I’ve been wanting to go to Affiliate Summit East in New York since I learned about it a few months ago.  My one big problem was how.  If Eliz went with me, how would we run ForYourSalon.com and ship orders?  And, more importantly, even if we conceded that there will probably be few orders since it is the middle of August, what would we do with the kids?  Also, since Eliz was going to assist me, I didn’t think it would be fair to have to pay for her.  If I could go on my own, I would.  (The last time I did something like this on my own was in January 2001.  I flew to Miami for a Taylor Rental event – we were interested in purchasing the one in Media and my prospective partner bailed on the event two days before we were to leave.  I went anyway and had a very tough time getting around the airport, hotel, and event, even though my vision was substantially better than today – between 20/80 – 20/100.)

Fortunately, after an email to #ASE10, I was able to work something out on entry fee for Eliz by providing a letter from one of my eye doctors.  Conveniently, I had an appointment with Dr. Ayres, the cornea specialist this past week and he agreed to write the letter for me (more on the appointment later.)  I’d like to thank Amy from Affiliate Summit for all her help!

The big question was about the kids.  Do we take them and let them take in the sights of NYC on their own?  The Museum of Modern Art is across the street from where the event will be held and 5th Ave is only a block away.  The bottom line was that we didn’t feel comfortable with that and thought it would be too great of a distraction for us.  We’ll take the kids back another time.  Eliz’s mother (Grandmere to the kids) will sleep here the two nights we won’t be here.  She’ll also grab dinner for them.  As she says, she’ll supervise not babysit.

So, along with doing my normal routine of communicating with customers, updating shipping status’, and helping Eliz with the heavier deliveries, I was also constantly checking  Hotels.com (Hotels.com by city, dates and number of guests) for a place to stay since I missed out on the good deals through the event at the New York Hilton, where the event is being held.  I just couldn’t pay $400 per night plus taxes to stay there… So, the post is sponsored by Hotels.com.

I also had a few things to do for Digital Graphics Design, Media's premier web development firm specializing in e-commerce development, corporate identity, and web hosting solutions."> Digital Graphics Design. The main item was end of the month invoicing. We had picked up a couple more hosting accounts, plus Dan had completed some updates for current clients. While my title is president, my actions are primarily as bookkeeper… Dan did get a lead for an e-commerce, so Dan, Ken, and I kicked around pricing for that after doing some research on what the prospective client wants. Keep your fingers crossed… In other spare time, I’ve been helping a friend who just opened a shop by creating a logo and working on a website for her. I really miss doing that, but I don’t feel my work is up to par to actually charge for it.

This past Wednesday afternoon, I had an appointment with Dr. Ayres, as I mentioned above. There wasn’t much of a change. The eye chart seemed a bit blurrier than at my appointment a few weeks earlier with Dr. Garg. I could read the E, but the S in the SL line was difficult for me. I’m not sure if I would’ve been able to read it if I didn’t know what it was. Dr. Ayres had a look and we spoke about the fluctuation in my vision. He had Gordon do some sort of scan to measure my cornea. They used a machine they were trying out and he hoped that he’d still have it at my next appointment to get another scan at a different time of day. Looking into the machine, I saw what looked like one of the flowers on the Mystery Machine. Zoinks! While I was having the scan done, Eliz asked Dr. Ayres about writing the letter for the Affiliate Summit. When we returned to Pod 2 (I still don’t know why they don’t call them EyePod 1, 2, and 3…) Dr Ayres and I talked about the letter. He told me to continue on the eye drops and come back in six weeks, in the morning. So while there weren’t any miraculous breakthroughs on why my vision can’t get back to where it was just after the surgery in mid-April, I wasn’t really expecting too much and my IOP remains stead at eight, which is good considering it could get wacky (cuckoo bananas?) because of the drops that I’m on. As promised, Dr. Ayres had the letter to me by the next morning.

It’ll be interesting to see if this week is as frantic as last week. Since both kids are away, it will certainly be more quiet here.

What a Busy Week is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: Amy, com, cornea specialist, Dr. Ayres, Eliz, event, eye doctors, grandmere, Miami, museum of modern art, New York, something, summit east, time

It is so frustrating to me that nothing can be done to get me back to where I was just days after the surgery.  For about 10 days from 18 April, my vision was the best it had been in years.  Seems now like that was a cruel tease.  I’m getting tired of running to the doctors multiple times per month and not making progress.

