My vision or lack thereof

About ten or twelve years ago they told me the bad news that at some point in an undefined future I'd have to receive into my body someone else's corneas. I don't even like using someone else's spoon, so this was, needless to say unsettling. Even the logo is alarming reminding me in its piercing way of coming procedures. 

My original plan was to die before I'd need the transplant (when you get discards from someone else's body that's what it's called). That plan didn't work out because I'm still here despite my original projections. The thing is my vision has always been off the charts bad. Myopia was something I excelled at - I can see at 20 feet what others can see at 800. Once, when I tossed my hair (this was when I was younger and had ten tons of it) my glasses flew off my face and total strangers had to help me find them. Even though my glasses were about 8 feet away, my vision stopped being functional after just a few feet. That's not a good starting point.

For those with Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy (catchy title, huh?) the symptom is basically going blind by an inability to see through the corneas (windshield of the eye, for those uninitiated). I say it's like looking through a screen door. That screen door is now getting a bit murky. That it's fixable is a hopeful thought. Then again, I'm not always the most hopeful of people. And it's not an instant recovery as with cataracts. It can take a few months up to a year for everything to settle down.

The corneal specialist told me last year it was time. You're supposed to listen to your specialists, and they don't like it much when you don't. Ornery as I was last year, I eschewed that opportunity. I had other medical fish to fry as it were. And now, it's time again for opportunity to present itself like a bill.  I surrender to my fate's inevitability which, to be sure, I don't usually do, that is to say I fight things instead of going with the flow.   

So, hoping everything goes well. I do a lot of close work and the thought of losing my vision entirely, shabby though it may be, is scary. My original back-up plan was to get a seeing eye dog, but I adopted two adult cats, brother and sister, just before Christmas last year and I don't think they'd like that.

Sometimes people come up and ask me if I'm still driving (not at night) and did I get my corneas yet. I'm not sure how this became cocktail conversation. Hey, did you get your corneas yet? said like it is a brass ring I get to collect on my ride around senior-town. But I'm setting down these thoughts so there's a record of my intention to proceed. Journeys begin with a first step. It is also my intention to go to Wales and I'd rather focus on that. ​ Onward: there's sure to be fodder for a blog or two.

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