Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Teddy bear's walkabout, fast food, Shaker stitch, eye capers

 Yesterday we had a visitor in town


Just down the street from me. I didn't see him though. It's the time of year when young black male bears are turfed out to find their own territory to breed in. 

They're usually only a year or two old, and they follow the waterways, some of which now run under large highways. This little guy was a few yards from a heavily traveled six lane highway, but appears to have got safely away.

Last night fast food, swift supper, was

spinach and broccoli pancake, nice way to enjoy vegetables.

And I embarked on the first sock of the next batch, largely to stay calmer. 


Showing both sides. Pretty much identical.

This is Shaker stitch, aka fisherman's rib, to be completed on straight needles, not having found a way of knitting this in the round, to be transferred to dpns when it's time to start the body of the sock.  

This is a stitch pattern which creates rib without purling, and I like the rhythm of it. I once long ago knitted my boyfriend a whole lovely sweater in this stitch. 

Today was taken up by the endless layers of the eyecare office, five to be exact, asking me to repeat yet again the info I'd sent in online and been acknowledged, then asking me to write a stack of pages of the same information, then asking me it all again to enter into their patient database. At that point I got very curt with the technician and pointed out she had all that in front of her on the clipboard, whereupon she glanced down, started copying it for herself.

Then the higher echelons came on, shoving dilation drops in my eyes, bunging me into and, collecting me from, another waiting room, then doing measurements for the lens implant, finally bunging me into yet another exam room to wait for the big chief. 

Who turned out to be very nice, rapid fire but clear and audible, agreed I needed the work, checked the previous tests, looked for himself, said we'd start with the right, worse, non-dominant eye,  bunged me back up front with a clipboard full of info, and told me he would call in eyedrops to start before surgery, and Michelle would call to schedule same at another location. Which is close to home and I've been there before.

Time elapsed three hours, or possibly days. Interestingly, the more senior the tech, the nicer.  

So that's part one done. Breathing heavily after all the stages and command's.

Phew. I can finally see again, dilation having subsided. As well as I can right now, anyway.


Photo AC.  Look at the light, try not to blink, keep looking, now the other eye, oh sorry, got carried away there. 

But do keep your little light shining for peace in Ukraine and justice at home.

And now it's time for Textiles and Tea. I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.





13 comments:

  1. Oh gosh. I thought they were going to do one of your eyes today and that you would be half done.
    When IS the surgery and how have I missed that salient fact?
    That is a pretty stitch. I've been meaning to ask you- do you knit in the American way with three movements per basic knit stitch or the (far more sensible, actually) European way?

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  2. This was the meeting with the surgeon, referred by my eye doctor. They have to call me with the date of surgery. So I don't know yet. It's three stages, today then one per eye. Then back to my regular eye doctor to get new glasses with new rx. I'll still need a correction because of the severe astigmatism. There are lens implants for that but my own doctor steered me away from them, likely complications.

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  3. Glad you have the first step done for the eye surgery, Boud.

    More importantly, glad you missed that bear!

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  4. You were on my mind a lot today because I knew you would be jumping (or bunging!) through hoops for various pokes, prods and papers. Glad you can put the angst of this particular round behind you. Now to await the pleasure of the surgeon as to time.
    Oddly - on the news at noon there was a segment talking about how bears are staying around at more southerly locations this year due to the fact that the normal 'heating up' in the higher regions isn't happening. Wonder if that's why your visitor was lurking about.

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  5. I'm glad the young bear is safe and relocated. Sounds like your eye appointment went well, all things considered. Dilation is an annoyance, to be sure.

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  6. Interesting. I, too, have a severe astigmatism and there is no doubt that cataract surgery is in my future.

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  7. Mary, my own eye doctor called me, strongly recommended the toric lens implants, not the standard ones which I'd thought he'd recommended. So I'll call the eye center tomorrow and change the decision. Considering how much info I've had fired at me, not surprising I got it backward. The eye doctor had faxed everything over immediately after seeing me. Service! The toric lenses are not covered by Medicare, but maybe I can get my secondary to help.

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  8. Mary Anne these bears are common in NJ, always have been;we get these sightings every year.

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  9. I knitted a boyfriend a sweater in that stitch, too. 1963. Directions notwithstanding, he put it in the washer and dryer.

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  10. Mike has toric lenses and they have been fantastic for him. They are expensive, but for him so well worth it. Glad your eye doc followed up about them.

    What a bear story! Too bad you didn't catch a glimpse of the young visitor. Your PD handled the event very calmly.

    Chris from Boise

    PS Happy Summer Solstice!

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  11. Bravo to you for putting your foot down on filling out all those forms AGAIN!

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  12. The one that gets me is the mental health evaluation, about 20 questions to determine if I'm suffering from depression, every visit. I think it's what they do if you are over a certain age. Or they want to know if I've fallen. At least the secondary insurance has stopped calling every few months to set up a home inspection and health review.

    My next visit with the opthamologist is December. We'll see if my developing cataracts have gotten bad enough for removal.

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  13. What a long process. Parts of it do not strike me as efficient.

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Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered! I've reluctantly deleted the anonymous option, because it was being abused.