In other news, Jacob is in Japan with a group of students from Westtown.  The last few days they’ve stayed in Kyoto and taken day trips by rail to other cities and sites (Hiroshima, Miyagima-guchi, Miyagima, Kinkaku-ji.)  Sunday, they move on to Tokyo where they meet their host families and prepare for a week at Tamagawa, Westtown’s sister school in Japan.  The family Jake is staying with has a boy a year or two younger than Jake and seems to live a bit of distance away from the school.  Eliz and I hope Jake can manage the train transfers…

Jane is looking forward to meeting her favorite band All Time Low on Sunday at meet and greet during The Bamboozle Roadshow.  Monday, she heads to softball camp at Villanova for a week.  She is also doing two weeks at an overnight camp at Bryn Mawr College in July and going to the Outer Banks in August with Margaret, Meghan, and Chris.  Did I mention she spent yesterday (Thursday) in New York with her friend Rachel?

Since Eliz and Jane won’t be here on Sunday, I’m planning a day of football…  Well, at least the last two games (Azzurri/All Whites and Brazil/Ivory Coast (sorry Slovakia/Paraguay, I’m not rolling out of bed at 7.30am.)  So, if you want to watch some footie, come on over!

Finally, I’ve lost another pound, which I am trying not to do.  I’m trying to maintain 163 pounds, but have been between 161 and 162 the last couple of days.  I’ve bumped to 1800 calories per day (from 1700) to try not to lose any additional weight.  It’s been tough this week, because we’ve eaten out four times and I’ve had to estimate my calories once and calculate my calories after the fact another time.  By the time I added ‘em up, I was short by 200 calories (ate 1600 calories) and it was too late to have anything else if I wanted to go to sleep by 2.00am.  At 161, I’m down 73 pounds since I started on 10 December 2009.

More next week, after my cornea doc appointment.

It’s Been a Few Weeks, Not Much New is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: bamboozle roadshow, Brazil, bryn mawr college, Chris, cornea, Hiroshima, Ivory Coast, Jacob, Jake, Jane, Japan, kinkaku, Kyoto, macular edema, Margaret, Meghan, New York, Rachel, retina specialist, surgery, time, Tokyo, vision, week, Whites

The fact that I can do that with some confidence is a result of the surgery.  I use reading glasses that enables me to see the computer screen more clearly than I did prior to the surgery.  I have the font size at +2 (two steps above medium,) which is where I used to have it.  I am now also able to read, briefly, without the screen being reversed.  For those not familiar with Macs, you can easily reverse the screen to see a negative view.  Fonts that are usually black on a white background are reversed and become white on a black background.  If my eye improve a little more, I may even be able to use a Windows machine (though why would I want to do that?  Our point-of-sale system runs on a Windows machine…)

Other achievements I’ve had in the past week include seeing colors more vividly.  I love just walking outside and looking around.  The grass and leaves are so green and the sky is so blue.  Flowers seem to have so much more color.  I can also see cars on the road, signs on buildings, and, on the down side, marks and dirt on the carpet and walls.

Watching TV has become enjoyable again.  I can now tell characters apart, where as before the surgery I was happy if I could tell if a character was white or black.  I’ve also noticed that I am reading the ticker(s) at the bottom of the screen while I watch Bloomberg, CNBC, FNC or CNN.  All the graphics on the news and sports looks sooo good.

The best thing for me so far on TV has been watching the Flyers.  I don’t know if it is just from the surgery or also from watching in HD, but I can follow the puck much better that I’ve been able to in a long, long time.  I guess it doesn’t hurt that they’ve been winning either.  Lets see if I enjoy watching them play the Caps…  I do like Ovechkin — he is one of my favorite players.  He is a complete, tough player, unlike Crosby who is a gifted player but the worlds biggest crybaby.

My first outing to a sporting event was this past Monday.  I went to Jane’s softball game against Abington Friends.  I was very happy how much more of the action I was able to follow.  I did lose track of the ball on some hits though.  I enjoyed the game even though Jane’s team lost (though Jane knocking in a run and scored another) and the umpire was terrible (though that is not why they lost.)  I am looking forward to watching some of Jake’s lacrosse games.  His last game before my surgery, I had trouble seeing the players who weren’t near the sideline we were on.

