Progress, I think

Yesterday at noontime I had the scheduled meeting with my French ophtalmologist over in Montrichard, 10 miles downriver from Saint-Aignan. It went well from most points of view. Walt and Tasha drove me over there just in case the doctor told me I needed a driver to take me back home (dilated eyes and all...).

The doctor was genuinely shocked when he examined my eyes by shining some kind of bright lite into my eyeballs. He said that a "secondary cataract" had formed in my left eye (which before the cataract surgery had always been my strong eye; the  My right eye had always been blurry, since childhood). A secondary cataract was also starting to form in my right eyeball, he said. Both of the secondary cataracts will need to be removed.

A secondary cataract is like a cloud or veil over the artificial lens implant and needs to be removed. That veil over the implant he had put in my eyeball two years ago to replace the natural lens, which was removed and replaced by the implant. He said the removal of the secondary cataract would be done later, using a laser. The laser procedure will be scheduled for September 28 up in Blois, he said. You will need somebody to drive you home from Blois, he added. Blois is 25 or 30 miles north of Saint-Aignan, on the Loire River.

I had suspected that the laser treatment would be done in Blois, not in Montrichard, which is a village more than a town. Blois is what I'd call  A big town, and it has a big hospital. Driving there and back is less convenient for us, but not prohibtively so. I happen to know that a taxi company would charge 150 euros round trip to take me from our house to Blois and back. Walt will just have to do the driving again.

I'll have one more appointment with the doctor in Montrichard in October as a follow-up to all of the above.

The main thing about all this is that I can stop worrying, for now, that my eyesight may never be right again. The doctor says it will. Time will tell. Maybe I can relax again, at least until further developments reveal themselves.

  

It'about time

I've been silent for at least a couple of weeks. I'm healing. I take my bandages off pretty much every other day. I  see that some of the wounds are healing faster than others. Some are still bleeeding a little bit and need bandages still. 

Meanwhile, my appointment with the eye doctor is scheduled for a week from tomorrow at noontime. I hope for a big improvement in my eyesight, or at least some good advice about what the next steps will be to give me a complete recovery.

I'll try not to remain silent for so long next time.

The weather here has been very pleasant for a couple of weeks now. I haven't been able to take advantage of it. Weve had small amounts of rain from time to time, but not nearly enough yet. High temperatures have been in the low to middle 70s ºF.

Status

It was three weeks ago when I fell as I was going upstairs to the loft and injured myself. I'm healing but still sporting various types of bandages. It's a long, slow process. I had three weeks of daily and then every-other day visits from local nurses.

It was three months ago that I called my ophthalmologist's office in Blois to request a rendez-vous with him. The earliest appointment I could get was in October. After more phone calls, I finally ended up with an appointment scheduled for September 9. That's just two weeks from now. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to see better afterward. That will probably require new glasses. Getting those will take 10 to 12 days or more.

What a summer it has been! Today is the first day since mid-May that we can enjoy "normal" temperatures in the mid-70s ºF and feel hopeful that we won't have another heat wave in 2026. Three was plenty.  Who knows what's normal these days?

Burned by the sun

 Look at what our current heat wave is doing to our long, tall, wide hedge. This is our back yard and it gets full sun in the afternoon. The leaves on the hedge are very sun-burned. We are hoping they will come back when and if we go back into a rainy spell.  Why don't we water it? It's because the hot dry weather we've had for months now is affecting the whole country. Farmers are plowing their crops under because the hot sun has killed just about everything. Big trees and grape vines around here are surviving, but that's about all. They are plants with very deep roots.

This photo shows another section of the hedge that is faring better, even though it is south-facing. The photo is from a few weeks ago.