...to all my readers who keep waiting for a post. I have spent the summer in the fog of cataract surgery which, although many people say is a breeze, to me was a challenging period of my life. Although my vision now is very good and I am very satisfied with the surgery and my doctor, the road to this point took many strange and anxious turns. Surgery on my left eye (eye # 2) was postponed minutes before being wheeled into the operating room because the nurse and then doctor noticed an infection in my eye. I had to go home and wait a week and a half for that second surgery putting antibiotic drops in the eye to clear up the infection. That was hard for me. Then I kept having the feeling of something in my eyes, both, but worse in the first eye. Then of course the drops I was putting in my eyes for a total of 8 weeks and the antibiotic cream I rubbed on the left eye for several weeks every evening. The drops were actually the least of the issues as I had no trouble with that. Nevertheless, the process of cataract surgery is amazing and anyone who is contemplating surgery on one or both eyes should consider having it. I also recommend Dr. Roger Husted in Kingston for people who live in Ulster County. He was remarkably sensitive, accommodating, and understanding. His reassurance to me constantly was one of the things that got me through the whole process. And of course he was using the latest lenses, called Toric which not only correct the vision but also correct the astigmatism. In my right eye (eye # 1) my vision is now 20-30 and in the left, 20-25 which the Refraction Technician told me will shift between 20-20 under perfect conditions such as weather and dryness of my eyes to 20-25. The Toric Lenses are not covered under Medicare and it cost me extra. The prospect of not having to wear glasses for distance was too good to pass up. Of course I now continue to wear glasses for reading as I did before, but now I have no short vision for reading as I once did a couple of months ago. I am still able to answer my cell phone, see my food to an extent, and do a number of other close up things, but little else. I will try bifocals for times when I need near and far vision quickly such as eating meals for example. I will try, however, to only wear glasses for reading. I love not wearing glasses.
So, although I did do "normal" things and even produced a few TV shows along the way, my energy was being used for my surgical situation. I did a lot of Alan's Italy thinking however and did one show which did not turn out correct with blurring photos and even blurrier videos. I will revisit the possibility of editing my own TV show at home rather than doing the broadcast in the studio. My goal will be to create perfect images and videos and to make the process as simple as possible. The stress I always experienced that I wrote about at great length in these blogs is starting to get to me. I will pursue that possibility in the near future. If I can produce my own show, I will still upload to Youtube and give a DVD copy to WPAT. I will keep you posted. Until then Alan's Italy might not appear on Youtube for a while. Not sure at this time.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Friday, July 15, 2016
Back on the Horse
It was not a perfect performance by me. I made a few mistakes and did not at all feel that comfortable. I felt as if I were forcing everything although it is not that obvious that this was occurring. I appear for the most part relaxed, but I was not. I don't come out of traumatic experiences well and this was typical. Most people would wonder what I was was talking about after all I can now see with 20-30 vision in both eyes and have no residual effects so far. Nonetheless, the entire experience was quite unnerving for me and I am happy cataract surgery is behind me.
The show this evening had three parts. There was the summary of what we did on our last trip, what were highlights, and basically discusses why we love Italy so much. I also talk about our wonderful friends. In the second part I talk about all the things I discovered in Florence that were new and different from any of my previous 22 times there. Finally I do the "bridge show" focusing on several throughout Italy but primarily Florence and Venice. The enjoyed the first two parts much more than the third, although I must say that by then I was rather tired and eager to get home. As I said I made a few slight error, like calling Laura Lidia, mispronouncing several Italian words, and once again getting mixed up between east and west on the Arno River in Florence. Most people would probably like the show at least that is really what I hope. The original show # 123 has been deleted from Youtube since it was not what I wanted so if you saw that one five weeks ago then try this one also.
I look forward to creating more shows and have many ideas as I already indicated. Ric Hirst has consented to join me on August 26 for a discussion about why he loves Italy and indeed bought a house there spending 5 months a year until recently.