Lets face it, my eyes still suck in a big way, BUT, I can see so much more than I could before the surgery.  I have more confidence wondering around a store by myself (of course, until I get glasses or better reading glasses, I still can’t see what is on the shelf…)  I’d also be comfortable finding the bathroom on my own in a restaurant, which is something I would not do before the surgery.  I am still hopeful of reading printed material and throwing a ball around with Jane or Jake.  Maybe next week…

One Week After Cataract Removal is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: blue flowers, game, Jake, Jane, point of sale system, productive time, reading, reading glasses, road signs, screen, surgery, time

Welcome to the Hotels.com EyeOp XIV Report.  We’ll take you through the entire operation from warm-ups to the very end.  The patient walked in relaxed and comfortable, but lacking any fashion sense in a button down Tigger shirt, grey sweatpants, and sneakers.  At check-in, he was informed of a last-second audible that there would be no transplant on this day, just the cataract extraction.  Not flustered by the surprising news, he moved to the waiting area and went through the word scrambles as quickly as Eliz could read him the letters.  Then, his number was called.  It was time.

In the prep area, he relaxed while Lisa went over the plan and put some “face paint” above his left eye.  There wasn’t a flinch when she put the IV into his left hand.  After a brief meeting with the surgeon, Dr. Ayres — where additional “face paint” was added above the left eye and a reason was given for not being prepared to do the partial cornea transplant (if it wasn’t needed, the tissue would have been wasted) — Dr. Curtis came over to start the IV.  She remarked that the patient already looked relaxed and sleepy before starting the IV.

At 11:06 am, the players took the field.  The patient was so very comfortable, only spoke to the doctor once or twice and enjoyed “twilight” (minus the vampires.)  Within 30 to 45 minutes there was a pat on the shoulder from Dr. Ayers and it was off to recovery.  After a grueling victory, the patient celebrated was a cool cup of water and an apple cinnamon bar.  He was given last minute instructions (keep the shield on, don’t get water — or anything else — in the eye, take 12 eye drops per day, etc,) and put his chai (jewish symbol for life, not spiced Indian tea) necklace back on.  Three hours after arriving, it was time to go home.

The 1-800 Contacts Great Sight of the Day was everything outside!  The grass and the trees looked greener.  The buildings had depth and dimension.  Some signs on buildings could be read.  So far, so good.

So that’s how the Hotels.com EyeOp XIV Report would end.  But the healing continues.  This morning, on our way to the first post op appointment, I was able to see more signs on buildings and stores and read some advertising on buses.  At my appointment, the doctor said everything looked good and I was able to read some of the 20/100 line without the pinholes.  I was even able to read the A in the CAV8 (20/80) line with the pinholes!  The other good news is that I only have to wear the plastic eye shield to bed.  I can also resume ALL normal activities on Monday (until then, no heavy lifting, gardening, or other strenuous activities.)

I watched some of the Flyers and Phillies games tonight.  Wow!  I was amazed at how much I could follow the play in the Flyers game.  I could see the score and time left in the period without getting up off the floor (where I lay, propped up on my left elbow to watch TV.)  Even the Phillies game looked good, though it wasn’t in HD since we have Fios.  I could see the rain pouring down on Halliday…  I was disappointed we didn’t get to Jacob’s lax game before the rain came.  We were in traffic on 202 after our delivery in Wilmington.  My next chance at live sports is Jane’s softball game on Monday.

I am pleased with the results thus far.  I believe I’ll be able to follow a movie on the big screen.  Maybe we’ll try that next weekend.  I am looking forward to trying things that I haven’t been able to do for many years.

EyeOp XIV Report is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: cataract extraction, cornea transplant, Dr. Ayers, Dr. Ayres, Dr. Curtis, eye, face paint, game, Jacob, Jane, John Fecenda, Lisa, patient, post, time, warm ups, Wilmington, word scrambles

I would often shovel our elderly neighbor’s driveway first because of the “payment” I would receive.  Fresh-baked, homemade gingerbread men.  Wow were they good.  They were usually done by the time I finished shoveling our driveway.  One time, my dad came home early and noticed I had done the neighbor’s driveway first and asked why.  I told him because he couldn’t bake.

