Reminded of the importance of perspective. Lately, been rather absorbed and more than a little dejected about the constant eye irritation and notion that it is the new norm. Often it takes an external reminder to help see the forest for the trees. A. slight prelude before addressing the big picture view. The eye irritation calmed considerably when the calendar flipped to September. Coincidence? Likely. Enough time had elapsed for the flare-up to burn itself out and return to the more tolerable low-level scratchiness. Still far from comfortable and becoming more convinced the left eye will always feel different than the right. During the first full calendar week of the month, visited an eye professional on four consecutive days; the first and the last being the optometrist. Returned to the optometrist for the first time since the initial diagnosis of the detached retina. Optically the eye has recovered and is correctable to 20-40. Not quite the same level as the 20-20 in the right but a far cry from 95% loss of vision and 20-200 experience over the past 7 months. Going to try progressive lenses with 3 different zones for far, intermediate, and near vision. If helpful, will look into cycling sunglasses with similar prescription inserts to assist with reading all data fields and delineating colors, especially in low light or nighttime conditions, on the Garmin GPS. She also commented on the calcium deposit on the inner portion of the cornea. There might be a treatment for that but will discuss with the ophthalmologist later.
Next visit with the retinal specialist who performed the corrective procedure (vitrectomy, retinopexy, and scleral buckle). Always positive and upbeat, he seemed to bounce into the office with arm outstretched for a fist-bump (the standard greeting). He started the conversation with “hand waving” and followed up saying that’s written in your chart for the first time you visited the office. That’s true, could only discern movement at the top of the visual field. Couldn’t determine what was moving, only that something was. He mentioned vision was 20-30 – quite the recovery from the starting point. He mentioned most patients don’t experience that kind of visual improvement. Had a brief discussion on the calcium deposit. He’s not a fan of the procedure to scrape the mass off the cornea as it’s already thin in some places and why risk it? Offered an alternative of wearing a nonprescription contact lens to act as a protective layer and prevent the eyelid from rubbing across it during every blink. Had recent experience with that when using the embryonic membrane but this time the lens would be much thinner. Not a resolution to the underlying condition but a reasonable approach to minimizing the irritability. Better able to see the forest afterwards. Easy to get wrapped up in the constant problems and taking good health for granted until something is taken away. Wearing progressive lens glasses fulltime instead of just readers and wearing a nonprescription contact lens isn’t too terrible of a burden for having 20-40 or 20-30 vision out of an eye that was essentially blind 7 months ago. He did mention the beginning of a cataract in the right eye but said it would be years before surgery would be necessary. Given the all clear and next follow up is 6-months down the road.
Third visit was to the corneal specialist. Cornea is healthy and recovered from the cataract surgery. Not much of response when expressed disappointment regarding the deficit in the far vision and the need for more than just readers. Oh well. Silly me to expect an acknowledgement that a procedure didn’t produce the results discussed previously. She concurred with the retinal specialist regarding scraping the calcium deposit off the cornea. Although she would perform it if requested. She was supportive of the nonprescription contact lens for the irritation. The only other option is work on tolerating a chronically irritated eyeball from blinking. But hey, don’t want to get lost in the forest again and only see individual trees. Failed to inquire about the plan for the two different eye drops: extend prescription or stop once the supply is exhausted. A little nervous about that as the drops seem to have helped but perhaps with the contact, the eye will retain tears better and reduce the dry eye symptoms. Still have hypoesthesia but not as encompassing as before. Full recovery from neurotrophic keratoconjunctivitus is mixed but symptoms have improved and didn’t have to pursue the latest FDA-approved and very expensive eye drops. Unless conditions worsen, no future follow up appointments required.
Final eye professional visit was a return to the optometrist to pursue the contact lens. Took a bit for the staff to understand the intent but finally able to see the doc without all of the other preliminary stuff as the last visit was only 4 days ago. Optometrist agreed to the daily soft lens but interestingly, there isn’t a no prescription option. The 30-day variety does but she indicated the lowest prescription available on the daily variant probably wouldn’t be noticed. Tried the trial lens and the relief was immediate. Would still require accommodation for the lens as over two decades have passed since contacts were last used. Really the only drawback is having to remove the lens to apply the eye drops and waiting 10 minutes before re-inserting. A minor nuisance in the greater scheme as it appears to eliminate the irritation caused by constantly blinking over the calcium deposit. Departed with a couple boxes of trial lenses until mine arrive.
