VA eye doctor appointment yesterday
Tuesday, I went to my VA doctor’s appointment to check on my cataract situation, and just as I thought, I have cataracts in both eyes, with my right eye being the worst.
My daughter was kind enough to drive me to the main regional VA hospital, which is east of Denver, where I had never been before. I normally go to a VA clinic in Golden, Colorado, which is not that far from where I'm living. Getting to the VA regional Hospital was a fairly long drive from where we live. Traffic on the highways at 8 o'clock in the morning was terrible, but since the cataract operation is done at that VA hospital, it looks like that drive will become a normal part of my life for the rest of the summer.
The operation on my right eye will take place on September 18th, and the operation on my left eye about two weeks later. And I was told by the doctor that I should be able to pack up and head for Arizona around the end of October, which would work out perfectly for me.
Since I've been wearing glasses since I was 13 years old, the doctor suggested that I get the kind of lenses installed in my eyes, which will allow me to see perfectly up close and slightly far away. However, I will still need glasses to see perfectly at a distance, such as for driving. I initially thought I'd choose the opposite approach of getting lenses that allow for distance vision, and then use inexpensive reading glasses for close-up work. But the doctor said that if I did that, I would have to have prescription reading glasses to be able to see close up, and that most people who are used to wearing glasses like I am are more comfortable wearing glasses to drive, and then take them off to read or use the computer.
The doctor also mentioned that my distance vision would improve significantly even without wearing glasses, so I would use very thin lenses, rather than the thick glasses I currently wear to see at a distance. I hope I have chosen wisely because I certainly wouldn't want to go through all this again.
Theboondork…..I don’t know if this is good medicine, but it is free.
Turtle Rock was a pretty place to stay, but it used to be free, which made it even prettier.
A picture of the high country, with the town of Buena Vista scattered out at the foot of the mountains.
The Collegiate Peaks, located near the town of Buena Vista, are comprised of five mountains over 14,000 feet tall, named after colleges such as Mount Harvard and Mount Princeton.
Buena Vista is a popular place to go rock climbing and bouldering. The town itself is only about 8000 feet high, but up in the hills, where I’m boondocking is a little over 9000.