Cataracts

Cataracts...


Sounds like the Broadway musical, Cats. Cats and acts. Cats are acting...(okay, that was BAAAD...moving on...)


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Seriously, though, there are three kinds of cataracts:


Nuclear cataracts-This is the kind that is most commonly found in the elderly from the aging process. It starts in the middle of the lens.


Cortical cataracts-This is the kind that is found in diabetics and radioactive exposure to ultraviolet rays. This kind starts at the edges of the lens.


Subcapsular cataracts (or posterior subcapsular cataracts)-This is found in diabetics, too. It is also found in young people and those who took steroids for a long time. These start in the back of the lens. Symptoms include glare and night driving and reading difficulties.


Some causes are age-related, secondary (from a health problem or post-op complications from other eye problems such as glaucoma, smoking, alcohol, and diet), traumatic, certain kinds of medication, congenital, and/or exposure to radiation.

Why am I talking about this? Because people with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) can develop subcapsular cataracts at any age, mostly in the 30s. Some have them in their 20s.

My brother had cataract surgery when he was about 37.

If an RPer were to develop cataracts, it develops in the back of the lens. Smack in the middle. Right where the best remaining sight is. When the peripheral vision is compromised, we still have some central vision left. When cataracts start to interfere with that remaining vision, then cataract surgery should be recommended because what remaining vision an RPer has left is precious. Some doctors want to wait till the cataracts are "ripe." As the RPer deals with the blurring vision from the cataracts, the vision is also progressively getting narrower at the same time. Some RPers have the cataracts removed so they can still enjoy the remaining vision they have. Why wait two years to remove the cataracts when the vision is that much worse, too?

It varies, though, for each doctor and the RPer's condition.

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Onyx seems to be better. She was still sick for a couple more days. I think she's better now. (Crossing fingers and toes.) She's getting thin.

When I got up this morning and stepped into the hallway, I could smell the wet smell from the basement. Kind of mildewy and moldy. Ugh. Stinks. Still needs more drying down there. We are expecting more rain. I was reading that it's worse than it was four years ago when we had some flooding and lots of rain. Our basement was the same way. Just the carpets got saturated and anything else that may be in the path of the drain or the floor itself. (Our house is over 100 years old.) I tried to breathe shallow breaths while I was loading clothes into the washer. Ugh.

Ever the negotiator, Angel has a stubborn streak that is bigger than she is. Usually, I can get her to read a book if I agree to read one side. (Of course, if her side happens to have a whole page of typed words and no picture, she'll want to trade. LOL) Sometimes she'll read a book, sometimes she won't. But, when it comes to labels, she'll read them out loud. I am not worried, she is reading at the average level for a child her age.

I hung three loads of laundry on the line. In cool 68 degree weather. With a slight breeze. They must have hung out there a good three hours and were "mostly" dried. The jeans needed more time.

Some clothes were still slightly damp when I brought them back into the house. I put them on hangers, hoping they'll finish drying up that way.

I tested a recipe that was met with mild enthusiam. It really wasn't great, but it'll do. I probably won't make it again. At least, not with all that bread that it required. It was supposed to be a ham and cheese casserole with broccoli and bread cut into tubes mixed in it. Then an egg mixture was poured over it. It's frustrating to try a recipe that didn't look as good as looked on paper. But hey, I'm trying. I am not a fan of cooking, but summer is here and I feel like I have to make everyone happy by cooking more meals. (Too bad there's no hot lunch program for the summer, huh?) Flare got all the ingredients out for me. I really should organize the lazy susan, but even if I did, someone would mess it up on me. I'll have to put that on my "to do" list. Thanks, Flare, for being a helper.

I am going to try to sit down and put together a meal plan, sort of like how the schools have a hot lunch menu for the week. Then I could just get whatever I need from that at the once every three weeks grocery store visit. (Thankfully we have a gas station nearby where we can keep a fresh supply of milk and bread when we run out.) I hope the meal plan idea takes root and it's effective. Old habits die hard, which is opening cabinets and the refrigerator and seeing what I can throw together. Or see what meat I want to thaw out for that day's supper. (See, I'm not organized.) In any case, wish me luck.

Okay. That's all.

OXOX. Later.