Post Alert.
Readers are cautioned that reading this post may result in digust and nausea. Be forewarned!
For a couple years I've been seeing an eye surgeon. Seems my left eye wasn't built nearly as well as my right eye. I had the doctor write out what it was but I can't read it completely. What can say is that it is well over 40 characters long. The doctor says it is similar to macular degeneration but not the same thing. The doctor also says it is a rare condition so it doesn't have any FDA approved treatment. So every three months I have to go to the doctor's office and get avastin shot in to my right eye with a needle.
yes it is
1) disgusting
2) the same stuff they use for breast cancer treatment.
It appears that it is the same effect. Shrinks up the blood vessels.
But wait K-Mart shoppers. That's not all. This stupid eye also has a hole in the macula. It's been there awhile. The doctor said that as long as there was some tissue (not sure what maybe retina?) across the hole he wanted to leave it alone. But back in October, he changed his opinion and suggested it was time to fix this thing if I was going to.
So I went back for a consultation in Oct and we put plans in motion for fixing this.
- - - CAUTION - - -
If you thought some of the above was disgusting, be warned that was the milder half.
I didn't quite understand what he said but he likened it to a balloon with a hole it. If you stretch the balloon, the hole get larger and if you shrink the balloon, the hole gets smaller. Apparently they somehow do this to my eye. What I do remember is that they will remove a portion of the liquid and inject some gas in to the interior of the eye. The gas presses on the area and it is supposed to allow the tissue to grow / reattach correctly. As you might guess, partially filling the eye with gas to keep pressure at the macula hole means the gas has to be in the right place. And that is the trick. I have to spend a minimum of the next week face down. Literally 24x7 face down.
The doctor provide a brochure for renting equipment to assist in face down week.
Next, getting ready for the hospital.
2010-11-01
2010-10-02
Red Line
I spent most of the week in Washington. The D.C. version.
We stayed at the Bethesda Hyatt. The room was OK. In fact it was a palace compared to what Captain Bob and I are used to on our bike trips. But when you get over $300 / day I would think you would have an exhaust fan in the bathroom. Maybe even a wide-screen TV?
The hotel was about 9 miles from where I was going every day. So the Metro was the only choice. Fortunately the start was right under the hotel. Good thing as Nicole hit the mid-Atlantic this week.
I have never been on the Metro and I think the last time I was on a NY subway was in the early 80s so I'm a wide-eyed newbie. When you look at the Metro Map you can get the heebie-jeebies trying to figure out how to navigate the thing. But it turned out to be easy. All I had to do was hop on the Red Line, transfer to the Blue or Orange Line at Metro Central, travel a few more stops and I was there.
Now I did need to walk outside the hotel. But it was to an area with a cover so no rain on me. An elevator brought us down about one level. About 50 feet to right was an escalator. The longest, steepest escalator I've ever seen. I'd swear this thing must be 1/4 mile long. At the bottom there are a row of machines vending tickets. For my $20 I got a small square piece to heavy stock paper with a magnetic strip down the middle.
So I put the ticket in the slot and it pops out a few feet away. I took the trains to my destination and fed the ticket through the turnstile slot again. When it popped out this time, a new balance was printed.
Come near the end of the week I was running low on money. Just popped the ticket in, fed a couple bucks in, adjusted the total to what I knew I needed, pushed the button and out popped a new ticket and my change.
Now I'm no Luddite but I think the sophistication is pretty marvelous. Yeah I guess if I jumped from an early 80s PC to today's PC maybe I'd find that marvelous too. I have since been told that the Metro is cleaner and such than the NY subways but they have synthesized voices announcing stations and the like that you can actually hear and understand. The Metro is still a human over a loudspeaker that you can't understand.
We stayed at the Bethesda Hyatt. The room was OK. In fact it was a palace compared to what Captain Bob and I are used to on our bike trips. But when you get over $300 / day I would think you would have an exhaust fan in the bathroom. Maybe even a wide-screen TV?
The hotel was about 9 miles from where I was going every day. So the Metro was the only choice. Fortunately the start was right under the hotel. Good thing as Nicole hit the mid-Atlantic this week.
I have never been on the Metro and I think the last time I was on a NY subway was in the early 80s so I'm a wide-eyed newbie. When you look at the Metro Map you can get the heebie-jeebies trying to figure out how to navigate the thing. But it turned out to be easy. All I had to do was hop on the Red Line, transfer to the Blue or Orange Line at Metro Central, travel a few more stops and I was there.
Now I did need to walk outside the hotel. But it was to an area with a cover so no rain on me. An elevator brought us down about one level. About 50 feet to right was an escalator. The longest, steepest escalator I've ever seen. I'd swear this thing must be 1/4 mile long. At the bottom there are a row of machines vending tickets. For my $20 I got a small square piece to heavy stock paper with a magnetic strip down the middle.
