UGH, STILL IN THE DARK

All of my hurricane preparations remain in place! The season is not over. I've been informed it now ends December 1 and not November 1. Once-upon-a-time it was October 1, but that was before Global Warming which fools still continue to deny. -- Ugh! Before long, hurricane season will be year round!

Last year we had a terrifyingly close call with hurricane Matthew in October when everyone was starting to feel safe. Recently, it was Irma. Fortunately, we were spared the worst here on the Atlantic Coast, although we did not go unscathed. Irma was a gigantic monster!

After Matthew, my house remained boarded into November. But it felt like forever!

Our 1st cool spell has arrived and I am unable to open my windows to fully enjoy it!

Again and for a longer span this time I am remaining boarded. It's gloomy and depressing inside, however I have so much difficulty finding someone to board and unboard me, I figure it saves me stress! And money! Rarely, have I found someone willing to do it for free or even at a reasonable price. There are lots of gougers out there! And as a woman alone I'm a special target.

When the tropics are tranquil, I look forward to autumn. I love the early evening darkness it brings. I find it calming and it heralds the best part of the year, the holidays. However this boarded up darkness feels unnatural and confining.

I recall the 2004 hurricanes with horror. Florida was slammed by four! Here on the east coast we were hit by two, just three weeks apart to the day. My friend Margaret who lived in the center of the state suffered the fury of all four!

Until I moved to Vero Beach, I experienced only two hurricanes in 48 years on the Treasure Coast. I've been in Vero for 18 years now and have been hit by four! Actually five since Irma struck here as a category 1!

Now, every year starting in late summer I freak out!  One day we will get a direct hit from a category 5! Stronger storms are forming than what we've experienced in the past. Even a category 4 is catastrophic! Heck, even a 3 or less can be!

Unlike last year, all the signs were apparent that we were in for a hurricane! Spring and summer were unusually dry. When this happens nature over compensates by sending one. Plus the sea turtles were building their nests high in the dunes rather than along the shore; another ominous sign!

I was telling everyone way back in July that we were in for a hurricane this season! Last year I saw Matthew coming in my tea leaves. Some people now accuse me of being some kind of witch!

A deadly hurricane gave the Treasure Coast its name. A gold and jewel laden Spanish fleet sailed directly into one in 1716. Its treasures still turn up in our waters. This entire area is part of the old Spanish Main. But to me, it's become hurricane alley!

I am hoping, praying, and wishing no more hurricanes will be making landfall in the future! Let them all blow out to sea and dissipate! Like everyone else, I need to get on with my life.

Glad I didn't delay my cataract surgery or I'd have been in the dark in a worse way, it would have been permanent!

FARSIGHTED AGAIN!!!

My cataract surgeries were performed a week apart. These lenses  are supposed to last a lifetime. This is wonderful news!!!

The first surgery was by far the smoothest. I don't remember anything after they gave me the sedative. It was as if I slept thru the procedure, which I probably did. It was the easiest surgery I'll ever have.

Afterward, I was offered snacks. (I'd not been allowed anything to eat or drink since 3:00 AM that morning. (But the day before I enjoyed a big holiday style meal.) After surgery, I should have been starving, but I wasn't. And I didn't miss coffee or tea one bit, but I was dying for a glass of water! Ugh, their snacks sucked and almost made me throw up!

That day was the beginning of a tropical front moving thru bringing almost non-stop rain for a week. Fortunately, I had my umbrella and I use my garage door as my main entry. This prevented me from getting soaked when the shuttle brought me home.

I remained woozy for awhile afterward, but when the fog lifted my vision was amazingly sharper. The eye was sore; I saw streamers of light and weird flashing in my peripheral vision, along with a strange rash under that eye. But it was more discomfort than pain. I didn't require even an aspirin.

When I sat down to watch television that night suddenly I had High Def TV! -- I don't subscribe to it, but that's how everything looks now! I didn't realize my vision had declined to that extend.

The next morning when I looked around, my first thought was that I need to remove myself from Facebook and start cleaning my house! And mind you my windows are still boarded plus it was dark and stormy outside.

The following day, I felt I could drive to the grocery store, however my street was flooded and the rain showed no sign of ceasing. Water was over my ankles by the mailbox and up to my calves further down the road. I have an older, low-built car. If water splashes up into the fan belt my steering wheel locks, it wasn't worth the risk!

I was forced to dip into my storm pantry. Thanks to hurricane Irma it was well stocked!

My snowbird friend Marie called to tell me she would be returning the Saturday after my next surgery. Her refrigerator had died over the summer, so she needed to use my garage freezer. Thanks to an active hurricane season there was plenty of free space.

The day before my 2nd surgery, I was finally able to go grocery shopping. When I returned, I discovered my garage freezer leaking! I phoned Jetson Appliances and asked for the cheapest 5 ft. freezer they had and how soon they could deliver. In the morning, I was told. I informed them I was having surgery then.

