I haven’t been able to go backpacking or camping since June because I can’t see well enough to drive.

A couple years ago I wrote about my Declining Eyesight (or how I returned my vision to normal),  mentioning that I had retired a little over 5 years ago and decided to see if I could exercise my eyes and make them stronger and stop wearing eyeglasses.

The results of that 5 year experiment were, without using eyeglasses:

• I could now read the fine print on packages at the store
• I could now thread a needle
• When driving could now see street signs and objects at a distance

I ended that post with this observation:

Is my renewed vision going to stay good? Probably not. We cannot fight the aging process.

So for seven years I haven’t worn eyeglasses. And there I was, in June of 2022, with

• difficulty reading
• couldn’t read most text on our 75 inch TV
• couldn’t see street signs
• looking at planets or stars at night, I see 6 of each!
• at night each car light or taillight looks like 6 or more lights
• signal lights are huge and each color is a large circle of 6 or more lights
• lights at night overwhelm my vision and I can’t see the road well enough to drive

I made an appointment this summer with an optometrist, knowing I probably needed more than new eyeglasses. With our insurance, I would have to get a referral from an optometrist to see a ophthalmologist. As expected, after the optometrist examination, I needed more than new eyeglasses — I needed cataract surgery on both eyes.

Unfortunately, with the impact of the COVID pandemic and living in a place with lots of old people, ophthalmologist consultation appointments were several months out.

Surgery for the right eye is set for next Monday, December 12th. Probably won’t be until 2023 for the left.