the_rck | (no subject)

I had my annual eye exam yesterday. I've got no signs of glaucoma (on my mother's side) or of macular degeneration (on my father's side). I do have a cataract. The doctor said that it's not affecting my vision and that it's a wait-and-see sort of thing.

It was bitterly cold. I was okay getting to the appointment, but afterward, I really couldn't see well. They gave me disposable sunglasses, but when it's that cold, I wear a double layer of knit cotton up over my nose because it helps prevent asthma issues.

That scarf directs all of the moisture from my exhalations upward. Even if I wore my glasses routinely, I wouldn't dream of wearing them outside in the winter because, if it's a choice between breathing and seeing, I'll pick breathing.

It wasn't completely impossible downtown. The sidewalk was semi-cleared and the remaining snow was dirty enough not to produce glare. I shifted the pseudo-sunglasses up so that I could see a wedge of down. Then I went to lunch at Totoro and took my time.

My eyes still weren't happy when I got off the bus heading home. The glare of the still mostly pristine snow was blinding. I alternated between walking with my scarf pulled down and the pseudo-sunglasses pressed over my eyes and stopping to breathe a bit. I only needed to go two blocks, and I didn't need to maneuver around other pedestrians or anything but slick sidewalks.

I have a prescription for computer glasses. The reading glasses are only good for about a six inch range, somewhere around eight inches to a foot from my face, and my laptop screen is generally at least twice as far away as that, far enough that the reading glasses make things harder instead of better. I've already changed defaults on my laptop and in various programs to try to force default display font size to be larger. This doesn't work everywhere and, even when it does, often breaks the layout.

Most books are farther away, too, because I can't really hold anything heavier than my phone long enough to read more than a page or so. I hate reading anything longer than about 300 words on my phone because either the print size is impossible or nothing fits on the screen. Of course, a bigger screen means it weighs too much. Part of that weighing too much is that it's enough to set off arm tremors. The phone is light enough not to.

The ophthalmologist had no suggestions as to how to reconcile my need to change position every few minutes with glasses only working if I keep what I'm looking at in a very narrow zone relative to my eyeballs.

I've almost finished preparing for the dishwasher delivery this afternoon. I've got dishes washing now. Once they're out, we should be good to go. I wanted the sink and counter empty, so I considered hand washing the dishes, but I had a five hour window, so I thought running the dishwasher again would be feasible and less exhausting.

My main goal for the day is to finish a draft of this exchange story. It's due Saturday, and I know the likely general arc. I just have to write it (and then rewrite the parts that are in the wrong POV).

Scott's taking use-it-or-lose-it vacation time from the 24th to the end of January. Right now, we've got a long list of projects that we both want to get done. I'm also planning to have him deal with talking to someone who can do three electrical jobs for us--

We need the outlet the fridge is plugged into checked for safety. We need the wiring in to the ceiling light and fan in our room checked (it might be the fixture, but it also might be the wiring. For some reason, we're not keen on trying to replace the fixture without knowing whether or not the problem is the wiring). We need a hood installed over the stove (we have one. We have wiring for one. We just haven't been able to find someone willing to do the work).

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Someone who wears bifocal contact lenses once told me that contacts are much better than glasses at being able to focus vision at a variety of distances. I personally have never tried contact lenses, so I have *no* idea if this is useful advice, but maybe it's worth investigating as an option?

Do you need references for electricians? I'm very happy with Tim Neff. 734-320-5528.

When we removed the old hood, after buying the new one, we tried to hire an electrician. He looked at the wiring and said he wouldn't bill us for the visit, that it was too trivial a job to merit an electrician. The handyman he recommended looked at it and said we had to have an electrician. We haven't done anything about it in the intervening years.

I'll try talking to Tim Neff and see what happens since we have three different issues that someone has to look at.

Thanks!

I've never asked about contact lenses, and nobody's ever offered me the option to buy them. I'm not sure if that's due to my other health issues or an insurance thing or what. I kind of assumed that, if they were a thing that someone could sell to me, someone would have tried. If that makes sense?

It makes sense. But nobody has ever offered contact lenses to me, and I figure I probably *could* wear them if I asked. So maybe it's an option where you need to ask in order to be offered it? I don't know. I really don't know what I am talking about here! :-S

Part of my response got cut off. Sorry.

I also think that, at this point, I wouldn't dare try to put in contacts. It seems unwise with the level of hand tremor for things like holding a spoon and general problems being quite sure where things are relative to my hands. The neurologist pointed this out to his student as a very obvious sign of me having essential tremors. It wasn't that I didn't know where his finger was or where my nose was. It was that I wasn't 100% sure where my finger was relative to either because I didn't have fine motor control while moving that way when I got in close and so hesitated. I don't think I want to combine that with putting things in my eyes.

Oh. That definitely makes contact lenses sound like a really bad idea.

Or, in the immortal words of Emily Litella: Never mind! :)

I'm the same! I've got my laptop up to 150%.

Have you ever tried bifocals or progressive lenses? They seem designed to solve the problem of wanting to look at something close up, and then something farther away, without fumbling around putting on a different pair of glasses.

I have a prescription for progressives in case I try that option. The opthalmologist said that it won't solve the fundamental problem of me shifting my position relative to what I'm looking at, not unless I'm extremely limited in how I move.

At distance A, I need to be looking through one specific bit of the lens. At distance C, I need a different bit. I might be able to adapt to that, but it's likely to be a barrier for me using them up until the point when I can't do without them. If I'm sitting in the living room, I shift position relative to what I'm reading at least twice every five minutes.

Unfortunately, the moving around is a pain and mobility related thing that is only going to become more necessary as I get older.

The ophthalmologist says there's nothing to be done about it. If I vary my position by a few inches, it changes which part of the glasses will work because each bit is optimized for seeing things within a particular six inch range.

My current reading glasses are optimized for me holding a book in front of me with my arms at a 90 degree angle. If the book is in my lap, I get sick trying to read with the glasses on.

I suspect this just means me doing more laptop reading and more audiobooks. I've been trending that way since the laptop is big enough to read on but also something I don't have to support with my upper body.

Hm. I wonder if I could put ebooks on the TV screen via our AppleTV? It might be an option to synch my laptop to that screen for reading at a distance that's not going to be altered perceptibly by me shifting position constantly. It's a thing I could do while I'm at home alone if I could figure out the technological requirements.

I once had a prescription for progressive glasses, and I hated them so much that I went back to wearing non-prescription reading glasses instead. The only part with a prescription suitable for reading was a tiny sliver across the bottom, so I had to tilt my head at a crazy angle to be able to read anything. I have *no* idea how people make progressive glasses work well for them. People said that they take a few weeks to get used to, so maybe I didn't give it enough time. I just don't see how that would have ever gotten comfortable. Sigh.