peeked in on me after several minutes. I could tell it must not have been too good because she glanced and wondered back the other direction without asking if I was done. Again she left the room. Okay, I've got to get this right. I stared, and stared and moved the colors around a few times more until I felt there was absolutely nothing more I could do to improve my choices. She examined them without saying anything.

Don't you hate how doctors create all this suspense through silence? I did. She said I didn't do too well on that, but not to fear because she had another color test. My heart skipped a beat, and I thought I can't believe all my dreams come down to this color crunching. She pulled out some swatches and asked me to ID them. I was relieved these were bright colors I could easily distinguish. And with that she said I passed the third and final test. It didn't really sink in what just happened. She proceeded to tell me about how there are different bi-optic lenses and frames. We reviewed the samples;  I tried them on and took them for a test drive. Once she measured my eyes, I was outfitted with these lenses and she asked me to read the eye chart. I was thinking they were not focused right. I couldn't see anything. She showed me how to focus them. Then she realized I was not tilting my head down. She told me that you must do so to read using the bi-optics. Since you drive using your regular forward vision, the bi-optic is made so it doesn't interfere with that vision. Tilting my head slightly down she asked me to read the chart. Oh, I couldn't believe this;  suddenly I realized this was the first time I was at the eye doctor's office reading past the second line of letters with no problems whatsoever! A true miracle had just taken place.

Here's what my new Bi-Optics will look like!

They are mega expensive AND trendy! Right? : )