My first pair of glasses came at age ten. Until then I didn’t know I couldn’t see. But once I could see, I had to see it all,
perfectly. That from someone with 20/200
uncorrected vision, and astigmatism. All my ophthalmologists have been happy to
ask “Better one or two?” until I came back to 20/20 vision. My biggest problem was finding a nice pair of
new frames to go around my new lenses every year or two.
For more than ten years I’ve heard about my little cataracts
from any doctor who put a light into my eyes, including the
ophthalmologist. Little things. Scarcely a mote, according to the doctors who
mentioned it. I know I cannot tell navy
blue from hunter green and seldom need sunglasses, and assume that is due to
the cataracts. I could have worse
problems.
This past year, though, the little buggers gained on
me. If I needed to read a road sign
accurately and in time to know what it meant, I just dropped my right eye out
of service and went with the left. I
knew I would be seeing the ophthalmologist in November and I could get that eye
sorted out.
Not so fast, the doctor said. There is eye surgery and there is eye
surgery. To correct vision a tiny slit
of cornea is lifted, a snip here and there to make the lens more perfect, a
little astigmatism work, plop the cornea back, done. Ten minutes.
With cataract surgery an ultrasound probe goes into the slit to blast
the cataract to smithereens so it can be vacuumed out. Then a permanent lens is inserted. No
cataract is removed before its time.
Dangers outweigh benefits and all that.
Not time for mine, yet.
We did go through the better one, better two drill until the
doctor was satisfied I could see better through the cataract. Thanks!
New glasses next week. Purple
with a little bling.
Which brings me to word verification. Nobody likes it. People with cataracts probably like it even
less than nobody likes it. Those numbers
catch me up three and four times in a row.
Maybe bloggers who use word verification could give comment moderation a
go. We can wait to see ourselves in
print.
I'm with you about the word verification. What gets me is some blogs have word verification and comment moderation. Drives me a bit batty on those ones.
ReplyDeleteGood that you are getting new glasses and that you seem to have an eye doctor that is carefully watching your eyes and advising the right treatment at the right time. I've been wearing glasses since age 7 and at my last visit this past summer, I asked if I had the signs of cataracts, which thankfully none yet; made me a bit concerned since my sister at age 58 had to have one of her eyes done.
Enjoy the new glasses when they arrive and your weekend!
betty
This look almost like mine! I love purple.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind comment moderation..indeed, I use it myself. I wouldn't want something offensive to land on my site. Word verification? Well, I think that is a last resort for folks who are having serious problems with spammers and stalkers. If I can't get it right after four tries they will have to live without my comment...
ReplyDeleteI was the only one in my family that didn't need to wear glasses. Until I aged of course and the fine detail work of my work probably didn't help any. Now I need glasses to read, have needed them for 15 or 20 years. I just use the drug store magnifiers which work well enough. There is a range nowadays where it's too far for the magnifiers and not far enough for me to see clearly. I resist real glasses though.
ReplyDeleteoh, and I hate word verification. I don't do comment moderation either but do not allow 'anonymous' comments. most the spam I got was from anonymous and blogger does a pretty good job of catching others. I do sometimes have to go into the comments section on the dashboard to report one as spam.
ReplyDeleteNice glasses. Just got a new pair myself and I'm finding them a bit uncomfortable. I agree with comment moderation. I do most of my blog commenting on a mobile phone and its a nightmare when a blog has comment varification turned on. In fact sometimes I give in and don't bother leaving the comment.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention: I'm scared stiff of getting cataracts.
ReplyDeleteWord verification sucks. I have great eyesight and still have to squint and retry.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Joanne - I can appreciate some of what you're going though!
ReplyDeleteFor the last 15 months we've had dramas with my daughter's vision. She had a catastrophic detachment of the retina (5 large rips/tears!) and had to have a series of operations to repair the damage. Even after all that, she now has very limited sight in that eye.