This last week has been great.  Two huge storms with plenty of snow.  Jake, Jane, and I started shoveling Saturday around noon (I had shoveled once on Friday night while Eliz was picking up Jake from school after he attended the school play Little Shop of Horrors.)  The three of us shoveled for about an hour and then Jane had to go inside to get ready for a Bar Mitzvah which she was attending at 5:00pm.  Jake and I continued shoveling so Eliz could get out and get Jane to her friends house to carpool to the service (thankfully the party was postponed until noon the next day.)  Jake and I cleared enough snow so Eliz and Jane could get out and had the whole driveway clean by the time Eliz was ready to pull in after returning from dropping Jane off and looking for a new shovel.

With yesterday’s storm, Jane and I went out to shovel.  I did most of the shoveling while Jane did some, but concentrated on building a snowman.  We were outside for a little more than an hour and had cleared a good portion of the area of the driveway by the garage doors and a path to the street.  I intended to go back out, but our power had gone out.  After resting for 10 minutes or so, Eliz said we should play a game.  The choices were Life, Monopoly, and Risk.  I am not a fan of Life and we thought Risk would’ve been too hard without power and little outside light due to the dark gray clouds and heavy snow coming down.  Monopoly it was!

We had fun playing for over an hour.  We stopped for a tea and hot chocolate break and as we started to play again, the power came back on.  We took a few minutes to power up the computers in the office and check for any sales on ForYourSalon.com (we had some!)  We resumed playing around 4:00ish.  After another hour, Jake was broke.  He went and watched Ghostbusters that was playing on cable.  Eliz, Jane, and I played on.  Jane was just about broke, but then she landed on Free Parking, where we start off with $500 and then add all the fines and taxes to the pot.  She scored nearly $3000!  She was down to one monopoly, but now had cash.

At around 6:00pm, the power went out again.  We continued to play with flashlights and a candle providing us light.  Eliz took too many rides on the railroads (all owned by me) and was living it up in hotels on Boardwalk, Park Place, Oriental Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue (also owned by me,) so she went broke.  With Jane only having one monopoly, she wasn’t bringing in enough cash.  I believe a stop at my hotel on Boardwalk finished her off.  It was the longest I’ve ever played.  It was probably three to four hours long, not including breaks.  It was awesome.  Had the power not gone out, we probably wouldn’t have played (and even if we did, we definitely wouldn’t have played that long.)

Today we all went outside around 10:45am to clear the driveway.  The area we shoveled yesterday had about eight or nine inches on it and was much easier to shovel today since it was lighter.  The rest of the driveway, included the path to the street which was covered over and as high as the non-shoveled areas, wasn’t as easy.  Snow had drifted in some areas and yesterday’s snow was still heavy and much icier.  It was so tiring mainly because of piles of snow along the driveway that we had to throw the shovel-full of snow over were so tall.

While we shoveled, we joked around with one another and talked at times.  We finished off the driveway and the area in front of the mailbox (in time to get one check and a blizzard of bills today.)  We went inside to rest for a few minutes and decide on lunch.  We ended up at Five Guys in Lawrence Park.  Even the ride there was nice in the heated car.  The restaurant had the heat cranked and it felt great there too.

The power had come back on just before we left for lunch at 2:00pm (I had to open the garage door manually, but by the time Eliz backed out and I came in to close the door manually the power was on,) so when we returned, it was back to work.  It was nice to see we had a few more sales to acknowledge since the power had gone out.

All in all, it was a fantastic 24 hours.  Without the power, we spent more time together as a family.  We worked together to clear the driveway (even though Eliz shouldn’t have shoveled since she is still getting therapy for her arm.)  It felt good to be with the kids without them wanting to bolt for their computers or a video game and me not taking another call or updating the website.  I guess we probably wanted to do that, but we couldn’t.  No matter, I still enjoyed the time together.  I can’t wait for the next snow.

