Sight, Unseen

I promise that tonight I will post the rest of the information about the trip. I had planned to last night but as I was leaving work I called a friend that I hadn't talked to in way too long. He and I ended up on a wonderful two and a half hour conversation that ran me right until dinner. I made up a quick veggie wrap and some fruit and then right after I finished eating Jeff offered me the chance to get to the library. I've been trying to go all week so I couldn't pass it up.

So tonight I'll post about Skagway and Glacier Bay and we'll be finished with Alaska. I have a ton of amazing pictures from Glacier Bay. It will be tough to choose between them. But I also have other plans tonight as well. Over the weekend Jeff and I went out driving. We spent a lot of time on gravel roads just getting lost and seeing what we could see. We stopped in Winterset (Birthplace of John Wayne) and shopped their square. I found my favorite bakery of all time, The Madison County Dessert Factory, and one of the coolest shops I've ever been in, Le Collage. I bought a wonderful steampunk key necklace. I'll post pictures of that tonight. But mostly we just drove. And as we drove we looked for birds and wildlife.

Madison County Desssert Factory (Photo from KCCI)

Jeff is amazing at spotting hawks and other wildlife and I tend to be a little slow to finally see what he's pointing at (There goes that career as a wildlife photographer). But this weekend he put me to the test. Not only did I have problems seeing the birds but I had issues seeing the street signs as well. I couldn't read license plates that he could see easily. I couldn't make out billboards from a distance. And we both decided it was time to get my eyes checked.

I haven't had new glasses in almost a decade so I would not be surprised if my eyes have changed substantially. I bought these glasses shortly before our trip to Disneyworld in 2004. Six years is a long time in the world of glasses. I've noticed that I've had to squint far more to read things well. I've lost most of the leaves off the trees into just a mass of moving green. So tonight I'm heading in to have my eyes checked and to possibly get a new pair of glasses. I'm excited. Glasses are a treat, a once in a blue moon type of purchase. And I'm always shocked by how well I see after a new pair.

I still remember the first pair I put on. I had worn glasses for protection since I was six months (stupid bad eye) but right before my first year of high school, my parents realized that I needed glasses for sight. I found glasses I liked and I can still vividly remember the first time I walked out the door with them. I was shocked to see that the trees had individual leaves. That houses had individual shingles. I simply couldn't see them before. So here's hoping that is the case tonight. I'm excited about the new glasses but I'm really excited to be able to see clearly again. I'll let you know.

I Should Have Been a Pirate

When I was very young I wanted to be a pirate. I was, and still am, drawn to the sea and sailing. I loved the idea of living it up on some far away island. I was a bit too young to understand the risks of death that went along with being a pirate. Or the miserable living conditions. Or even the concept that it may not have been the fun romanticized version I read in books or saw in movies. It didn't matter that I didn't want to kill people or steal things. I wanted to be a pirate.

And I did have something that seemed perfect for the job. I had an eyepatch. Not the standard costume eyepatch with a skull and crossbones on the front (although now I would proudly wear that). No, I actually had an eyepatch for medical reasons. The same reason I've worn glasses since I was six month old. (yes they make them that small). I had the eyepatch and the glasses because I only have one good eye.

After I was born my mother noticed that one of my eyes would be looking at her, and the other would be looking off towards something else. She immediately made an appointment with an eye doctor and we ended up getting sent to Iowa City to an eye specialist. He found the problem quickly. I have a huge hole in the back of my eye. Kind of makes it hard to see with that big hole blocking things up. And the reason my bad eye drifts is because I don't actually look out of it much. They immediately bought me protective glasses which I took great pains to destroy. I was such a grateful child. (when I'm really tired or not paying attention, my eye still drifts quite a bit)

Now I can see somewhat out of that eye. I have peripheral vision but no central vision. If I lose my good eye I have to learn braille. I wouldn't be able to drive. I'd be legally blind. I was protected constantly through my childhood. I was told not to do things that my other brothers and sisters got to do for fear that I'd "put out an eye". I was fourteen before I climbed my first tree. Yeah I know, sad. But then again, without good depth perception, I might have had problems with the tree anyway.

The doctor wanted to make sure that I still used my bad eye though. So I was prescribed an eyepatch. I was to wear the patch around at home over my good eye to strengthen the bad one. I wore it for a while until I learned to read. Then all bets were off. I couldn't read with the thing on so I immediately stopped it. But even at that age I'd proudly say that I had one...and that I was a pirate.

I mention all this because I was reading BBC news on Friday and found an article about retinal detachments (which is what I have) particularly those affecting central vision. There is a new type of therapy called eccentric viewing which can allow some people with no central vision to learn to read. And I think I'm going to try it. I read a little on the program over the weekend and was really excited about it. The therapy teaches you to read using your peripheral vision. It also teaches you to look through the vision field that offers you the best image. This therapy could be huge for me. This could offer me the chance to feel a little more normal when it comes to sight. It may even tighten up that eye so it drifts a little less. I might become a little less protective of my good eye. Or at least not have to worry about learning braille. But more than anything it offers me a chance to dust off that old eyepatch. Arggh. I'm a pirate. :-)