Squirrels Beware!

If all goes according to plan, normal vision will soon be mine again.

Okay, I’m not talking 20/20 uncorrected vision but at least clear (non-clouded) eyesight.  Cataract surgery is planned for this coming week.

I had noticed about a year ago that my vision was not as sharp as I have typically enjoyed with my eyeglasses.  Whether I was trying to focus my camera on a distant horizon, watch TV, or read a book it was feeling more and more strained.  By late spring, I realized my left eye was having to do most of the work. 

I made an appointment with my regular optometrist but it was going to be late summer before they could see me.  I struggled with the change in vision for a few more weeks and then made an appointment with a different doctor who could see me sooner.  I went in thinking I would be picking out new glasses that afternoon; instead she informed me I had a fast-growing cataract (posterior subcapsular cataract) in my right eye.  She would be referring me to a specialist.

I must say that was shocking news but it certainly explained a few things.  My right eye is my ‘focus’ eye whether I’m using a camera or a BB gun.  I had noticed that as I took photos, I felt like I couldn’t get a clear image and yet, once loaded to the laptop, the images looked fine.  Also, the squirrels in the yard were creating bedlam destroying tools and birdbaths as if they were taunting my blurry-eyed aiming capabilities.

As with most medical events, everything takes a little more time nowadays.  I finally saw the specialist in mid-November. 

The specialist’s office started with their own vision exam.  I had brought Jenni into the exam room with me because sometimes I have more trouble listening than I do seeing. (I can hear fine; but like most men I just don’t listen well.)  As they did a simulation of car headlights I began to realize how bad the cataract might be.  It took me about two seconds before I could identify the member of the alphabet surrounded by bright lights.  I heard Jenni gasp from the corner of the room and yet the technician declared that I DID get that letter correct.   Ha!   

Over the next 24 hours I replayed that series of events and statements and finally said to Jenni, “There was more than ONE letter on the screen yesterday, wasn’t there?”  She confirmed indeed that there were FIVE.  I had only seen the one in the middle.  That was the day I stopped driving at dark.

About a week later we had to put Wanda (the van) in the shop, so it took both of us to do the drop-off and shuttle home.  I confessed that I had actually felt a little car sick driving with one clear eye and one blurry eye.  I suggested a pirate’s patch.  That was the day I stopped driving during daylight hours.

So for the past few weeks I’ve enjoyed the role of Miss Daisy, being chauffeured wherever we go.  It’s not a bad life.

As for the squirrels…..their days are numbered.