Lots of Snow, No Power is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: 70's, bar mitzvah, driveway, elderly neighbor, elderly neighbors, Eliz, ForYourSalon.com, garage doors, gingerbread men, Jake, Jane, Lawrence Park, little shop of horrors, Oriental Avenue, payment, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Avenue, power, shop of horrors, shovel, snow, time, winter

To prepare for our move out, we’ve been cleaning our home office.  That will become the center of our business.  Our plan is operate ForYourSalon.com and continue to serve our local customers (salons, barbershops, spas, senior care facilities, and individual stylists,) delivering their orders to them.  Delivering to our customers isn’t new, our top 10 customers never set foot into our building.  They would simply phone or fax their orders in.  Our challenge will be to convert those customers who would come into the store multiple times per week (some, multiple times per day) because we were close by.  It won’t be easy, but it is better than spending all day in that building with all the mold and mushrooms.

As were cleaning the office, we’re coming across things that we should have thrown out or recycled long ago.  Like tickets, with parking, to the 2003 NHL Eastern Conference Finals.  The Flyers were bounced in the semis by Ottawa.  I didn’t go to any of the playoffs that year, or since.  I had eye surgery in February that year and only went to one game after it as a season ticket holder (it was 1 April vs. Columbus — Jeremy Roenick bobble head night.  Eliz and I stayed until the end of the first period when it was clear I’d have a better chance at growing new hair on my bald head than I would seeing the game.)  Then there’s the Dreamweaver 2.0 guide, complete with a 3 1/2″ floppy disk!  You would have thought that I would have gotten rid of that after I purchase the Dreamweaver 3.0 Bible or the Dreamweaver MX 2004 book.  That scenario repeated over and over again with Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress, and a few other programs.  Why I still have the box and manual to the Canon A40 I purchased in 2002 is beyond me.  I guess I wanted to take advantage of the whopping two megapixels.  It is amazing what we’ve saved over the years.

I’m looking forward to turning the page to 2010; I wish you a happy and healthy year.  Of course, I’ll be back with a post in a day or two.  That will be the first time in 2010 that I’ll post to my blog…

My Last Blog Entry for 2009 is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: barbershops, bobble head, building, Columbus, day, Dreamweaver, Eastern Conference, eastern conference finals, individual stylists, Jeremy Roenick, Ottawa, petri dish, salons, season ticket holder, senior care facilities, spas, time, Year

I get called back and the “nurse” (she is more than a helper, but I doubt she is a nurse — please correct me if I’m wrong) puts up the eye chart.  I see the big E (20/400,) but not the SL (20/200.)  She drops the pinhole thingy over my eye and after some searching for the perfect pinhole, I see the SL line.  The OPLB line looks like some black blobs and I can’t make any of the letters out.  The “nurse” says, “Oh, that’s not so bad.  It’s only one line less.”  Really?  So if you are driving down the street, you don’t think seeing a sign with letters about 12 inches tall would be much easier to see than the sign with letters about six inches tall?  I’ve wasted a ton of money on signage then if it’s not that different.

After waiting an unusually long time to see Dr. Ayers (a total of about an hour fifteen minutes,) he finally came into the room.  We exchanged pleasantries and then discussed my eyes.  I told him about my left eye and not seeing as good as I had been and I am now having greater difficulty reading on the computer.  As I put my head into the applanation tonometer (the machine with the blue light on it,) I mention that my right eye is bothering me.  He took a look at the right eye and mentioned things like corneal edema, bullae, and some other things to the “nurse” who was writing everything in my chart.  I kind of knew that I had some bullae (small, fluid-filled blisters ,) because I’ve had sinusitis and been on antibiotics for the past two weeks.  (This is the third time I’ve had sinusitis in the last four months, could it be the mold at the store?)  The problem with the bullae now though is that when they pop, the pain isn’t going away and any kind of light brings additional pain.  I thought I might have an infection in the eye.  Doc said no and to use this stuff called Muro 128, which is basically a kicked up saline solution.  It also comes in a gel that I usually use.  I suppose I could also go to the kitchen and throw some salt in my eye…

As he checked out my left eye, he noticed the “folds” straight away.  He then said the “folds” are Haab Striae and I’ve had them for a long time.  He then (tried to) show me the sketches he’s done of my eye at every visit.  He realized I couldn’t see it and told me each one has them (the striae) there.  He said my eye looks good.  My IOP was eight in the left, 16 in the right.  Wow, so everything is good!  I am so relieved.  But wait, I can’t see as well.  There’s got to be something going on.  I do have a cataract in there, but the doc says he doesn’t think it is time to remove it.  Besides, by taking that out, it may wreck the endothelia that was transplanted in December.  Dr. Ayers says, “But we could just do another one.”  He said I might be able to 20/70 or 20/80!  Of course he said I’d get to 20/100 by doing the endothelial transplant.  I guess I’ve got to wait more than 42 weeks after the surgery to get there.  He doesn’t think the cataract is the problem though.  Dr. Ayers then adds, “Whatever it is, it’s not an easy fix.”  House!  HOUSE!  Where the hell is that guy…  Oh, he’s not real?  I thought that show was one of those reality shows.

