Friday, June 10, 2011

You Know You're Old When . . .

Well, yesterday was the day for feeling like maybe I'm getting up there a little.
Bridge was at my house last night so I had to go to the store to buy some things.  I came out of BJs and all of a sudden I saw what looked like a cobweb going back and forth in front of my right eye.  I tried to brush it away but there wasn't anything there.   I was wearing my glasses instead of contacts because of something I did the day before, more about that later, so I took them off and brushed around some more in front of my eyes and then cleaned my glasses.  Still didn't do anything.  


Then I thought this had something to do with the night before.  I made salsa and added some jalepeno peppers.  I ignored the instruction about wearing gloves since I used a knife and fork and barely touched them.  Many hours later when it was time to go to bed I had to take my contacts out.  OUCH!!!  Now I understood the warning for wearing gloves.  Burn, burn but fortunately not long and I washed my eyes with solution.  This probably didn't have anything to do with it . . . or did it?  Next time I cut hot peppers I'll take my contacts out first AND wear gloves.


Anyway, after awhile, the cobweb went away and became a black bug that just comes and goes at random.  When everyone was over I asked if any of them had experienced floaters, I of course had looked it up online to see what I was experiencing.  Most everyone had them at one time or another and from reading online they don't go away but your brain sort of ignores them after awhile.  The brain is an amazing thing like the way it can fool your eyes when you wear monovision contact lenses.  One contact fixes the vision for closeness and the other contact corrects the distance.  It's usually the dominant eye that gets the distance contact.  When I first got monovision lenses I had them for the wrong eyes, or at least according to the new eye doctor I went to.  I was able to see fine both ways, it just takes a little while for your brain to adjust.


There's a test to determine the dominant eye.
This is how you do it:

  • Extend your arms in front of you with your palms facing away.
  • Bring your hands together, forming a small hole by crossing the thumbs and fore fingers.
  • Choose a small object about 15-20 feet away from you. With both eyes open, focus on the object as you look through the small hole.
  • Close one eye and then the other. When you close one eye, the object will be stationary. When you close the other eye, the object should disappear from the hole or jump to one side.
  • If the object does not move when you cover one eye, then that eye is dominant. The eye that sees the object and does not move is the dominant eye.
So anyway, now my eyes are going, which reminds me to call the eye doctor for an appointment which is needed anyway.  An hour before everyone was coming over I realized I didn't have any decaf coffee.  It wasn't that I forgot to get it, it never even crossed my mind to get it until I started thinking about getting the coffee pot ready.  Back to Wegmans for some coffee.  Quick trip in and out.  On my way out I said to myself, out loud, ". %*@ you forgot to remember to remember" (that's not a duplication of words I did forget 'to remember to remember' "where you parked the car."  Not only do I need to remember where I park before I go into the store so I can find my car when I come out, I need to remember to do it in the first place.  I eventually figured it out and came home.  Bridge was a success.  Everyone liked my food and we have lots of leftovers of healthy fruits and vegetables.  No longer like the old days when we had tons of junk food.  Laura and Greta used to love when I had bridge when they were young just for all the snacks.

We called Ginny last night who was home recuperating from hip replacement surgery and today I stopped over to see her with a "grabber" I borrowed from the Damascus Center.  I should get one of those for myself just to reach the high things that are becoming increasingly out of reach as I shrink back into myself.  When I got there, Ginny was outside with her walker and raking.  No pain and getting around great.  You go girl!


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