The Eyes Have It

Yesterday I had an appointment at the Lions Eye Institute to assess the progress of my cataracts.  A year ago I was told that yes, I had cataracts but the work which had been previously done on my retinas made it possible that removing the cataracts could make me totally blind.  This is not an option for me as I have no balance without my eyesight due to damage to my labyrinths.

So last year  I visited my friendly optometrist, had him make me the best spectacles possible and carried on as normal.  That was one year ago.  During this last year my right eye has noticeably deteriorated but the left one has remained relatively stable and this was borne out by the investigations yesterday.  However this time around Dr. C. said that I could have the cataracts removed any time I cared to ask and the blindness aspect was more or less mentioned in passing which makes me believe that the technique has improved or my retinas seem to be recovering.  Certainly, from the profile which I saw they had both smoothed out markedly.

I suggested that if or when I decided to have the operation the right eye, being the worst of the two eyes would be my choice, leaving me with one good eye and if that was successful I could consider having the second eye fixed.  So I have an appointment scheduled for a year's time but since I will need a referral before I go again the timing will be up to me if I choose to bring things forward.

Today I decided that, as my hip is now nearly better I would take the train to Subiaco and do an uphill slog to the wool shop which sells a selection of acrylic yarn for the knitting of wrist warmers which D2 asked me to make for those who sleep rough, especially with winter coming.  I have only a few more rows of the purple possum to knit and the wrist warmers are quick and fun to knit so at the moment I a alternating between possum and wrist-warmers.  To be honest I hate sewing up my knitting (as do all knitters) and I am putting off the time when I have to put the purple possum together.

During my perpetual uncluttering I came across a bag in which I store things woollen and the only thing in the bag was a card on which was written: "Remember to wait while it sorts itself." I have been trying to work out what, in all that is wonderful, I could possibly have meant.

The Limerick:-

This Limerick, written by William Ralph Inge, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral from 1911 to 1934, whose pessimism earned him the title of 'the gloomy dean', was only one of many men of the cloth who found amusement in the form.  This limerick which some, remembering a comment of Sir Richard Burton's in the tenth volume of his 'translation' of A Thousand and One Nights  -  have found slightly suggestive.

There was an old man of Khartoum
Who kept two tame sheep in his room,
To remind him, he said,
Of two friends who were dead;
But he could not remember of whom.