Tag: eyesight

I have some catching up to do as I haven’t blogged since April. I was actually sitting in the kitchen in my Madison, Indiana, rental house and was writing then about seeing the Northern Lights in Norway. Ironically during my visit there was a a great Northern Lights show in much of the country, including Indiana along the Ohio River, but I slept through it. 🙂 Still I was able to enjoy wildflowers and lunch at Pizza Uncommon and buying my favorite jewelry from 3 Bespoke Crows at the farmers market. It was a beautiful visit.

About this time, however, I was coming to grips with the realization that I was going to have to have eye surgery as the pterygium growths I have in both eyes was suddenly greatly impacting my vision in my left eye. I don’t know how much vision I had left but it wasn’t a lot. And I realized in one horrible moment in Indiana that driving at night was nearly impossible as all the lights were incredibly smeary and confusing. It was a very frightening experience.

To make a long story short and to gloss over some of the details such as not sleeping for weeks due to fear, I did have the surgery July 12 in Oxnard, California. This was a specialist who does this surgery a lot which is important because pterygium, while benign, frequently grows back and there is only so many times (twice, I’ve been told) that this surgery can be performed.

I made it through the surgery … awake but fortified with valium and a lot of meditation exercises and the kind well-wishes of friends and family. And, to my great joy, I think my eyesight is improving rapidly as the cornea is able to return to a more normal size after previously being pushed into an egg shape by the pterygium.

OK, so enough about that!

But as a result, I haven’t been writing much. I did attend the California Crime Writers conference in June and I have had several feedback sessions on my Work in Progress from established writers and editors. These have been inspiring and thought-provoking. And I’m currently taking a plotting classes from writers.com, which I think is going to be very helpful.

So now, as part of my recovery, I promise to be a bit more present here as well.

Thank you for listening!