The Eyes Have It

"For God's sake, call the eye doctor," Mr. Ginley directed. "You're driving me nuts."

This, after I was unable to read something off the back of a DVD.

He was tired of being my eyes, I suppose. And I really couldn't blame him.

So, last week, back I went to the eye doc to (hopefully) see what was up. The world had become a gauzy place, a little at a time over the past few months. I bought stronger cheaters, but they only helped close up -- I still struggled with street signs and night driving. 

At first, I chalked it up to the dry eyes my doctor diagnosed. But different/better drops didn't work. Clearly, something else was afoot.

What I learned is I have "secondary cataracts." There are two lenses in your eye. The one in front is what they do the cataract surgery on. What routinely happens is the lens in the back clouds over, causing difficulty in seeing. 

The solution is a laser procedure that will take about five minutes in my doctor's office. Each eye is done separately on different days. There is no prep and nothing to do afterward. So, it is a pretty simple solution. Just one I hadn't anticipated...although I was assured by the doctor's assistant that I'd been warned of this when I was given the lowdown on my cataract surgery two years ago.

There's no doubt in my mind my doctor did tell me this. But I'm also certain I was so focused on the cataracts, I figured I'd worry about any other scenarios when I got there. 

So here I am, down the road.

Yes, it's actually a simple solution. It's nice to know I won't need a seeing eye dog. And it will be wonderful to see well again.

I just hate these reminders I'm not the youngster that lives in my head -- but an alter cocker after all.