Scleral Lens

 For the past two months, my latest eye doctor has been getting my hope up that "this one will be the right one" as to fitting the Scleral Lens.  Yesterday's visit was to try on the 5th lens.  Like the others, it fit well, was comfortable, and gave me hope.  But she decided to order another one due to a small bump on my eye surface that may be leaking tears into the space between the Scleral Lens and my Iris.  And the oily tears are clouding the fluid.  

But she told me to start wearing the 5th lens so I can get used to cleaning, inserting it in my eye, and removing it each day.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to be wearing it at home.  I must have read 50 car license plates for no other reason than I could actually read them,

And I couldn't wait this morning to insert the lens into my eye myself.  It went well and I was quite proud of myself.  I only wore it for five hours.  And I hated to take the lens out, but it was best.

Tomorrow, I will stay with the limited-wear program.  I sure don't want to take any chances at this point.

Guns

 Before anyone gets all 'huffy' about the subject, just settle down and read my thoughts first.

At age six my Dad bought me a 410 gauge single-shot, shotgun.  I was thrilled and scared to death at the same time.  But he took the time to show and tell me everything I needed to know to use it properly and safely.  

I can't count the times he told me "I" was responsible every time the gun fired, including when, where, and what it was aimed at when it fired.  He emphasized the "responsibility" point so much that I still remember it more than anything else seventy-five years later.

I never killed anything with my gun, but I did shoot myself a few years later.  Yes, I dropped my 22 caliber rifle in 1953 and it went off grazing my shoulder.  Another inch or two and I probably would have died from the shot before they could get me to the closest doctor due to the flood and romoteness of where we were.

That incident didn't set well with me.  Not only could I have been killed, but I could have killed someone else.  I think it was then that I lost interest in owning a gun.

But seven years later I was in basic training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri being trained to kill people with my M-1 Rifle.  Every soldier in the Army, no matter what job they will eventually do, must first become a 'Basic Infantryman,"  And they MUST be able to do it because the enemy is trying hard to kill us as we are them.  That sort of made sense, but, "why did we have to be at war in the first place?," lingered heavily in my mind.  I was just a soldier, so I did what I was told/ordered to do.

My brief time in Vietnam never exposed me to danger, but I could hear the war going on in the hills north and west of DaNang Air Force Base.  I didn't worry about having to shoot someone because there were lots of armed soldiers there who would probably shoot before I even figured out what was going on.  But once again, I took a strong dislike to guns, no matter their purpose.  They just seemed unnecessary in today's world.  With the exception, of course, during the war.  But in peacetime???

I'm now 81 and have never desired to own a gun.  I'm not paranoid about being killed with a gun by some criminal or angry nut-case or even in a gun accident.  I just try my best to stay away from guns and those with guns.  They make me nervous.

I happened on this YouTube video of an interview between a responsible news person and a responsible gun owner.  They were not arguing the merits of gun ownership.  Quite the contrary, they support gun ownership.  But as they talked it dawned on me that too many Americans are purchasing guns for the wrong reasons - they are frightened.  And after listening to their discussion, I can understand why.  

I'll leave it up to you to form your own opinion as to what they are saying.  But for the first time in my life, I personally don't feel safe around my fellow citizens.  

Here's the link to the interview.

Guns In America

Scleral Lens Update

 As I have mentioned many times over the past three years, I have glaucoma in my only good eye.  And not only is my vision blurry, mostly caused by the pressure in my eye but also because the eye drops have only recently got the pressure stable enough to take the next steps toward wearing glasses again.  I've already tried five new pairs of glasses, but they didn't fix the problem enough for me to watch TV or drive a car.

But one of the many doctors suggested I visit an optometrist who specializes in complex vision problems.  She immediately suggested a Scleral Lens.  It's a hard contact lens that covers all the eye's damaged areas, holding a sterile solution under the lens to keep the eye wet all day.  It's more complicated than that, but I've tried on the first and second lenses and it not only gave me hope but lifted my spirits.  It's common to have to make multiple lenses until they fit perfectly.

A few minutes ago the doctor's office called to say the third version has arrived and I have an appointment in two days to see if this is the one that does the job.  If not, they will make another and another until I can see.  I'm really excited about this visit on Thursday because the last two visits completely eliminated any fears or concerns that I will soon be blind.

If you are curious about Scleral Lenses, click here:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCc6cvD_X3w