Early December 2009

Walpack Bridge

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, but a lot of things have contributed to the delay - mostly falling under the heading of "getting old isn't for sissies".

In August, Linda and I took a three-day trip over to Stowe, Vt. We had a lot of fun taking the gondola to the top of Mount Mansfield, tasting wine, touring the Ben & Jerry factory, photographing the Round Church, visiting the Ethan Allen Homestead and Shelburne Farms. But the highlight had to be sighting a moose as we were driving north on Rt. 100 between Waterbury and Stowe. Linda has some pictures on her Flickr site.

September was devoted to preparing for my trip to Vancouver (for the Fellow Committee) and Houston (for the IAS Annual Meeting). I was invited to join the Fellow staff and Committee leadership for dinner on Thursday evening, so I made my reservations to arrive early in the day. I had a good combination of flights even through I had to leave Albany at 6am. The problem started Friday morning when I noticed that I had lost vision in my right eye. I was able to get an appointment with Dr. Fraterigo for the following Thursday afternoon at which he diagnosed the problem as a detached retina. He got an appointment with Dr. Mayron, the retina specialist, for the following morning. After a thorough examination, Dr. Mayron concluded that the answer was surgery - a scleral buckle vitrectomy - and made arrangements to have that done the following Monday afternoon.

It turned out that the best hypothesis for a cause for the detachment was the cold that I caught in California in July - I was coughing pretty viciously for several weeks, and shortly before our trip to Vermont, I noted an abnormal number of 'floaters' in my eye.

Linda and I had plans to go to New York that Saturday, and since there was nothing that we could do to prepare for the surgery, we went ahead with that trip. It was fun - we did a Chelsea gallery walk and also went shopping.

The surgery took about two hours and was done with minimal sedation. As a result, I was partly aware of what was happening. Not fun! The surgery consists of stitching a plastic band to the outside of the eye, removing the vitreous fluid from the eye and replacing it with a saline solution, using a cryogenic tool to repair the opening in the eye, and then injecting a gas into the eye to form a bubble. Then, I had to remain horizontal and face down for a week while the pneumatic pressure of the bubble forced the retina against the back of the eye. The surgery was very uncomfortable, and the recovery period required a lot of Tylenol to manage the pain.

There were several followup visits during the week, and then the following Tuesday, Dr. Mayron reported that the retina was reattaching and that he could proceed to 'spot weld' it in place using a laser. That was not too bad but there were a few instances where the laser did 'bite' a bit. That process was again repeated the following Tuesday.

Several weeks later, Dr. Mayron concluded that I needed to take the next step, and booked me for another procedure with Dr. Fraterigo - a YAG capsulotomy to address cloudiness in the pouch containing the interocular implant, sometimes called a 'secondary cataract'. That was a five-minute process and was totally painless.

At this point, I am not experiencing any significant discomfort, but I haven't regained much vision. I can see some lights, and can distinguish shapes. Hopefully, according to the material I have found on the internet, vision should gradually come back over several months - perhaps as much as a year - after which I will probably need a corrective lens to compensate for the fact that the plastic band has distorted the shape of the eye.

I am fairly comfortable driving during daylight, but I don't want to try at night - my vision just isn't clear enough. I can use the computer, watch TV, and can read (although I have to hold the material much closer than before - the cataract in my left eye is getting worse).

[Update: checkup this afternoon with Dr. Mayron concluded that I have a new detachment. More surgery is scheduled for Thursday.]

On the positive side, we were fortunate that a couple of Dave's friends decided to have their wedding in Virginia. That meant that he had a reason to plan a trip to the East Coast and was able to be with us on Labor Day.

The picture this time is from my stay at Peters Valley last year. Walpack Center is one of my favorite place in the Valley, and the bridge is especially nice early in the morning with deep fog. This was about 6:30am. This print is currently on display at the Saratoga County Arts Council as part of the Winter Solstice Show.