Managed to get Wendy behind the wheel again (I took over most driving again about a week after surgery). Believe it or not, this is even a quad trail she's driving down. That should tell you how bored she was!
Once the warden let me lift the cast iron again, we picked up some corned beef for cheap and boiled it up. Fried up some cabbage and onions to complete an awesome meal. Thank you Irish, for giving the grocery stores a reason to put this stuff on sale!
After a good 2-week checkup I convinced warden we could go for a little drive into California as a diversion. We passed through Imperial Sand Dunes (stayed on the highway as I wasn't thinking I was up to hauling winch line and burying spare tires if we found some soft sand. Which would have been quite likely, since I was driving.
Hey! The loop took us past Niland, so of course we had to go have a look at Salvation Mountain and Slab City. These are well known places in boondocker lore, and I've always wanted to check them out in person. Well now I have, and I can check them off my bucket list. If you want more pictures of Salvation Mountain there are plenty of them on the net. For a proper view of Slab City I think you need to go there as pictures would not do it justice. I asked Wendy if we should stay there one winter and she said sure, as long as I waited until after she was dead. 'Nuff said on that. 
Heading back towards the interstate we drove along the Salton Sea. An amusing but sad recent history if you want to check it out. Stopped at Indio for a date shake (banana) which was quite good and something My Love IS willing to do again before she's dead.
We also crossed paths with Brent McDougall and his two canine kids in Havasu last week, and caught up a bit over some chinese buffet. He's headed home to Kaslo after having been south since November; we hope to follow him northward in a few weeks.
OK, the eye... for anyone who wants the story continue reading. Otherwise you can skip this, especially if you're squeamish. I edited some pictures to give you a general idea of what I was and am currently seeing... they're not very professionally done but best I can do.
Along about Feb 12th while we were camped at Mittry Lake, I noticed what I thought was a floater in the lower right corner of my left eye. Kind of looked like a piece of nose if you look down in that direction, except that it was there all the time no matter where I looked. Naturally I assumed this would just disappear in a day or two as floaters usually do.
"Normal" vision. This is Cibola Lake, by the way.
Here's the 'floater' Feb 12th. No biggie, right?
Between Feb 12th and 15th, rather than disappearing the spot grew towards the centre. I think it was about 1/2 way there on the morning of Feb 16th when I finally did some research and figured out I should get it checked.
I managed to get an appointment for 10 AM in Blythe CA at Blythe Vision Care. Dr Adams confirmed that it was detached retina, and immediately made an appointment for an exam and surgery the next day at the Southwestern Eye Center in Phoenix.
The next day (Feb 17th) we were up early and off to Phoenix. We saw Dr Adelberg, the surgeon, at 10:30 AM and had the surgery about 3 PM.
This is about what I was seeing in my left eye by the time I got into surgery on Feb 17th.
The surgery btw was done with just local freezing. They put me out for 5 minutes or so while they jabbed needles in and around the eye to freeze it. As they told me I would, I felt "comfortable" through the surgery and was able to watch what was going on inside the eye throughout. From one side was a needle containing a camera so they could see what they were doing, and from the other side was a needle with various instruments (just looked like a needle to me though). It was quite fascinating to watch them chasing down floaters as they removed the eye fluid... looked like some kind of weird 70's experience. I asked for a copy of the video later but unfortunately there wasn't one. Anyway, the surgery is called Vitrectomy Surgery for anyone who wants to check it out further. In the end the retina was tacked back in place and about 75% of the eye jelly was replaced with a gas.
So this is about what I can see with that eye about 2 weeks after the surgery. The clear part on top started out much smaller, only about the top quarter. It grows downward a tiny bit each day, I presume because the eye is filling up with fluid again and the gas is dissipating. Remember that the eye lens reverses everything so the clear part is actually where the fluid is and the blurry part is the gas bubble. Similarly in the first photos, even though the floater first appeared in the bottom left corner the tear was actually in the top right and the retina peeled down from there.
The last few days the dividing line has been right around the middle, which is pretty exciting for me because it means I can finally start to see what I'm looking at rather than looking below it and using peripheral vision. I now have a pretty good idea how disorienting macular degeneration would be, even though I've been fortunate to have a functioning right eye throughout.
One other cool thing: the fluid level in the eye is like any fluid level, so it always wants to stay horizontal. When I tilt my head or jiggle it, the level sloshes around and finds level. Try looking through a clear glass or bottle of water with the level right in the middle, and then move and tip your head and the glass around... that's EXACTLY what it looks like.
Couldn't resist this final shot. Eye looked quite disgusting the next day, but the red had been disappearing. Still, didn't want to go out in public for a while just in case there were any over-zealous zombie killers around.
So that's it for now. Hopefully more interesting stuff to report soon.
The surgery btw was done with just local freezing. They put me out for 5 minutes or so while they jabbed needles in and around the eye to freeze it. As they told me I would, I felt "comfortable" through the surgery and was able to watch what was going on inside the eye throughout. From one side was a needle containing a camera so they could see what they were doing, and from the other side was a needle with various instruments (just looked like a needle to me though). It was quite fascinating to watch them chasing down floaters as they removed the eye fluid... looked like some kind of weird 70's experience. I asked for a copy of the video later but unfortunately there wasn't one. Anyway, the surgery is called Vitrectomy Surgery for anyone who wants to check it out further. In the end the retina was tacked back in place and about 75% of the eye jelly was replaced with a gas.
So this is about what I can see with that eye about 2 weeks after the surgery. The clear part on top started out much smaller, only about the top quarter. It grows downward a tiny bit each day, I presume because the eye is filling up with fluid again and the gas is dissipating. Remember that the eye lens reverses everything so the clear part is actually where the fluid is and the blurry part is the gas bubble. Similarly in the first photos, even though the floater first appeared in the bottom left corner the tear was actually in the top right and the retina peeled down from there.
The last few days the dividing line has been right around the middle, which is pretty exciting for me because it means I can finally start to see what I'm looking at rather than looking below it and using peripheral vision. I now have a pretty good idea how disorienting macular degeneration would be, even though I've been fortunate to have a functioning right eye throughout.
One other cool thing: the fluid level in the eye is like any fluid level, so it always wants to stay horizontal. When I tilt my head or jiggle it, the level sloshes around and finds level. Try looking through a clear glass or bottle of water with the level right in the middle, and then move and tip your head and the glass around... that's EXACTLY what it looks like.
Couldn't resist this final shot. Eye looked quite disgusting the next day, but the red had been disappearing. Still, didn't want to go out in public for a while just in case there were any over-zealous zombie killers around.
So that's it for now. Hopefully more interesting stuff to report soon.
