Just call me Mr Magoo. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today I'm going to talk about eyes. No, not you and I, but vision. Eyes. I've always had good vision. I've been blessed. I feel lucky to say that.

But recently or well, maybe not so recently I started to see a change in my vision. I thought it was because I was working so much on the computer. Sure, I've had periods of time when I've worked on the computer a lot as well, and there wasn't this significant of a change in my vision. But yes, there was a more severe. Now I should say that I'm pretty squeamish with anything around my eyes.

Years ago, I went to an eye doctor for an eye exam. An eye doctor for an eye exam, and when this particular technician was trying to do the glaucoma test, where they come in really close and put the instrument close to your eye to look in after they've put the drops in. I kept flinching and so, after several tries, I think the man who was trying to do the test was a bit nervous himself and he finally just gave up in exasperation and he said you're pretty young, you probably don't have glaucoma anyway. And he walked out of the room. Glaucoma anyway, and he walked out of the room. So yeah, even if I know somebody's not going to touch my eye I'm not very good at it Don't get close to my eyes.

For years I was terrified of, terrified of the dilation process. I still haven't had my eyes dilated. And now I go to a doctor where they have a special machine that allows them to look into the eye as well as having the eyes dilated. So I dodged that bullet as well. Okay, I should say that usually when I've gotten bad news from a doctor, Bill has not been with me. It's sort of a typical only child process and only child experience, in that I have to rely on myself, Right? But this particular time, this particular appointment that I was able to get and it was the first appointment that I could get was an 8.30 appointment and, trust me, Bill is not a morning person Well, neither am I really, but I can do it. So I got myself there at 8.30.

And one of the first things that happened was the eye exam, Also, where you cover one eye and you look at the eye chart and you read it. Now I knew that one of my eyes was worse than the other, but I wasn't really prepared for the fact that I was not going to be able to read any of the chart with my left eye at all, even with my glasses. That was pretty bad. I could at least see that there were some blurry figures there, but I couldn't read any of them. It harkens back to the time when I went to DMV. I had to do an eye test to renew my license DMV. I had to do an eye test to renew my license and I didn't have glasses at that point. And they said you know, can you read these lines? And I was like uh-oh, I really couldn't. Now I do have an astigmatism, so if I squint a lot sometimes I can see a little bit better than if I don't squint, but anyway.

So the doctor came in at my appointment and she told me what I thought was the case is that I have cataracts. Was the case is that I have cataracts, Now I had a meltdown. There's no two ways about it. I had a meltdown because, for somebody who's squeamish like me, this is not good news. I'm going to have to have surgery or I'm going to basically go almost blind. And the other part of it is that I have the kind of cataracts that grow fast and so, as bad as my vision has become, it's going to get worse, and probably quickly. She said that I'm not going to make it a year and it's probably going to be faster than that, and I know it's true because if I do cover the one eye, my left eye is pretty bad. I mean, I can see the TV and I can see shapes and I can see things and I can see the drive TV and I can see shapes and I can see things and I can see the drive, but it's getting harder and harder and what I notice is that my depth of field is off, Like when I go to give the cat his insulin shot. When I go to put the cat back on the syringe, I have to be really careful because I can't quite judge the distance of where the cap is in relationship to the needle, Ouch.

So yeah, I had a meltdown because I had always heard that, even though maybe you're in twilight or something that the cataract surgery you're kind of awake for or you have to be awake, and my eye doctor is, she's a woman and she's very no-nonsense, she's not as touchy-feely as most women are, I'll say that. So she just she looked at me and she said, listen, you're going to be fine. I have an anesthesiologist. If we need to put you out, we're going to put you out, You'll be fine. And that made me feel better, I mean, Except for the fact that I really don't want to be put out at all. Right, I mean, who wants to really be put out? But if I need the surgery, I'd rather be put out. Now, I don't know that, necessarily.

Cataracts are genetic. I've read things that say that they are and I've read things that say that they are, and I've read things that say that they aren't. But if they are, I was certainly predisposed to them, because all of my grandparents and both of my parents had to have cataract surgery. And I look back at all of them and say, wow, they were so brave, right? Also, my husband has had both of his eyes done several years ago, many years ago and one of my friends who is an eye doctor now wrote me and said that it's fine, You'll be fine, it's painless, You'll love it. And I don't know if I'll love it. I mean, come on, but this is very positive, but for those of us who are squeamish about our eyes, it's a little daunting. Anyway, this is something it looks like I'll probably do in 2025. So something to look forward to in the new year. Just call me Mr Magoo. So, anyway, I have to go squint and try to do some work now, but that's all I've got for today.

Next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries, Thank you.