Seeing Things: Or, The Eyes Have It

I'll warn you right now, this is a blog post about me again and it involves a medical procedure.  No icky stuff--I wouldn't do that to you--but I thought I should explain why I'm not writing much these days.

It's nothing, really, but I can't see to read or write.  I had cataract surgery last fall and things were going well until about a month ago, when I noticed I was trying to read with my left eye closed.  Again. That's what sent me to my optometrist last year, a visit that escalated beyond my control and suddenly I was one among the multitudes who could boast of having cataracts removed.   (I know.  Pathetic.  I never paid much attention to those people, either, until I was one of them.)

So two days ago I had my eyes zapped with lasers in a procedure that was supposed to bust up the shadowy stuff that had grown on the backs of my eyes--something that happens to 20 to 30% of all cataract patients.  (Who knew?)

But two days later, I'm still closing or covering my left eye in order to read or write.  I haven't looked in the mirror to confirm this, but I suspect I'm looking a lot like Popeye but without the pipe.  (I yam what I yam and that's what I yam.)

So if you're still here reading this you're probably wondering why I have to close one eye in order to read or write.  Right?  It's because I have a lazy eye.  Amblyopia. (I like to call it a wandering eye.)    My eyes don't work well together and are constantly attempting to go it alone.  It's not a problem as long as my vision is close to normal in both eyes, and, with glasses, it usually is.  But now it's not.

My wandering eye causes my  depth perception to be a bit off, and I don't see 3-D.  It only causes problems when I try to park in tight spaces or when I have to pay extra for the 3-D version of "Avatar" or "Frozen" because my grandkids want to see it that way.  The effect is lost on me.  I feel left out.  And freakish.

The Doc warned me that the laser zapping would leave floaters and I'm hoping that's all it is now.  It's a chore to read or write and they are my two favorite things to do in the world. But last night I watched "The Theory of Everything", the movie about Stephen Hawking,  (Eddie Redmayne's performance was just astounding)  and, honestly, I have nothing to complain about.

So I'll stop now.

See ya.

(Cross-posted at Constant Commoner)