The show this evening had three parts. There was the summary of what we did on our last trip, what were highlights, and basically discusses why we love Italy so much. I also talk about our wonderful friends. In the second part I talk about all the things I discovered in Florence that were new and different from any of my previous 22 times there. Finally I do the "bridge show" focusing on several throughout Italy but primarily Florence and Venice. The enjoyed the first two parts much more than the third, although I must say that by then I was rather tired and eager to get home. As I said I made a few slight error, like calling Laura Lidia, mispronouncing several Italian words, and once again getting mixed up between east and west on the Arno River in Florence. Most people would probably like the show at least that is really what I hope. The original show # 123 has been deleted from Youtube since it was not what I wanted so if you saw that one five weeks ago then try this one also.
I look forward to creating more shows and have many ideas as I already indicated. Ric Hirst has consented to join me on August 26 for a discussion about why he loves Italy and indeed bought a house there spending 5 months a year until recently.
Monday, July 11, 2016
And Now.......Alan's Italy
Well cataract surgery now, hopefully, behind me, I will try very hard to produce my first show in several weeks. I will ask Ellen to test the studio equipment before I get there and let me know if it is not working. No telling how many more problems and cancellations I can deal with. The show will be a rebroadcast of # 123, the one I already did but took off the internet because I didn't like it. Then I must get back to the drawing board, but I have a tentative idea of what the next few shows will be.
Show # 124 - Return to Civita di Bagnoregio featuring a very close look at this extraordinary hill town in Alto Lazio.
Show # 125 - Franco Sala's Trattoria Antica Forno in Civita di Bagnoregio
Show # 126 - Siena and the Hotel Palazzo Ravizza
Show # 127 - Volterra, A Day out With Lidia, Part 1
Show # 128 - Monteriggioni, A Day out With Lidia, Part 2
Show # 129 - San Quirico d'Orcia, A Day out With Luca and Greta
Show # 130 - San Donato with Lidia, Sabrina, Giulio, and Simone
Show # 130 - Panoramic Views of Italy
Show # 131 - A Stroll Around Florence
The Rest TBA.....
Show # 124 - Return to Civita di Bagnoregio featuring a very close look at this extraordinary hill town in Alto Lazio.
Show # 125 - Franco Sala's Trattoria Antica Forno in Civita di Bagnoregio
Show # 126 - Siena and the Hotel Palazzo Ravizza
Show # 127 - Volterra, A Day out With Lidia, Part 1
Show # 128 - Monteriggioni, A Day out With Lidia, Part 2
Show # 129 - San Quirico d'Orcia, A Day out With Luca and Greta
Show # 130 - San Donato with Lidia, Sabrina, Giulio, and Simone
Show # 130 - Panoramic Views of Italy
Show # 131 - A Stroll Around Florence
The Rest TBA.....
Cataracts, Anxiety, and Different Strokes for Different Folks
So I went for my second cataract surgery on June 28 doing the prep with drops of three different kinds, and gearing myself for the final chapter. Ten minutes from being wheeled in to the operating room, my doctor came out (at the apparent urging of my nurse), and told me I had an infection in my eye about to be worked on and I would have to postpone the procedure. I became very upset and went home now trying to put a new prescription of drops intended to clear up the problem. On I went with the strange interim period with one farsighted eye and one nearsighted.
Eight days later my doctor told me that the infected eye was improved and he would schedule me for two days hence, Fri, July 8. Again I did the prep drops, but this time had to go to a different location for the surgery. Again I was prepped for surgery with drops for numbing and pupil dilation. I even started on the sedation drip I requested for the procedure. This time I was wheeled in the operating room, surrounded by doctors and nurses who began to set me up for the eye surgery. Suddenly my doctor realized that there was a mistake and that the special lens he would implant was probably at the other location (where I should have had the second surgery on June 28). Someone would have to get the lens and meanwhile out I went back to the holding room where I waited about an hour and a half. Once again I was wheeled into the operating room and the same scenario. Finally my doctor did the procedure. As with the first one, I was aware of everything that was happening since the patient must be awake enough so that they could respond to directions from the doctor (look left, look up, etc). Although I was thoroughly sedated, I was nonetheless anxious and apprehensive. Finally back to the recovery area where I celebrated by having my first buttered corn muffin in 25 years with the best tasting apple juice I ever had.