Moved up the return to outdoor riding schedule a few weeks as headed back to accompany the parentals to some medical appointments. No desire to pack up the Kickr and trainer bike so early on Synful is ok. Probably a better place for re-introduction to the great outdoors – minimal elevation changes and less vehicular traffic. Rode once in the neighborhood to ensure bike riding skills hadn’t completely atrophied. Great to return to real riding and exposure to the elements, real terrain changes and unfortunately other large moving vehicles and traffic signs/lights. Synful is now fully restored to pre-crash conditions with bar end shifters. Deficiency with Shimano shifters is they only change the rear cassette – no chainring movement. Still a significant improvement compared to no shifting while in aero position. Love it! Rode every day from parentals’ house, mostly mid-30 miles in distance with generally a different route every day. Had a minor incident with wet railroad tracks crossing the roadway at a sharp angle. Thought positioned properly to successfully navigate the tracks but nope. Quick impact with the pavement. Bike was unscathed but picked up new road rash on the right side (thank goodness for that); elbow, hip, and knee along with two glove holes on the back of the hand and thinned jersey material at the back of the shoulder. Waited until back home before informing the Missus. Re-connected with the North Coast Inland Trail (NCIT) in Monroeville and headed east for several miles. Unlike the more western section, trail was unpaved, Even managed to squeeze in a metric century, Maumee Valley Association’s Irish Hills. Nice route: minimal vehicular traffic, decent roads, but did expect more rollers. Rode solo and kept it easy the entire ride. Folks riding the metric and full century were entitled to a lunch as part of the entry fee. Expectation was to have it at the conclusion of the ride. Wrong – it was at the turn-around stop. Made a deli sandwich of ham and cheese at 0915!
Stopped at a nearby seafood market to pick up some king salmon fillets. Had a discussion earlier in the week with parents about the difference between Atlantic and King which they had never had. Enjoyed some new flavors from the best ice cream shop, ever, Toft’s: banana peanut butter chunk and pumpkin cheesecake. Also made a peanut butter skillet cookie which turned out better than the first one. Actually ate breakfast at a previously unknown restaurant – Wake Up and Waffle. Pretty good stuff. Gathered some fresh fruit (Gala apples and Concord Pears) and nuts (Black Walnuts) from the parent’s property. Wouldn’t quite call it an orchard as two apple and one pear tree don’t quite satisfy the definition. Regardless, they never do anything with the fruit and gives me an excuse to bake!
Returned back home and continued to build endurance, outside! Never gets old, Vehicular traffic still causes anxiety and imagine it will for quite a while, if not forever. Retrieved the contacts and the new progressive lenses. Contact makes a difference as it significantly reduces the irritation. The new glasses on the other hand are another battle with frustration. Readers are much simpler, easier, and magnify print better than progressive lenses without the necessity of changing either head or position. Conversely, readers are a liability for anything other than near vision. Completely useless, actually worse and potentially dangerous for watching TV and driving. Like the eyeball and vision don’t have enough to deal with now progressive lens accommodation is added to the list!
Made a couple of new meals and put the fresh fruit to good use (muffins and a crisp). Half of the walnuts are drying – still have the other half to husk. Not an easy or clean task. Good thing the harvest article mentioned gloves, otherwise the entire hand would’ve been stained a dark brown. Even with gloves, the thumb still ended up discolored. First time making a dump cake (cherry) with layers of crescent rolls, cream cheese and sugar, brown sugar, cherry filling, yellow cake mix and topped with cinnamon. Made apple cinnamon (forgot to include the raisins), pear and walnut muffins, and apple-pear crisp with the fresh fruit brought back from OH. New dinners included a Greek classic, Moussaka and Patates Lemonates and a Louisiana version of shepherd’s pie, Shreveport Pie made with turkey and bayou-style spices. Any meal topped with mashed potatoes is a winner according to the Missus. The Moussaka was very good but kind of destroyed the kitchen and the Missus was none to pleased. The recipe used consisted of three layers: fried eggplant and yellow potatoes, meat sauce. (lamb), and topped with a bechamel sauce. Apparently there’s somewhat of a debate amongst Greek chefs regarding the inclusion of potatoes. Frying the eggplant and potatoes splattered hot oil everywhere. Still have flash burns on the back of my hand as a memento. Everything cleaned up just fine and the meal was quite good.
Cycling and Culinary Flavors 