Friday, May 06, 2022

Glaucoma Continues To Take a Toll

 As I have reported in the past, I have vision problems.  Not only am I blind in one eye due to cataract surgery gone wrong resulting in a staph infection, but the scars from RK surgery before that are also causing unforeseen problems thirty years later.  

Add to that glaucoma with complications is making it difficult to see most of my days, and impossible to see halfway clearly the rest. I haven't driven in almost two years.  

My woodworking hobby is pretty much stopped, and cooking on my Big Green Eggs just does not have the luster it used to have.

Watching TV is out of the question.  I can't tell the characters apart.  So I just stopped trying to watch TV.

Reading books is only possible if the type is large.  Even then it takes at least twice as long to read a page, and that's on a good day.  On bad days I don't even try.

The only thing that I can use is my desktop computer.  But even with its oversize monitor, and me sitting with my face less than a foot away, I struggle to concentrate, read, and write.

Given that writing is about all I can do, I really enjoyed writing some stories for the Catahoula News Booster.  I'm told that my stories bring back a lot of old memories in some and even enlighten others about how life was back when life wasn't so modern and crazy.

It's one thing to recall the details of some of those stories, but another to edit them so they can be published in the paper.  It means reading and re-reading each story multiple times before I think it's ready to send to the Catahoula News Booster.

Of course, there's a price to pay for such 'up-close' editing - Blue Light.  Yes, and it can be harmful.

"Each color in the visible light spectrum has a different wavelength and energy level. Blue light has shorter wavelengths and higher energy than other colors. Some research shows a link between eye damage and short-wave blue light with wavelengths between 415 and 455 nanometers. Most of the light from the LEDs used in smartphones, TVs, and tablets has wavelengths between 400 and 490 nanometers.In large amounts, high-energy light from the sun -- like ultraviolet rays and blue light -- can raise your risk of eye disease. That’s caused concerns about whether blue light from digital screens is harmful. "

Because of all the damage already done to my remaining vision, I'm told I need to step away from the computer.  The more I stay away, the better off I'll be.

Well, there goes my last refuge from boredom. 

Protect your vision.  Never ever take it for granted.



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