Cataract Re-do, Heart Beats,Fire, Ice & Political Mayhem

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. In the last few editions I've related my aging woes to the extent that this might be called The Geezer Gazette.]

1/18/25

 

Aloha All!

 

Well, I'd say I'm being vindicated in my negative premonitions about 2025.  Let's see,  we've begun the year mourning the death of one of the most ethical and upstanding ex-Presidents while our President-elect -- a man with neither of those qualities -- threatens to invade other countries, jail political enemies, and is filling high offices with conspiracy theorists and people of questionable competence.and/or obvious conflicts of interest. Tthe year has also started

with horrible devastation from the wildfires in LA, while at the same time historic winter storms are bringing crippling snowfall and cold temperatures to large sections of the country.  Gee, this is a lot  of fun!  What's next!? And this is only the third week of the year!

 

So far there are no disasters here in Hawai'i. Pele went back to sleep and the vog lifted for a while, but around the middle of this week activity started up again.  Unfortunate;y this has brought back the vog, too. Yesterday we had southerly winds, which kept most of the SO2 on the windward side, particularly near the volcano and in Hilo. This is an unusual pattern, because the winds normally are from the northeast. The current activity is the fourth time there has been a pause followed by flowing lava  -- kind of like my nightly routine of getting up to go to the bathroom. We're having a mild and dry winter, though there has been some really honking surf along our side of the island.  Winter storms far to the north and west are the cause -- local weather has nothing to do with surf conditions. In the summer. storms shift to places far to our south and east, so the other side gets high surf while our waters are generally calm. The "cool" temperatures have slightly curtailed our exercise routines. Although Karen and I have been getting to the gym fairly often, we have chosen not to work out in our pool because the water temperature barely matches our ages......

 

There are two main developments to report in the Geezer Gazette.  First, a week ago we flew to Oahu so that Karen's eye surgeon could attempt to correct the poor vision that resulted from her cataract surgery.  I should emphasize that this surgeon is highly regarded, extremely competent, and very experienced, so the problems Karen is having can't easily be blamed on lack of credentials,  In fact, it was the surgeon's reputation among a number of friends here in Kona that led Karen to select her even though it meant ktraveling to Oahu.  Anyway, the corrective procedure is called PRK (Photorefractive keratectomy) and Karen had it done to both eyes a week ago yesterday.  PRK is like LASIK in that it uses a laser to reshape the cornea and refocus where the light strikes the retina.  However, in LASIK an incision is made in the outer portion of the cornea so that it can be folded back while the laser ablates (i.e., fries, zaps, blasts) some of the underlying tissue, which causes it to shrink and stretch into the desired shape.  In PRK no incision is made. Instead, just the outer cells of the cornea are removed (with alcohol, interestingly) then the laser reshaping takes [lace in the same way as  LASIK.  A very large contact is then placed over the cornea to protect it for a few days. PRK is often used for people who have previously had LASIK, as in Karen's case. The surface cells that are removed grow back fairly quickly but it can take a couple of weeks before clear vision returns.  On Tuesday she had the protective contacts removed by an optometrist here in Kona who works closely with the surgeon. Yesterday she went back for a more thorough exam to assess how the healing was going. The verdict was good, though she still can't see terrifically well yet. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this will work.  I'll let you know. By the way, this PRK fix-up was free, which was certainly welcome given how expensive the original surgery was.

My cardiologist had to reschedule my appointment until yesterday to go over the results from my heart monitor because he had laryngitis earlier in the week.  The results showed No Afib during the monitoring period!!  This matches my own daily measurements for the last month and a half, and it means I'm going to have to resign my membership in the Afib Club -- at least temporarily.  The return to normality is particularly good news because it occurred without any more of the arrhythmia medication, which I stopped taking over two months ago. That leaves only my blood thinner and a  low dose of heart rate drug, and my cardiologist felt I could stop the blood thinner.  Wow. what a positive development!  It certainly helps take the edge off the negativity 2025 has brought so far.  The plan is for me to continue self-monitoring, and if my AFib returns I will contact my cardiologist and resume the blood thinner.  Otherwise, I'll have a blood workup in March and meet with him to review the results.

 

That's it for now.  Stay well, stay grateful. And as always, carpe vitam.