July 18, 2024

Cataract Surgery Part 2

About a month ago, I wrote about my first cataract surgery. Here's the link.

As I read my recount of the first surgery, I noticed something that was not quite correct: I said that I was not knocked out. However, since I have sketchy memory of it, that may not be the case. It seemed to go much quicker than the second one and I have more memory of the second.

I was a bit more relaxed this time, at least at first. Of course, the patient is sedated and I did not dread this one as much. Nurses asked me 4 or 5 times if I was claustrophobic, which I thought was strange. I assured them that I'm not claustrophobic. This time, I found out why they were concerned: the patient's face is covered with a stiff white paper with a piece cut out for the eye. The rest was taped to my face. Ah! Now I get it - and I'm definitely not claustrophobic. After all, it was just a sheet of white parchment paper (that's the closest description I can think of). I had no trouble breathing.


If you are squeamish, then don't read the quoted section.

I went into post-op for a while to let the anaesthetic to wear off, about half an hour or so. Then they got me a wheelchair to take me to the surgery exit for my ride home. They helped me stand and made sure that I could keep my balance when I stood up and got in the car.

Everyone at the doctor's office was wonderfully nice and professional. They made the whole process easy and as stress-free as possible. If you live in southern Nevada, PM me and I will recommend the doctor, office, and staff.

Now the fun part: I have been wearing glasses for myopia since I was 15. I am now far-sighted. All my old corrective lenses are useless. And I am enjoying the heck out of it! I can now stand at the entrance to a grocery store aisle and read the signs 30 ~ 40 feet away. What I can't do is read expiration dates on items so I do the sweet old lady routine and ask the nearest person for help. I just tell them that I didn't bring my reading glasses with me and ask them to tell me the date. Everyone is happy to help.

And guess what else - I don't need glasses to drive. My right eye is now 20/25, left is 20/40 because my left retina got messed up about 15 years ago (I've learned to live with it and adjust). I got reading glasses and polarized nonprescription sunglasses.


I hope my experiences help someone or even just let you know if you're curious.

June 13, 2024

Cataract Surgery

I'm having cataract surgery this month. The right eye was Monday and the left eye will be done in a couple weeks.

I've been through worse, but this was not pleasant. First of all, I get weird about my eyes. I can't touch my eyeballs. It happened once, it didn't hurt, but it made me shudder. I've never considered contacts because of that. Second was the animated video of what the operation actually was. Super shudder there.

The worst part was no water for 6 hours before surgery. Since I always have ice water next to me, this was really hard. No coffee? No problem. No food. Easy. No water?! Aww, hell no!

I was not knocked out for the surgery, but I was sedated and sat there with a death grip on the arm rest until it was over.

When I got home, I was amazed at how bright white the walls, sinks, toilets, in my house were! I still am. I now live in a bright and airy house that had been rather beige and dreary for years. I like it!

Even more amazing was how well my right eye could see. I've worn glasses since 10th grade and I've always been nearsighted. Now it's hard to see up close but distances are so clear it's hard to believe. The astigmatism that I've had is now cleared up: the "on" light is just one little dot of light, not the gaudy 3/4 circle necklace it used to be. A single line is just that: a single line.

I don't struggle with computer fonts like I used to. For example, it used to be that "tall" and "tail" looked the same, now they really are different.

My left eye will be done in a couple weeks. One more round of reaching 20 times for water that isn't there. And one more time of grabbing the arm rest willing myself not to move.

Anybody else have their own experiences of going through cataract surgery? Let me know!

November 17, 2023

Okay, tell me about car racing

A couple decades ago, I lived in Indianapolis. Our apartment was on the northeast side of town (Castleton for those familiar with the area). The Indianapolis 500 race is run in Racetrack on the southwest side of town. We could hear practice going on from miles away - and it was loud louder loudest! We decided to accept an invitation to spend Memorial Day with family who lived on a lake.

Well, I live near Las Vegas which is having an F1 race around The Strip for the next couple of days. Can anyone who is familiar with car races tell me just how loud this could get?

A couple other thoughts: I feel bad for people with pets and/or small children. If fireworks can frighten them, imagine the effect that zooming motor noises will have on them. It also strikes me as complete insanity to have cars racing as fast as they can in an urban setting full of drunk and stoned tourists. Of course TPTB have taken precautions and are doing their best to keep things as safe as possible, but it all just looks to me like a recipe for tragedy.

It hasn't started yet, but I would like to know if I need to find earplugs in order to sleep.

Thanks in advance.

August 24, 2023

Arraignment Night in Georgia

With apologies to Brook Benton

Sorry - I'm not a writer, especially when it comes to lyrics

That's all I got for 10 minutes of counting stressed and weak syllables. Maybe somebody else can spruce it up a bit.

May 27, 2022

Time to bring this out again

It's from 4 years ago in answer to that Loess ( sp? who cares? )woman.

March 27, 2022

Your favorite cover of a famous song

I'll start.

Javier Colon, Fix You by Cold Play

Disturbed, Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkle

December 30, 2021

Num Num Cat TikTok Chain

This is hilarious and great at the same time.

October 31, 2021

The booster knocked us on our asses

Hubby and I got our booster shots Friday morning. Yaay!

We were fine for the rest of the day, cards with our pod, nice and easy day.

Around 9 pm, our was dead tired and sore everywhere except for the shot area. That isn't unusual for me seeing as how I'm ready for sleep early. In fact, a 3 hour nap around 5pm is my normal and I didn't get it that day. I also had the worst headache I've had in years.

I woke back up at about midnight feeling nauseated which is very unusual for me. The best way to describe it that it was almost identical to the food poisoning I got from rice several years ago. I drank water and squelched it down for as long as I could until I threw up at 4am.

That's when hubby got feverish sweats alternating with shakes, chills, and clammy sweats. Between the two of us, we had every single side effect on listed on all the websites.

We slept off and on most of the day yesterday. I took Nyquil around 10pm and woke up this morning feeling great! Hubby is still feeling awful. I keep hoping that he will give Nyquil a try tonight (he won't take it because it affects him too much for his liking).

My MIL got her booster and had practically no side effects, not even a sore arm.

I hope that nobody else had a rough time like we did.

September 12, 2021

I miss Randy Rainbow

His clever songs and snarky style got me through the past few years. In short, he's a genius.

I know that he's working on working to take his show on the road, but a short video on YouTube from him would make me very happy.

Here's my favorite of his videos:

July 28, 2021

An idea on how to get rethugs to comply with subpoenas

1. Request that the witness / person appear in front of the committee.

2. If that person refuses or does not respond, send out the subpoena. Notify the potential witness that if he or she does not show up, the committee will show and enter into the Congressional record a video of everything that the person has said on camera in chronological order, complete with date and time stamp of the utterance.

For example, if Kevin McCarthy refuses to answer questions, there are hours worth of his responses to media questions starting on January 6 to the present day. Highlight all those instances where his story has changed and note when he went to Florida to visit That Fucking Goon. If lil Kevvie wants to explain his side of whatever his story of the day is, he will just have to show up and answer questions.

3. Stick to that plan.