Early Notice

My eyesight is getting worse almost by the day. Since childhood I have only really had one functional eye. Although my left eye looks normal and moves around as it should, I have never been able to use it for anything other than peripheral vision (I can see things coming at me from the left). No visual aids can correct it.

My right eye is hyperopic (farsighted) with astigmatism and I have used glasses or lenses since I was three. Until about two years ago I could see very well with correctional aids, but I started having problems reading smaller text, like text-messages, on my cellphone. As this problem accelerated I went to my optician and told him I thought I needed a new prescription, but after the examination I was told that my eyesight hadn't changed much from the previous examination. Anyhow I ended up with a new pair of reading glasses after that visit.

Then I started noticing that things got blurry and doubled. If I was looking at something I saw sort of a shadow image slightly off which blurred the whole image. A visit to the eye-doctor, I was diagnosed with having cataracts but the silly woman told me it was too early to operate even if I tried to convince her of my unfortunate situation. 

Two months ago a nearsighted colleague at work had laser surgery done on his eyes, he came back to work a few days later with perfect vision. He suggested I should make an appointment with that place and get a check-up there to see if they could help. Two weeks after this my 83 y.o. mother had both her eyes operated on (at the same time), her sight is now nearly perfect also. 

I must be able to read and write easily, as those and my devious brain are the tools of my trade. There is also the possibility .that my drivers licence could be recalled as I may no longer fulfill the requirements set. It doesn't help me at all to get an operation later in life, I need it now to be able to work properly.

So a few weeks ago I went to the clinic where I after a full and extensive examination was told that they could help me if my left eye had not been in such a poor condition. As the situation was they refused to perform any operation on my right eye. They however referred me to a specialist on eye surgery for a second opinion. A short while afterwards I had an appointment for an examination with a possible operation on Monday June 17th.

So on the first morning of my upcoming vacation I am hoping to get operated on. If the surgeon seems to hesitate I am going to bargain, argue, plead, beg and possibly even threaten him to make him perform the operation.   As the main - but minute - risk with the operation is the possibility of infection I am also going to tell him I can come to the clinic as often as he wishes for them to keep that risk at bay.

Although both my colleague and my mother noticed immediate improvements, I am not sure what to expect for myself, so I wanted to inform you not to worry if there are no posts for a couple of days.

☆Cough-Cough-Cough☆

Is there anyone still out there?

Waking up today from the feverish, cough-ridden and pitiful condition I have been in the last couple of days, I still feel a bit weak and am wondering what can have happened to the world when I have not been able to be around and take care of things and guide you all.

"Le laird aux camélias - self portrait" (2013) 
Artwork by Bock McMillan
based on a photograph by an unknown photographer

Looking back it has been a couple of horrible days. I have strange bruises on my body and can remember fainting on at least two separate occasions, almost fainting about 123 times (but I managed to get hold of a door post or something else firm or could huddle down to the floor before all the oxygen had left my system) or finding myself crawled up in a couch,  in bed or sitting on the floor in a fetal position with my neck bowed to the front and my arms and legs drawn up against my torso in a rigid cramp.

I took a cab to my appointment with my sweet Hungarian doctor yesterday, because I was too afraid of getting a cough attack while driving. He was rather calm and casual about my vivid descriptions of my condition since the onset of the flu on Friday. "My dear man", he said kindly and calmly, "you need a cough suppressant, because with your coughing attacks you are forcing the air out of your body instead of sucking it in." He gave me a prescription for my favorite medication of all time Cocillana etyfin.

The most dramatic aspect of my present condition taken care of we could move on to the rest. 

I feel mentally and emotionally stronger and the antidepressants seem to be working well in keeping me stable.

To my complaints about my diminishing eyesight he suggested I call the specialist that had examined  and diagnosed my cataract and tell her what I was telling hem, that my eyesight was getting worse and that as a lawyer I actually needed to be able to read and write to work, not in five or then years time but now. He could not make the specialist change her mind, but if she called him and asked his opinion - as she very well might do - he would support me.

The visit over with I went home and pottered around looking sexy in my boxers grabbing hold of the walls and door posts from time to time but feeling better and did not faint any more. This morning I woke up after a good nights sleep and felt that the fever had finally left. 

Oh, did I tell you I love my old Hungarian healer?

On "Word Verification"

I have just managed to leave a comment on another blog. It took me seven (7) attempt to get the comment posted because the bloggers had chosen to avert spam-comments by activating "Word Verification" on their blog.

As some of you may know my vision is impaired, by congenital hyperopia and by emerging cataracts, making it almost impossible for me to interpret the blurry images of street numbers and intricately interwoven letters and numbers that must be entered to get a comment published.

After my horrible experience today I have decided that bloggers who choose to activate word verification on their blogs will no longer be worthy of my wisdom or wit.

In my own experience Blogger already recognizes 90-95 % of the spam-comments and the few that slip through are easily removed so I cannot really see any valid reason for activating that silly option.

Diagnosis: Cataract

So, after various examinations today the ophthalmologist diagnosed me as having an onset of cataract.

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. Cataracts are usually a result of denaturation of lens protein which causes a clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye or in its envelope (lens capsule), varying in degree from slight to complete opacity and obstructing the passage of light. The disease is "age-related" in the sense that most people over 70 have it to some degree, but the onset can start as early as in the 30´s or 40´s.

Symptoms include

• Being sensitive to glare (Yes)
• Cloudy, fuzzy, foggy, or filmy vision (Yes)
• Difficulty seeing at night or in dim light (Yes)
• Double vision (Yes)
• Loss of color intensity (Not that I have noticed yet)
• Problems seeing shapes against a background or the difference between shades of colors (Not that I have noticed yet)
• Seeing halos around lights (Not that I have noticed yet)

However, the doctor told me that "my cataract" was not so far gone that I would be considered for surgery - yet. The development of cataract varies, some are faster and some are slower, so at this point we wait and see. The fact that I have only one usable eye is a factor that may merit an earlier operation.

This totally sucks!