Early the next AM, the shuttle came. This surgery was far more unpleasant.

In the waiting area is a large TV screen set on a Golden Oldies channel. Previously, I listened to Disco tunes I hadn't heard in 30 plus years. Now it was 1960's tunes from my High School days. This dated music did not make me feel young; it had the opposite effect.

Unlike the previous time, I was awake more during this surgery. My left eye was dilated so large that the iris was nearly invisible. An excruciatingly bright light was shined directly into it. It felt like torture!!! I wanted to close my eye but couldn't and my head was taped down so I couldn't turn away.

I'd been given anti-nausea medication this time, so I was starving afterward! And the snacks they offered were still crappy! For what this procedure cost; I should have been given a 4 egg French omelet, cheddar biscuits, pecan pancakes with fresh strawberries & whipped cream, and a large mocha latte to wash everything down!

On a trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco back in 1977 I met a lady who was a young bride in Nazi occupied Holland. She said the Dutch wanted to throttle the American pilots for dropping chocolate bars while the people were starving! -- I know this is a silly, invalid comparison; but that's what popped into my head as I was chowing down on the cereal bars I'd brought from home.

Next, I waited around for what seemed forever for a post operation exam before the shuttle driver could bring me home. Again, I'd been given huge dark sunglasses that went over my eye brows and covered the sides of my eyes.

I wasn't home even long enough to change clothes when the new freezer arrived. However, it was damaged and the wrong size!!!  I wanted an upright 5 ft. freezer and this one was 5 cubic ft.! It wouldn't hold all of my stuff, much less Marie's, too! Plus it had a broken handle! I sent it back for a replacement. This was another big expense at the wrong time!!!

My vision didn't return nearly as fast as before. I was literally blind in my left eye most of the next day. The following one, it returned, but was exactly the same bad sight as before the procedure! -- However I was told that each eye responds differently and it would come around eventually.

Now that my vision is fully restored, I'd like to take an exotic trip to make the most of it, however these peepers didn't come cheap, so that's out of the question for the near future.  :(

Hopefully in my next incarnation I'll have bionic eyes; however they must have remote viewing and be able shoot fire or lasers! Now THAT would really be fun!!!

YIKES, WHAT'S THIS NOW

That was my reaction upon learning I had cataract issues.

 

One of my favorite cartoon strips BIZARRO recently featured a man declaring himself "Officially Old" because he wasted 10 minutes chasing an eye floater with a fly swatter! Good grief! For the last 20 years I've been battling a giant hornet in my right eye!

Back in 2012 during my first visit to the Florida Eye Institute I was warned this giant floater would someday come apart, and when it did, the retina in that eye was liable to come unattached. This has been my worry ever since without any thought to cataracts.

Now I must have cataract surgery I can barely afford. (No Insurance & ineligible for Medicare.) The alternative is going blind!!! 

Between this hurricane season, the expense of my upcoming surgery, and this insane Trump presidency; I haven't been able to sleep!

Usually, I get up and watch a movie on my DVR.  Often these late night movies are the ones that stand out most in my mind. But not anymore! These nights I can't even concentrate enough to follow a plot, not to mention my TV screen is getting ever more blurry.

A friend told me that cataract surgery is a right of passage as we age. -- Then how come old people in centuries past weren't all blind? Sure their life spans were shorter, yet many who survived into dotage managed to hang on to at least most of their sight. Guess it's all in the genes.

I was required to take a physical exam before any surgery could be performed, one more added expense!!! Personally, I think if I can walk thru the door under my own power I'm fit for the procedure, but they disagreed. Geez, now I had to find a walk-in clinic! With my waning vision I was almost scared to drive. I couldn't see road signs until I was right on top of them!

I had no problems with familiar places, but having to locate an unknown address in busy traffic added to my nightmares! 

Fortunately, after my eyes were measured for surgery the Institute recommended a clinic close to them that was easy to find. And when I showed up to schedule an exam they did it right away! Also the Eye Institute has a shuttle that will pick me up and bring me home. My right eye is the worst and will be first. 

Now I can stop practicing saying and pronouncing, "Hola & donde esta el bano?" since both surgeries will be performed here in Vero Beach. And with the recent earthquakes in Mexico this probably is for the best. Just imagine being in the middle of eye surgery (or any surgery) when an earthquake strikes! Now that is anxiety inducing!!!

This is a simple outpatient procedure. I'm far more stressed and tearing my hair out over the COST, not the surgery!

November 1, the post Halloween horror arrives, my property taxes are due. UGH!!! Mine are close to $2000! I think that amount is crazy for the place I have!

I just hope we don't get hit with anymore hurricanes in the near future. With my high hurricane deductible it would be at least 2020 before I could afford any repairs to my home!

I may come to regret not expatriating to the Third World. However I didn't find it to be the retiree paradise all the international publications claimed. What I have here, even with my limited funds and hurricanes, is more of a paradise!