I am now almost a month removed from the first surgery. My vision without glasses and long-distance is stunningly amazing!!!! My second eye, however, has not made the immediate progress I did back on June 14 with the first eye. Although my vision in the second eye would probably be categorized as excellent, there is a mild blurriness. Since when I came home after the second surgery my vision was so blurry I could hardly see, the blurriness is most likely about 80 % better. My doctor assures me it will get better yet. I visit with him on Wednesday. I now do not wear glasses for long distance, but drug store reading glasses, 2.75, for close up seeing, computer work, and sometimes dining in low light places. Eventually I will get progressive (bifocal) lenses, but haven't yet decided whether to wear them or to just keep using a separate pair of readers. After 63 years of wearing glasses, this is amazing to not have to wear glasses for most situations beyond about 5 or so feet away. My pupils are still dilated in the recent surgical eye after over 72 hours, but I believe that is normal.
Next time I have any kind of surgery, I will speak with nobody about their experience. I learned the hard way that everybody has a different experience. Some comments varied from, "oh, it's a piece of cake having cataract surgery," to "gee, I don't remember," to other reassuring comments. It is possible that people were protecting me from possible apprehension. Nonetheless, my experience was spoken of by no one not even including the infection on the 28th and the missing lens on the 8th. I do not think it was a "piece of cake," nor is this a trivial experience - at least not for me.
Eight days later my doctor told me that the infected eye was improved and he would schedule me for two days hence, Fri, July 8. Again I did the prep drops, but this time had to go to a different location for the surgery. Again I was prepped for surgery with drops for numbing and pupil dilation. I even started on the sedation drip I requested for the procedure. This time I was wheeled in the operating room, surrounded by doctors and nurses who began to set me up for the eye surgery. Suddenly my doctor realized that there was a mistake and that the special lens he would implant was probably at the other location (where I should have had the second surgery on June 28). Someone would have to get the lens and meanwhile out I went back to the holding room where I waited about an hour and a half. Once again I was wheeled into the operating room and the same scenario. Finally my doctor did the procedure. As with the first one, I was aware of everything that was happening since the patient must be awake enough so that they could respond to directions from the doctor (look left, look up, etc). Although I was thoroughly sedated, I was nonetheless anxious and apprehensive. Finally back to the recovery area where I celebrated by having my first buttered corn muffin in 25 years with the best tasting apple juice I ever had.
I am now almost a month removed from the first surgery. My vision without glasses and long-distance is stunningly amazing!!!! My second eye, however, has not made the immediate progress I did back on June 14 with the first eye. Although my vision in the second eye would probably be categorized as excellent, there is a mild blurriness. Since when I came home after the second surgery my vision was so blurry I could hardly see, the blurriness is most likely about 80 % better. My doctor assures me it will get better yet. I visit with him on Wednesday. I now do not wear glasses for long distance, but drug store reading glasses, 2.75, for close up seeing, computer work, and sometimes dining in low light places. Eventually I will get progressive (bifocal) lenses, but haven't yet decided whether to wear them or to just keep using a separate pair of readers. After 63 years of wearing glasses, this is amazing to not have to wear glasses for most situations beyond about 5 or so feet away. My pupils are still dilated in the recent surgical eye after over 72 hours, but I believe that is normal.
