osso and her eyes, again

Oh, and I have got to teach the Dys to make spaghetti alla vongole..

Easy. Chef Boyardee comes in a can now.

You already know I'm available if you need help with anything like shopping, driving to and from doctor appointments, etc.


Don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it.

exactly

Just a little kitten, rubbing on your leg and purring, for the moment.

OK, and little stories too, because to me, a story is always in order.

My sister is blind in one eye and has 20/200 in the other. I am 20/220 in both eyes. We wear, ya know, glasses, but these are constant conditions, since childhood.

So in my 20's (her 30's), when we were still speaking, my sister and me would play a game. You take a book or magazine and take your glasses off, and try to read it. If you can't read a word, you just say what word you think it might be, or whatever pops into your head.

This is, um, surprisingly entertaining. A little weird, I know, but we laughed so hard we cried.

Another handy thing is, when I hafta kill a large roach or spider, I just grab a shoe and whip off my glasses.

Voila! That spiny, furry, twitchy, living horror, which previously had antennae or even (gasp) pedipalps, instantly becomes a Brown Blob, which I can kill with ease.

At any rate, my pointy ears are perked up. Will keep following your thread, and sending happy thoughts your way.

Hello BorisKitten, so nice to see you again!
---

Ossobuco, are you sure you're in good hands at the quacks in ABQ?
You know that UCLA has a great eye clinic (Jules Stein) with excellent
results. Did you research the Ophthalmologist you're using?

Good question; not just the surgeon, but the hospital/clinic too.

Yes, CJ, I was diagnosed at Jules Stein, I know them very well - and I'd go there if I was nearby. The head RP guy was my doc, and at the time I was one of his "lightest" cases, or slowest, of 1500 patients. UCLA was my old stomping ground.. I'm quite tied to it, in many ways, both schooling and work in two different fields over many years.
And I did research my present surgeon, you bet. Thank you for your concern, I mean it.

Oh, BorisK, you DO understand...

OMG, I have Friends! <Tail waving in air>

Osso, I've always been rather afraid of losing my single pair of glasses. Since they're almost always on my face, this may be a bit irrational.

Still, eye surgery sounds really scary. My sister has had one or two way back when, and they went just fine.

If I knew how to pray, I'd be saying one for you. But we all know cats can't pray, they just kind curl their little hands up and look like they're meditating.

Osso, I can't remember, but do you have pets?

You need pets. I need pets. We all need soft fuzzy friends who love us.

BKitten, I go nutso when I can't find my glasses. I need my glasses to find my glasses, always have.
I'm not religious at all, but I'll take any form of well wishes.

Eye surgery... is surprisingly gorgeous, beats any movie for the light show. Really, I wish my brain had taped those episodes. I've said as much to some folks in the medical world; for example I mentioned this recently to a lady who was administering my zillionth visual field test (results always the same, thank goodness).. and she looked at me as if I were crazed. But it's true. In most of my surgeries I was 'awake', and the show was great. I'm an ex lab technologist/research person, so I sort of groove on what is going on as well. On the other hand, I was also aware when the first surgeon had the lens fly away.

Pets - I loved my dog Pacco dono very dearly and he helped me not only through all the eye mishugas but also breast cancer some years before. He died a couple of years ago, and my mourning of him has gone into a kind of pleasurable phase. In a lot of ways, he's still here.

Just caught that post, Butrfly. Thank you very much, I'll remember - and also try not to abuse that offer. Good, that's good to know.

Well Osso you could do the world a big favor, believe it or not, by writing about how it was for you, to lose and regain your sight. And what you saw during the surgeries would be an exceedingly delightful read, to so many of us.

Really, I gasped in startled happiness when I read your post about (joy!) seeing again. Write it up, post a link, pretty pleeez? You truly have a way with words.

Oh, Pacco, that was it! Now I 'member!

Consider, a new pet, maybe an adult from your local Animal Control shelter? (Sorry if that sounds like a bit of a nag, but really, pets help me SO much!)

Don't even remind me about not finding my glasses: I have to enlist hubby's help, and even then, I just HATE that!

Good news: I'm corrected to 20/40 with glasses!

Glad Butrfly is there to help...

Will be reading along with interest.

Can also provide assistive technology linky-dinky-type stuff -- there is a LOT out there, much of it free.

like others have said, I care too.

Thanks, Soz. I should be looking all that up. I looked into braille back when I was first out of my mind at diagnosis time, before I figured out how slow my particular rp was in contrast to the rp one reads about, not understanding its steady state mode (21 years now since diagnosis and no change), and thought... they must be kidding, no way, jose. But things like glaucoma may get me, snap.
So I should learn about new modes of assistive technology. Not that I could afford them, but I suppose there might be ways to buck that.

I'm an amazing three way sense, ah, sense challenged person. Poor hearing, poor vision, extremely diminished sense of smell (stories there, all funny). On the other hand, maybe beauty is enhanced for me.

Which brings up hearing. I sort of avoid the subject since I can't begin to afford hearing aids. But UNM has an audiology clinic and I think I should go and get a new workup - it's been more than five years since my last one (what), and, who knows, maybe I could get on some help list. Probably a fat chance, but I'd at least have a recent checkup.

Waaaaahhh! (thanks, chai gurl)

Don't worry about abusing it. I know how to nicely say "no" when I need to. Besides, running needed errands is the most affordable way I have to help me learn my way around ABQ.