She also developed the beginnings of detachment in the other eye, but that has been stabilised with laser surgery. This was all caused due to her being born 11 weeks premature. Her subsequent short-sightedness was put down to heredity as I also have myopia, but now at the age of 28, it seems this was a degenerative condition throughout her life.
We are still going back and forwards to the hospital (God bless the NHS!) where she has been under the care of one of the country's leading eye surgeons - but they have said she already has a cataract forming on the damaged eye. Oh joy!
As for word verification I think it sucks but if bloggers feel the need to screen their incoming comments, so be it = as long as the comment will finally load! ;-)
oh i hate that word thingy---i don't like to think about my failing eyesight---i hope your new glasses work well :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous glasses. I think some newer bloggers are unaware they have word verification turned on.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the problem of too many spammers in the comment section. It has happened to my and I've seen in on other blogs. The problem does not seem to warrant word verification. I know not everyone likes Disqus but I like it better than word verification. You can blacklist spammers within Disqus.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like we had the same eye problems as youngsters, although I got my glasses at the age of eight. So far no problems with cataracts yet (THANK GOODNESS!)
ReplyDeleteI to loathe word verification to and turned mine off a long time ago because its nothing but a pain in the bottom. I have cataracts to just like my mum and was told by my eye doctor i'm to young for the operation.
ReplyDeleteHere's lookin' at you. kid!
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I get v frustrated when it can take me three or more attempts to get word verification sorted. And it isn't as if my fly by night comments are worth that amount of effort. Comment moderation is fine. One blog I visit has both - now that is overkill.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that your eyes will be sorted for the time being. And purple with bling sounds wonderful.
Love your glasses! They do look a lot like mine, too!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, cataracts are not the devastation they were for my grandparents and their era.
I hate the 'Captcha' verification.
Three years ago I had a cataract removed from my right eye. It was done through the old fashioned surgery and six weeks later when I awoke, I could hardly see out of that eye. I had an inflammation and as a result will have to put expensive drops in that eye for the rest of my life. Last year, when I needed the other eye done, I found another doctor who removed the cataract using a laser. I also had a more pricy lens put in to rid myself of a stigmatism. It was about the cost of a pair of glasses. The experience was so much better and the outcome was marvelous and I now have the eyesight in one eye of a 20 year old. What I learned was to always get recommendations when deciding on a doctor and a procedure. I would highly recommend having the cataract removed using the laser as there is less chance of any problems.
ReplyDeleteHi Joanne, I love your glasses! As far as the word verification goes, I cannot stand it! (and I don't even wear glasses). Thus I have empathy with those who have vision problems, as I feel that if it bugs me it must bug the heck out of them.
ReplyDeleteYour new frames look lovely!
ReplyDeleteI need new glasses again, I have astigmatism and am long sighted as well, just lately things are looking a lot like I need to clean my glasses even though they are sparkly clean, so a new test is in order. I usually have bifocals so I can see the computer screen and my books as well as the TV screen. The hardest part for me is finding frames that I like that don't cost the earth. This time around I'm going to ask for more magnification as well, as newspapers and phone books are being printed with very small fonts. I'm thinking of prescription sunglasses too.
Ugh. I do have comment moderation, but that didn't stop spammers. Imagine my surprise to come back from a holiday to New Orleans and discover over 2000 comments in my e-mail waiting for my moderation. That was a looonnngg hour spent.
ReplyDeleteCool specs.
The doctor who did my cataract surgery (at age 52) said that it is easier to do before the cataracts get too advanced, because the lens is supple and easily removed. Still, there is the trade-off analysis that must be made between current state of vision and the remote chance of complications. Mine were interfering with my work, as I had severe astigmatism also. I am so glad to have had it done. Good luck with yours when the time comes. In the meantime, I love those glasses!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I have the worst time with the word verification. It's hard to make out what the words and numbers are. The comment moderation has worked for me... so far.
ReplyDelete