[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.
6/6/26
Aloha Folks!
June already! Hard to believe that just a few months ago we were freezing, up to our keesters in snow, slipping on icy streets, etc. Oh, wait, that's not here.....nor has it been for the past 25 years after we moved to Hawai'i. July 5th will be the anniversary of the day we spent our first night in our new Hawaiian home. Speaking of anniversaries, this past week we celebrated two others: the last day of teaching and the first day of retirement for both of us. That was May 31 and June 1, 2000. Every year we mark the occasion with a bottle of champagne, half one day and half the next. It's a chance to reflect on our good fortune for the past 2 1/2 decades in terms of being able to live in such an awesomely unique place, to learn about new cultures, new plants, new geology, and also to have the many global travel experiences that retirement has provided. We have no doubt that retirement has been a richly fulfilling period in our lives. Cheers!
Last Saturday, as we were leaving for our beach breakfast picnic, sun hit the windshield and revealed 
the unmistakable evidence that a felis catus had recently investigated the car. There were paw prints on the windshield (and later we found them on the hood) showing the cat's path up one side and down the other, with four slide marks on the down side, each ending in a perfect paw print, likely left when the cat jumped rather than continue to slide ignominiously. I was far from being annoyed by this. For one thing the car needed washing anyway, and for another I love cats and felt honored to have been deemed worthy of such consideration. We must have left the side door of the garage open the day before, and a neighborhood cat sought refuge from an afternoon shower. Attracted by the possibility of a high perch where it could take a snooze, it may have hopped up for a look but was disturbed by one of us getting something from the garage, or perhaps the location just didn't meet its snooze-spot standards. At any rate it decided to go elsewhere. We used to have cat companions when we lived on the mainland and intended to bring our last one with us when we moved here. However, she died shortly before the move and we decided to not seek another one because we felt it would be unfair to leave it during our extended retirement travels. As a substitute for permanent cat companionship, I have tried to befriend the neighborhood cats we encounter on our daily walks. Cats are wisely wary of human beings, of course, so it is very difficult to gain their trust. There are a few, though, who will interact with me and even allow me to pet them. This is always a highlight of both the walk and my entire day. For more of my feline fawning, see Cats: Unifiers Of The World.
The Geezer Gazette news this week is all about eyeballs. I completed my first three Valeda treatments on my left eye. The procedure is simple and painless. You look into a machine and a bright yellow light flashes rapidly for about a minute. Then you close your eyes and a bright red light shines for another minute or so. This is repeated once more. I asked about why the first light was flashing rather than being a constant light hitting the retina. Apparently research has found that the retina cells respond more to intermittent stimulation. The red light also stimulates the retina even through the closed eyelid, but at a much lower level. Anyway, the worst part of the whole procedure is having to take the eye chart test each time, something I find very frustrating. I'll have 6 moire treatments, 3 in each of the next two weeks. It won't be for at least another month before effects are detectable, if they occur at all, because the retina physiology changes slowly. Remember, nothing can bring back the cells that I've already lost, but the goal here is to make the rest more healthy, along with the retina tissue itself. Patience, Grasshopper.
On Tuesday I saw my retina doctor and had a shot it my left eye. I also got a letter from him referring me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Recall that last week my health insurance company dropped coverage of the Stein Clinic at UCLA, so I was in the market for another center to do my neuro ophthalmology evaluation. I decided to see if I can get in at the Mayo Clinic because, well, it's the Mayo Clinic. If anyone can figure out what is going on, they can. Their list of ophthalmology doctors goes on for pages, and many are leaders in their field. Besides, Mayo is renowned for a multidisciplinary team approach to diagnosis and care, something I heartily endorse. I faxed the referral letter and Mayo's referral/consultation request form and now it's a mater of waiting for something to happen. Again, patience, Grasshopper.
Ok, that's it for this week. Be good to each other -- the world certainly needs more of that. Carpe Vitam.
