Just got in from A-Kon. Slightly brain-fried–very busy weekend, a delightful convention, meeting with old friends & new, and a good train ride home at the end. Some of the books I shipped up there actually sold (3 stuffed boxes went out. One is to be shipped back.) Not really in shape to check out all the comments that have come in and deal with them…and tomorrow, remember, I’ve got that appointment with the eye doctor who will be removing the worse of the two cataracts (but not tomorrow–this is the “set everything up” appointment.) It will involve dilation, alas, which means blurry vision for hours after I get home, and thus not working on the computer much.
Comment by Daniel Glover — June 9, 2014 @ 5:34 pm
May they find no surprises tomorrow.
Comment by KarenH — June 9, 2014 @ 6:57 pm
Good luck on your cataract surgery. I had it done years ago.
I don’t know what you know, but the hardest thing that i had to cope with was the loss of the ability to change focal length. At the beginning I had the lined bifocals. I couldn’t see words on thing on the bottom shelves in stores. Once my eyesight stabilized, I got the progressive kind and don’t need to get down on my knees to read the titles of books on bottom shelves in bookstores.
I had cataracts young, in my early forties, so I went straight from not needing bifocals before the surgery to needing them after the surgery. So it might not be a problem for you.
Comment by LarryP — June 9, 2014 @ 7:07 pm
Good luck on the cataracts.
Comment by Ellen McLean — June 9, 2014 @ 8:45 pm
Prayers for you as you approach the set up and surgery. I agree that the progressive lens is the only way to go. I have trifocals with the center focus on my computer screen. And Welcome Home!
Comment by pjm — June 10, 2014 @ 2:44 am
Good luck with the surgery.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — June 10, 2014 @ 11:06 am
Good fortune for the surgery.
Comment by Annabel — June 10, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Good luck with the cataracts. You will be amazed at how fantastic your vision is, even after you’ve just had one of them done. My father, who had his done in 2006/7 said it was absolutely amazing, and he no longer wears spectacles except for reading (and he is now nearly 91!). Another friend has discovered the joys of waking up and being able to see the time without having to fumble for glasses. And everybody I know who has had them done say they wish they had had them done years ago.
Comment by Wickersham's Conscience — June 10, 2014 @ 6:28 pm
Best wishes on the prep visit and the surgery. I recommend relaxing with music and with eyes closed for 4-6 hours after pupil dilation. Trying to read sooner just gives you a nasty headache and itchy eyeballs.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — June 12, 2014 @ 11:09 am
Is there something about writing science fiction/ fantasy that effects authors. I follow Ms. Moon and Ms. CJ Cherryh and it appears that both are suffering from vision difficulties.
All I can think of is the Blind Poet Milton dictating to his daughter.
Comment by Annabel — June 12, 2014 @ 1:13 pm
I had dilation drops this week, unexpectedly – if I’d known I’d been going to have them, I would have brought my hat. Walking outside afterwards was dreadful…..
Comment by Linda — June 12, 2014 @ 7:41 pm
Hope things are going well with your eyes and all else. I am suddenly wondering if Stammel’s blindness had anything to do with your own difficulties.
As I spend quite a bit of time with my 91 yo legally blind Mom and helping her navigate the world, I am only too aware of the adjustments she has had to make. Luckily exposure to two blind students in college, to whom I read and for whom I did odd chores (like helping identify garments by color when the laundry was dry) , prepared me to a degree.
Take care.
Comment by Sharidann — June 13, 2014 @ 6:33 am
My uncle got a cataract Operation couple of years ago and it was a life changer for him, a positive one.
Best of luck!
Comment by Karen — June 13, 2014 @ 11:45 am
My grandmother had cataract surgery when she was 97. The only downside my family observed was her regret that she had waited so long — she had virtually given up the ability to read the way she had loved to do all of her life because of her fear that the surgery would be as hard for her as it had been for my great-grandmother in the early 70s, when removal of cataracts was done with a scalpel and left her mom essentially blind for awhile.
In fact, it went so well for Grandma that my dad went right out and had his almost immediately afterwards!
IOW, I hope your results are as good as both of them experienced!
Comment by GinnyW — June 14, 2014 @ 8:46 pm
I hope all the pre-surgery stuff goes smoothly, and you had someone else to drive you home after the appointment!