Tag: vision

Welp, I finally did it and then some.

I registered my thru-hike intention with The Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

The Conservancy asks people that hike the Appalachian Trail to register in order to better monitor the impact on the trail and its resources.  Sooooo, I did it!!!

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Yep.  My official start date will be March 22, 2020.  I wish I had the guts to start 2/20/2020.  That’s just a little to cold for me.  As it is March will be cold enough. So, there you have it folks.  Wow.  It’s like this will really happen!

BUT-WAIT-THERES-MORE

C’est fait.  E ‘fatto.  Esta hecho.  IT IS DONE!  Yes.  I quit my wonderful, well paying, comfortable JOB!

Now I will have more time to hike longer trails.  Woohoo!

Is this real life?

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So many emotions!  Am I crazy?  I’m going to climb mountains!!!  Did I do the right thing?  I will cross creeks, hike in the rain and get really smelly!!!!  Do I really think I can hike the whole thing?  I will be crawling on my hands and knees some parts of the trail!

Then I have people asking me all sorts of hard questions like:  Why don’t you wait until you retire?  Because, who knows how my knees will be by then!  What will you do for money?  My husband and I have been saving and planning for this.  How does your husband feel about you leaving him for six months?  He better be sad and miss me a lot!

All silliness aside, I don’t want to wait until I retire.  You never know what will happen tomorrow, so I want to do my living now.   I am forever grateful to my loving, supportive husband who works very hard for us.  He enjoys his job and supports me quitting mine to follow my lifelong dream.  I owe him – big time.  I also promised him I would be more frugal and keep my hike on budget.  Yes, he made a spreadsheet.

Oh no.  What am I feeling now????

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I’m NERVOUS. 

Nervousness is a whole bunch of emotions all trying to get out at the same time.  Fear, longing, concern, desire, doubt, and panic are a few emotions in my nervous packet.  You might have others in yours.  At the beginning of any solo hike I have a bout of the nervous jitters.  My knees feel wobbly, my hands sweat, my mouth goes dry and my breathing becomes faster.   This feeling stays with me for a quite a while into my hike.  While listening to the radio one morning I heard an interview of English actor, comedian, James Corden.  He does the carpool karaoke with famous people and he’s so funny!  This interview was about how he gets so nervous before performing that he sought professional help.  I am going to quote what he learned.  This is just copied from this cnn.com article: James Corden interview on CNN.

“This is a few years ago now, and then he taught me this thing that you’ve got to see nerves as a good thing. You’re only ever nervous when you want to do your best. You’re only ever nervous when something matters. So when nerves come, you’ve got to go, ‘Oh my God, this is great. I’m doing something that is important to me, and this is great that this thing has turned up to help me.’ ” James Corden.

So, I think I’ll be ready to apply this way of thinking on my next solo hike.  Maybe my knees will not be so wobbly and my hands won’t be sweaty.  It’s worth a shot!

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Mono-vision = Mind Blown

A few months ago I bought a pair of glasses.  I love getting new glasses, everything is so clear without all the scratches that somehow accumulate no matter how careful I am.  This time was no different.  I bought new, pretty frames and new lenses.  I wear bifocals, so the price was almost $500.  YIKES!  But, I’ve worn glasses for 40 years so the price was, well, the price I pay to be able to see!

Just a few short weeks after getting my pretty new glasses a terrible tragedy occurred.  I scratched them.  Not just a little scratch in the corner, but a big enough dent, smack dab in the middle of my line of sight.  This was not good!  I was so upset with myself.  I didn’t want to fork over another $500!  Nothing could be done to fix them.

I had HAD IT!  I picked up the phone and called Lasik Vision Institute.  Maybe they can fix my eyes, instead of me buying new glasses every year.  I didn’t think I was a candidate for eye surgery.  I wore glasses for 40 years, I wore bifocals, I had an astigmatism.  I made an appointment anyway.  Of course, I was prepared for them to tell me my eyes were too bad for this procedure, but I had to try!

I wasn’t even excited about the appointment.  I just knew they would say it wouldn’t work on me.  I went through the tests, one by one.  They kept putting me in the next room.  Another test, next room.  Another test, next room.  What’s going on?  Why aren’t they just giving me the bad news?

The only bad news they had for me was that my corneas were too thin for Lasik surgery, so they had to do the PRK surgery instead.  It had a longer recovery time, but it would have the same results.  I was SHOCKED! AND TERRIFIED!

Fast forward to the day of my surgery.  Saturday, September 24.  I was very emotional.  My mind kept racing imagining the worst outcome.  I could go blind if that laser slipped!  I was a nervous wreck.  Thankfully, I had the support of my friends and family that encouraged me to always be the best I can be.

Then, upon further exam by the doctor he informed me that my distance vision was such a small prescription that they recommended that it does not require surgery. WAIT, WHAT?  Yes, you read that right.  I had been wearing glasses for 40 years thinking I had horrible vision, when in fact, I was just shy of 20/20.  WHAT???  Of course, wearing my glasses gave me 20/15 or so in vision, but, WHAT?????

So, I practiced walking around the office wearing the big goggles with no prescription in my left eye and with my right eye corrected for near (because otherwise I would need “readers”).  I LOVED IT!  Not everyone tolerates “mono-vision.”  Some people get nauseous or vertigo.  I took to it right away!  It made me feel like Wonder Woman!

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Yes, the name tag is on upside down on purpose.  So the Dr. can read the information from above my head during surgery!

Knowing that my distance vision was going to be untouched was a HUGE relief to me. The view I have of the stars, moon, sky, etc will remain the same!  Only one eye needed surgery, so the recovery would be easier.

My husband loves to take photos of me in unflattering moments, so I amused him.

Kissing my glasses good bye!
I didn’t really throw them out! I’m donating them!

 

I was still nervous about the pain, but the only real pain I had was when I put the steroid drops in the first 3 or 4 times.  It felt like little razor blades were on my eyeball.  That pain only lasted a minute or two each time.

Here I am typing this article just a mere three days after surgery!  I can see!!  I’m cleared to drive!!  My vision is not exactly perfect, but I know it will be better in time.  The doctor says it may take up to three months to be completely acclimated to the mono-vision and for my eye to heal. And, I do look like the Terminator.  My right eye is blood shot and creepy looking!  I still have a contact lens bandage on my eye.

Now if I can just retrain myself to not keep trying to push up my non-existent glasses or look for them on the bedside table every morning, it would be all good!

I’m imagining myself hiking the Appalachian Trail in the rain and not worrying about how in the world I would dry my glasses when everything I own is soaking wet!  I don’t have to worry about losing my expensive glasses and oh yeah, my $500 prescription sunglasses!

After wearing glasses for over 40 years, I felt it was only fitting to have a proper memorial service at our local bar.  I made a cross out of a twist-tie I found in my pocket and we had a couple shots.  RIP, glasses!

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I feel so FREE!!!!

If you would like to learn more about the eye surgery I had here is the link to their website.

This click will change your life!

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