Using up Electrons, Good Eyeball News, Vaxed to the Max

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

10/15/22

Aloha All -- 

Hope you are all doing well.

Things are slowly getting back to normal (whatever that is these days).  Last Saturday my eyeball made me proud and passed its exam with flying colors!  No edema buildup at all, so I didn't have an injection.  My next appointment is in 4 weeks, which will be about 10 weeks out from the last shot.  It seems like this problem may at last be coming under control -- not cured, but something I can live with.  Now that the retina problem is less severe,  it might be time to consider cataract surgery.  My doctor recommends doing the problem eye first, mainly to see how it goes before risking the good eye.  He says the only extra consideration is that I should have a shot about a week before the cataract procedure to head off any leakage.  Other than that, future injections shouldn't be effected.  I did happen to think of one likely complication, though, that my retina guy and I didn't explore.  For the cataract surgery I'm sure they will flood my eye with numbing solution and therefore I'm likely to have a pretty rough time for 8-12 hours afterwards. Hmmmm.

Speaking of shots, Karen and I wound up having a reaction to the new booster after all.  The symptoms were the usual -- sore arm, joint aches for a few hours, feeling tired.  Even though our reactions were a bit more than those of other people we talked to, they were overall very mild compared to the previous shots. Anyway, we're once again vaxed to the max and glad to be so.

snowboots

This past week has been quite warm here -- afternoons have been in the mid-80's.  Given our current surplus of solar credit, we've had no qualms at all about cranking up the a.c. units in our study and in our bedroom at night.  At the end of the month our credit is reset to zero, so why not enjoy it while we can? Our contract with Helco starts over in November for the next 12 months.  I'm usually a little stingy until I can build up some credit again.

The Ironman dust is settling and all those firm, slim, bodies are starting to be replaced by our more normal snowbird crowd, most of whom are far from slim and trim. The two-day format caused so much disruption that there has been a lot of community push back about repeating it next year.  The problem is that the Thursday race requires many businesses to close because their workers can't get to their jobs while the race is using our one coastal road.  This is less of a problem on Saturday, when many have a day off anyway.  It will be interesting to see how this is resolved.

We've had a number of ships in port this week in addition to our usual Wednesday visit.  These are another sign of normality which we missed the last couple of years -- the ships are repositioning from their northern itineraries to the ones they do in the winter in the south and west.  Along with Ironman income, the last couple of weeks have been a much-welcomed economic boost for the businesses along the shore in town.

Ok, off to Farmer's Market and our breakfast picnic.  Take care and enjoy your fall.