Seeing With My Own Eyes

 

It was a beautifully sunny today contradicting the promised rain. Then came the rain and then it went. The staunch container ships were arrayed across English Bay here in the city. The water was glassy calm even with a sprightly breeze off the ocean ruffling my hair, currently being worn long and loose. My Bride and I are enjoying the pleasures of this autumn day as we take our medicinal walk along the Sea Wall. I am wearing my straw hat which I have adorned with many feathers and a button preaching love. We hold hands or lock arms depending on the traffic. People smile at us or remark on my hat. We are having a good time living in the moment.

We are pushing it in the age dimension. When we married at seventy, we never thought about our age, and now it’s nearly twenty years later. We know people are living longer as advances in medicine and information about desirable lifestyles are 

having their impact. Yet, we are a bit surprised, adding up the years, that we are still around seeing things with our own eyes. Indeed, some of our health interventions have had to do with the eyes. Being a diabetic myself, eyesight is never too far from my mind. No complaints now about our aches and pains, we are still joyfully among the walking wounded.

Nevertheless, we do note that we are spending more and more of our time visiting medical practitioners. We are exercising regularly, but speaking for myself, I am finding it tougher every day. I now puff a little going up an inclining sidewalk whereas I used to pride myself on tackling any hill without effort. (Didn’t I used to be a marathon runner?) And while we used to walk everywhere not too long ago, we are now faithful users of public transit. (Travelling on public transit in Vancouver is a hoot and deserves a recitation of its own.)

We really depend a lot on our eyes. I see people around with their white canes and I wonder how they manage. So much of my own life, it must be the same for you, depends on sight. Both my Bride and I have had cataract surgery, and she has had corneal transplants. We wear spectacles not as a decoration or as a fashion statement.(Cookie now has really fashionable glasses in Yellow which everybody remarks on.) I read and write on my computer, not to speak of books, magazines and television. We walk and go where we will with the blessing of sight. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I was blind.

While specialists say that at least 75% of vision loss is preventable, there were about 7.7 million people (3.2 m. over 65,) in the US, and about 500,000 people in Canada, who have a vision disability. More frightening, it has been estimated that in Canada alone there are 5.6 million people with eye conditions that could lead to loss of sight. Of particular interest to me, there are about 750,000 suffering from diabetic effects on their eyesight. Most are facing problems with cataracts (3.5m.) and macular degeneration (1.6m.).

Like most of you, I hope, we pay the necessary attention to our health. I am a user of a generous amount of the pharmaceutical industry’s products, and monitor my blood sugar. However, my medications allow a wide latitude in my dietary habits, and I live on in the knowledge that my advancing age and dissolute habits will someday exact a price. Diabetic retinopathy, malfunction of the retina, is an asymptomatic disease which strikes suddenly and with finality. Maybe I should learn to read Braille while I still have the luxury of sight. Then I would be able to let my fingers do the talking.

But today I am seeing the world with my own eyes and, I am sure you will agree, there is so much to delight them. Today, Cookie’s son came over with a four year old he was minding. I was able to play hide and seek with him and see him screech with delight. After they left I tended my balcony garden, deciding where I might replace plants which have succumbed to the change in seasons. My garden is still a riot of color.

 Today’s superstores are so full of the unexpected and we venture out occasionally, navigating the crowds with the enormous carts. It takes navigation skills to avoid crashes. As usual, the bus trip to and fro was eventful so I was spinning my head around like a top absorbing it all.

Through the magic of technology I can see my children and my grandchildren on my phone whenever, (and my new great-grandchild.) They are far distant in the world. What a blessing that is!

All these things depend on being sighted.

This morning I watched a new series on the television I have been following the dramatic events taking place south of the border, and in the Middle East. I hardly had time to vote in the election taking place in B.C. I indulge daily in my favorite pastime, typing on my computer and spinning tales about our lives.

I see my life passing before my eyes. What a blast!