Speaking to my dad about the appointment last night, he said, “What are they gonna tell you?  They can’t fix it, it is the way it is.”  I should have listened to him.  I’d have saved a few hours and the copay.  Not too bad for a guy that only spent two weeks in high school.

I’d like to thank Ken for transporting me to my appointment.  Since Ginny and Scott aren’t with us at the store, we don’t have coverage for Eliz and I both to leave store.  Between the mold, the economy, and my vision, it might be time to get into something else.

Everything Looks Fine… is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: applanation tonometer, appointment, cornea specialist, corneal edema, Dr. Ayers, eye, fluid-filled blisters, Ginny, glaucoma, glaucoma specialist, Haab Striae, I, infection, ken, line, Mold, muro 128, nurse, saline solution, Scott, sinusitis, the economy, time, visual acuity

The nurse/assistant then put numbing drops in my eyes and took my pressure.  I’m not a fan of them taking my pressure, because they do not take their time getting a reading and are obviously not as skilled as the doctor in reading the results.  She got between 10 and 12 on my right eye (not that that eye matters.  Hell, I’d sell it to the highest bidder if I could – and no, PayPal would NOT be accepted for payment.)  She got eight in my left eye.  That eye hasn’t, pardon the pun, seen eight in quite awhile (since 5 Dec 2008, the day after my endothelial transplant, when my IOP was in the mid-teens due to something being blocked from the surgery.)  It has fluctuated between five and seven at most visits over the last six and a half years since my last trab (glaucoma surgery) in Feb 2003.  She then dilated my eyes.

Dr. Ruffini entered about 10 minutes later, and not a moment too soon, since Eliz and I had finished all the word scrambles from the paper.  I told him of my lousier than normal sight and the double vision I’ve been experiencing.  He had a look with a light that was 3457329845 times brighter than the sun.  He said he could see all the way back to the nerve in my left eye; my cornea was very clear; the cataract had grown slightly, but it wasn’t something that needed to be dealt with near-term.  He also mentioned a slight fold at the center of the endothelia.  He wasn’t sure what might have caused this, since it wasn’t there the last time.  I asked if the low IOP (hypotony) could have caused this and thought that might be it.  Wow, after 44 years of going to ophthalmologists, I actually contributed to the discussion!  He advised me to discuss the wrinkle with both the glaucoma specialist and cornea special at my upcoming appointments with them in October.

I was disappointed  when we left the appointment.  These things are going on in my eye, I still can’t see as well as I did back in March 2008 (before the problems with my cornea started,) and yet there is no solution.  Nothing.  I don’t know why I have such a hard time believing that.  I also don’t know why I’m having such a tough time dealing with it.  I’ve known since I was a little kid that this was my predicament.  Knowing doesn’t make it easier.  As my sight gets worse, I’ve gotten more miserable and I’m too young to be a grumpy old man.

Latest Eye Appointment is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: appointment, clear as day, dilated, Dr. Ruffini, endothelia, eye, eyes, glaucoma, glaucoma surgery, hypotony, L.  Then, line, low IOP, mid teens, miserable, nurse assistant, pinholes, pressure, right eye, time, word scrambles, yesterday

The first time I did this task, I was given the ground rules: I couldn’t touch the socks on the wall, I could get as close as I wanted, and, there was no time limit.  Most people had to this (and all the other tasks in the study) three times.  First time with both eyes, the second time with one eye covered, and the third time with the other eye covered.  I only had to do it (and all other tasks) twice since I have only the slightest vision in my right eye.  Believe me, 2x is enough.

