I had eye surgery on Tuesday. I didn’t mention it the day it happened because my mind was in a place of altered awareness, mainly thwarted by an allergic reaction to something surgical. Not to mention that I spent a good part of my day in a state of impaired vision. Ah, but this is Wednesday. And I know Kid Wednesday. That ought to be good for something.
Here is the thing. The older I get, the more frequent these types of experiences have become. More surgeries, more of those peeing-in-cups ordeals, getting blood drawn, learning not to poke the doctor back when they poke me first.
We get older. And like a pair of shoes, we need a good Cobbler, not a trip to ShoeBiz.
Back to my eyes. I look a little bit like Rocky Balboa this morning. At the very end of Rocky I. I’ve been walking around the house, randomly calling out, to no one in particular, “Yo. Adrian.” Prior to surgery, I was looking a little like Droopy Dog. My eyelids had fallen all over themselves, and I’d flap in the wind when I walked with any type of velocity. It sounded a little like I was on a sailboat.
So I decided it was time to get them fixed. My Dad had the same thing. He waited until his late eighties to have it done, at which point the doctor said, “You should have done this while your skin had some elasticity.” I am not sure how much my skin possesses, but I’ve been singing “Rubber Tree Plant” all week. High hopes, and all.
But. The worst part has been the crazy reaction. For 24 hours after surgery, my nose was running uncontrollably, and I sneezed about every three minutes. Which isn’t much fun regardless, but I have these stitches in my eyes. And I’m a little worried that I’m going to blow my eyelids off.
My post-op follow-up with the surgeon was no help. Apparently, I am an anomaly. I got the old, “If it gets any worse, give me a call, but I’m going out of town tomorrow…. for a week.”
The best part?
Well.
I can see. Yep. I can see this beautiful world all around me. And that is the best thing of all. Good fortune abounds. I can see this screen and I’m able to write. Which then enables me to whine — to all of you — about these minor inconveniences which will most likely subside as time goes by.
Every day, we have our ups and downs. It’s how it goes. I am just happy that I’ve been given so many “ups” in so many ways. And that is the best part to see.
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“Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
― Confucious
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“We learn from failure, not from success!”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula
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