[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]
12/6/25
Aloha Fellow Elves!
December arrived this week and so did a post-Thanksgiving pulse of snow birds and tourists. The town is looking very Christmasy, with colored lights in the palm trees and bell-ringing Santa's helpers in board-shorts and Aloha shirts outside Walmart. The weather has turned seasonally cool, too -- I recorded an overnight low this week of a mere 63 degrees! I even had to use my heating pad and extra blanket to stay warm (remember, we have no central heating). Also seasonal is the high surf we've had a couple of times on our side of the island this week, to the dislike of tourists but to the delight of the local surfers. Even with the frigid nighttime temps our new pool system has kept the water temp tolerable. I didn't install my new pool cover yet, but I hope to get to it this weekend. That should help even more, because the old one is pretty shot and probably has lost a significant amount of its insulating ability. I also got more decorations up outside, including some strings of lights and a cute new pair of snowmen that were a Black Friday special at Lowe's (I was vetoed on the 8-foot tall Grinch that was available, too).
We managed to get our nearly 20-year old artificial tree up, though it still needs to be decorated. It's
pre-lit, so at least it adds to the seasonal house-vibes at night. We opted not to expend the considerable effort of assembling the tree last year, because as I've mentioned before, we were in Cambodia until the second week of December. It is a fair amount of work to extract the heavy box from its storage spot in the garage, carry the 4 tree sections into the house, then join them together. In our youth we used to carry the whole box into the house, but those days are gone. Real trees are available here at the big box stores, shipped in refrigerated containers from the mainland. I love the pine smell from the unboxed trees as I drive by.
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| Driveway Greeters |
In Geezer Mortality news this week, I had three encounters with the medical establishment. On Wednesday I had a bone density scan to check on the progression of my osteopenia. One of the many clues that your body has an expiration date is that your bones get brittle at the same time that your sense of balance goes kerflooey, making a fall in which you break something more and more likely. I'll get the results of the scan next week and go over them with my internist.
I also had an appointment this week with my optometrist. The exam verified my current prescription is the best I can do, and also revealed significant edema buildup in both eyes. I saw my retina doctor yesterday and got an injection in my left eye, and Ill return in a couple of weeks for my right.
My ophthalmologist also confirmed an issue with my eyes that may be contributing to the dimness/brightness problem (separate from the edema build-up). My cataract surgery earlier this year has led to a slight haze in my eye tissue where the lenses were implanted. This is something that occurs in about 50% of cataract patients It isn't the new lens that gets hazy, but the eye capsule that holds it in
place. It can be easily fixed with a quick laser procedure in which a
small hole is punched in the capsule allowing light to pass directly
through the lens into the eyeball. I'm scheduled for this treatment
next Friday on my left eye. I'll keep you posted. By the way. a hopeful a new treatment that might also help my non-edema dimness/brightness condition has recently received FDA approval. It's a non-invasive procedure called photomodulatiom retina therapy. It was developed to treat dry macular degeneration. I don't have that problem, but the underlying mechanism of my non-edema vision loss (dimness, lack of edge distinction, sensitivity to bright light) might be similar. The new treatment definitely seems worth a try if it becomes available here, though it probably won't be covered by insurance. I'm desperate for any improvement I can get, so I don't care -- I'll pay for it myself if I have to....
Ok, that's my news for the week. Hope you are surviving your early winter weather ok. And despite the ugliness all around, try to tap into the holiday spirit.....