I verified the ground rules with Maryanne before we started.  The last time I did this task the observer seemed to have a problem with the way I did this task.  She then started the clock and I began the task with my right eye covered.  It was covered from the last task and both Maryanne and I forgot to remove it.  I spread the socks out on the table, looking for the one I knew had no match.  It was easy to spot since it had cream or gray colored stripe near the top of the sock.  Now I just had to find the correct seven of the remaining nine and match them up.  So I hopped up on the table and zeroed in on a lighter gray sock on the board.  I found two socks that were similar in color and held them up close to the one on the board.  I could feel a pattern on one of the socks and knew that wasn’t the correct one.  I placed the other on the table beneath its mate.  This went on for about 18 minutes.  I missed two or three.

Now it was time for me to do it with both eyes.  It seemed silly for me to do it with both eyes, but at one of the other tasks I had done better with both eyes than with just my left, so I was up for seeing if it made a difference with this task.  I asked Maryanne to mix the socks up so that it would be a fair comparison.  She did and then started the timer.  I found the striped sock again and discarded it.  I hopped back onto the table and began matching.  This time it only took me about 11 minutes and I got ‘em all!  I think that was the first time in the study that I matched them all correctly.  I was happy until I realized it took me about a minute and a half to match a pair of socks.

Socks is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: colored stripe, congenital glaucoma, Eliz, eye, eye level, glaucoma, glaucoma study, legally blind, low vision, Maryanne, Socks, table, task, time, visually impaired, wall, wills eye

I was told by my parents (okay, more my mom than my dad) to be very careful while playing.  My mom always brought up the subject to my eye doctor (who happened to be a family friend and more importantly a Flyers fan.)  By the time I was in fifth grade, I was told not to play football (which was usually Kill the Guy with the Ball) anymore unless it was touch.  When I began having additional trouble in seventh grade (more on that in a minute,) one of the specialists I saw at Children’s Hospital made this statement in a letter to my local ophth: “Unfortuneately, David seems to be athletic…”  It went on to say that I should stop playing most of the other sports I loved playing.

One Sunday while I was in seventh grade, I went across the street to play basketball with my friends Billy, Joe, and Kurt.  I was the smallest of the four, because I was the youngest.  The others were two grades ahead of me.  I didn’t mind playing rough, I actually enjoyed it.  At some point, an elbow may have been thrown.  There may have been a hard foul (it was 32 years ago, who remembers the trigger.)  Whatever happened, Kurt and I came to blows.  I was holding my own until Kurt landed one in my left eye (that’s the good – only – eye.)  I turtled quickly.  Joe and Billy pulled Kurt off of me.  Our afternoon of basketball was over.  Later that evening, when my eye wouldn’t stop hurting, we called our family friend.  He told us to come over and he’d take a look.  My dad ran me over to his apartment.  He took one look at my eye and said let head over to the office.  So, dressed in his PJs, Dr. Starer drove with us over to his office.  He noticed nothing damaged from the punch and said the pain was probably not in my eye but around it.  He then checked my IOP.  It was higher than normal (he always liked to see my IOP between 8-12.)  Thus began three years of instability in my left eye which ended on 20 May 1980 with my first trabeculectomy (it was my 11th eye surgery overall.)  I like to believe that without playing hoops that day and getting into that fight, it might have taken months to notice the increased IOP.

As my vision has worsened over the years, I play less and less sports.  I miss it.  The other night my daughter wanted to practice pitching.  She is trying to get the mechanics of windmill pitching so that she can pitch for her team at FCS.  I can’t see well enough to catch her, but I want to play…  I noticed that she is sometimes scared of hitting the batter.  I thought I could be the batter and try to distract her while she pitched.  Over time, my theory is, she would block out the batter and just throw to the catcher’s glove.  My wife was nervous.  My daughter was nervous, but she liked having me out there.  Since I wasn’t going to swing, I decided I’d square around to bunt.  I wasn’t sutle either.  I’d jump from my batting stance as I’d get ready to bunt, usually while she was in mid-windup.  I’d offer at pitches I thought were good, but I never laid down a fair bunt.  I did make contact with five or six pitches however.  Did I almost get hit?  Three or four times.  Two pitches came close to my head, but missed.  Did I have a helmet on?  Nope.  Was the reward worth the risk?  You bet!

Risk vs. Reward is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: Billy, David, Dr. Starer, eye, family, football, football soccer, Guy, intermural, Joe, Kurt, limited vision, school, street hockey, time