So I put the ticket in the slot and it pops out a few feet away. I took the trains to my destination and fed the ticket through the turnstile slot again. When it popped out this time, a new balance was printed.
Come near the end of the week I was running low on money. Just popped the ticket in, fed a couple bucks in, adjusted the total to what I knew I needed, pushed the button and out popped a new ticket and my change.
Now I'm no Luddite but I think the sophistication is pretty marvelous. Yeah I guess if I jumped from an early 80s PC to today's PC maybe I'd find that marvelous too. I have since been told that the Metro is cleaner and such than the NY subways but they have synthesized voices announcing stations and the like that you can actually hear and understand. The Metro is still a human over a loudspeaker that you can't understand.
2010-08-16
perspectives
Nippy lost the DVD I made of the Alaska pictures I took in May 2009. I found my copy and duplicated it. Of course I spot checked the copy to make sure it duplicated correctly and ran in to some pictures I had taken at Glacier Bay.
The pictures do not provide a sense of the magnitude of the Alaskan wildness. Perhaps it is the difference between congested New Jersey and the glaciers, but probably not. I think even a Texan would find the landscape immense.
We headed in to Glacier Bay and on in to the Tar Inlet. Two glaciers come in to the end of the inlet. Like many glaciers, the Grand Pacific Glacier is receding. This is where the Grand Pacific Glacier hits Tar Inlet:
I know it's not very impressive. Although I couldn't get the entire glacier face in the frame, I'd say it's 90% there. You're looking at a 2 mile wide glacier face. A little perspective? If you laid the Empire State Building on it's side, it would be about (actually a little less) the length the dashes underneath the picture.
To the left is the Marjorie Glacier.
The Marjorie Glacier is about 1 mile wide and 350 high (250 above water).
Note that those caves are about 1/2 up in the first picture. The splash is about 1/2 to the cave. So the splash is about 60 feet high!!!
One of the other things that impresses me is the color of the water. I first encountered this at Glacier National Park in Montana. It was even bluer and clearer there. This picture doesn't capture it very well, but I think it gives you the idea.
The color is from Glacial Flour (also known as Rock Flour, but I like Glacial Flour better). Note that spectacular blue in the photo of Peyto Lake:
When we left Glacier Bay I was gripped by the sunlight on the water. It is a little out of context as it doesn't provide perspectives, but I liked it enough to toss it in.
The final perspective was the Gulf of Alaska coastline after we left Glacier Bay. Do you think there is enough elbow room in these parts?
The pictures do not provide a sense of the magnitude of the Alaskan wildness. Perhaps it is the difference between congested New Jersey and the glaciers, but probably not. I think even a Texan would find the landscape immense.
We headed in to Glacier Bay and on in to the Tar Inlet. Two glaciers come in to the end of the inlet. Like many glaciers, the Grand Pacific Glacier is receding. This is where the Grand Pacific Glacier hits Tar Inlet:
I know it's not very impressive. Although I couldn't get the entire glacier face in the frame, I'd say it's 90% there. You're looking at a 2 mile wide glacier face. A little perspective? If you laid the Empire State Building on it's side, it would be about (actually a little less) the length the dashes underneath the picture.
To the left is the Marjorie Glacier.
The Marjorie Glacier is about 1 mile wide and 350 high (250 above water).
Note that those caves are about 1/2 up in the first picture. The splash is about 1/2 to the cave. So the splash is about 60 feet high!!!
One of the other things that impresses me is the color of the water. I first encountered this at Glacier National Park in Montana. It was even bluer and clearer there. This picture doesn't capture it very well, but I think it gives you the idea.
The color is from Glacial Flour (also known as Rock Flour, but I like Glacial Flour better). Note that spectacular blue in the photo of Peyto Lake:
When we left Glacier Bay I was gripped by the sunlight on the water. It is a little out of context as it doesn't provide perspectives, but I liked it enough to toss it in.
The final perspective was the Gulf of Alaska coastline after we left Glacier Bay. Do you think there is enough elbow room in these parts?
2010-07-31
Shuttle Delay
NASA announced that the last two shuttle launches have been delayed. The last launch is now scheduled for Feb 25, 2011. I talked to the Captain and we agreed to delay our Florida trip. We're going to try to get tickets for the February launch and drive to Florida.
Whew. The knee is still swollen etc. I'm sure glad I'm not trying to do 50 miles a day in two weeks. At least I've got a year to make this work. If the knee isn't good by then, well perhaps the touring days might be over.
Whew. The knee is still swollen etc. I'm sure glad I'm not trying to do 50 miles a day in two weeks. At least I've got a year to make this work. If the knee isn't good by then, well perhaps the touring days might be over.
2010-07-04
4rth of July
I was running through some photos and thought this picture of a pair of bald eagles would make a fitting simple 4rth message.
Happy fourth of July
Happy fourth of July