Next time I have any kind of surgery, I will speak with nobody about their experience. I learned the hard way that everybody has a different experience. Some comments varied from, "oh, it's a piece of cake having cataract surgery," to "gee, I don't remember," to other reassuring comments. It is possible that people were protecting me from possible apprehension. Nonetheless, my experience was spoken of by no one not even including the infection on the 28th and the missing lens on the 8th. I do not think it was a "piece of cake," nor is this a trivial experience - at least not for me.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
The Rebroadcast of Show # 123 Delayed Indefinitely
Due to problems with the studio equipment, the rebroadcast of Alan's Italy Show # 123 - My Favorite Bridges could not be produced last evening. Due to my impending cataract surgery, Part 2, the date for the next attempt at a live broadcast is uncertain at this time. I will will keep you posted.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Coming to Grips with Cataract Surgery
I don't recall when my parents had their cataract surgery. I don't recall how it went, if they were afraid, anxious, or really any thoughts they may have had. I don't recall what they were like afterwards. To me it was something that older people had, and I did not need to be concerned about it for many years to come. In retrospect I wish I had paid closer attention to the whole thing. In general I wish I had paid closer attention to the aging process that my parents experienced. After all my mother lived to be about 93 1/2 and my father 89 1/2. They had a lot of things to deal with, but I paid little attention. All I remember was my father saying to me, "Alan, don't get old," and my mother repeating the Bette Davis quote, "getting old is not for sissies," which I still quote a lot. I like to say, "if getting old is not for sissies, then what do sissies, like me, do?"
So as I got older, I knew things were going to happen. I actually had Melanoma at age 51. My father had skin cancer, I recall, but not Melanoma. That was my first surgery, and as I recall I was pretty scared. I still have the 8 inch long scar with clear remnants of the 15 stitches. I loved the doctor, Matthew Harris, who did the surgery at NYU Medical Center, and my Dermatologist, Alan Schecter, who still treats me. Then there was surgery to remove the kidney stone in 2011. That was the worst week of my life, and I never wish to repeat it. I have had minor dermatological procedures over the year, perhaps as many as two dozen or more.
About 4 years ago, when my vision began to deteriorate and I was told I had cataracts, I knew the time was coming soon for that surgery. Then my ophthalmologist, Dr. Gary Povill, retired and handed me off to the person who did his surgery, Dr. Roger Husted. I liked him immediately, but was still quite apprehensive about the coming procedure. Last September, when I could not even read the top line with my right eye and barely the 20-40 line with my "good" eye, the left, Dr. Husted told me I was ready for cataract surgery. Knowing I would need time for the whole thing, I scheduled it for after my teaching ended, choosing the two dates myself back last fall even before I asked the doctor's scheduler, June 14 and June 28.
Then I began the research, speaking with dozens of people who had it, and reading everything I could find on the Internet. I was assured that it was a complicated, but successful procedure in a large number of cases. Most people said, "ah, it's a piece of cake." Nonetheless I was very anxious, as I am for many things in life (including doing a TV show!). I started with the drops the Friday before and continue to this day, 72 hours after the first surgery. I drove to the surgical center, and my wife drove me home. I was sedated, as I requested (some people do not have that (for them getting older will be "sissy-free")). I was quite relaxed, but felt the doctor doing a lot of stuff and heard him speaking (his voice was reassuring). The surgery seemed to take longer than I recall reading, but I knew he was implanting a special Toric Lens to which I paid extra to correct my astigmatism. I went home, took off the patch on my right eye and immediately realized that I had gone from not being able to make out face features on people ten feet from me at the YMCA without my glasses to being able to see brilliantly with the surgical eye without glasses. The next day the doctor's assistant told me I had 20-30 vision in that eye without glasses. I still had who knows what in the left eye without glasses. I thought I would be quite cool by having my glasses adjusted so that the right lens was removed and replaced with a clear lens; it didn't work for me, so now here is my situation.
I walk around with a good right eye and a bad left left eye, but am managing. I drove yesterday very well as I am legally allowed (in NY State 20-40 in one eye). I cannot see short distance, as I was told would happen, so I wear a pair of drug store reading glasses with a patch over the bad eye, and that is what I am doing now as I write this blog. It is uncomfortable. I await my next surgery on Tuesday, June 28, still anxious, but eager to get the whole thing over with. I do not wear glasses anymore for distance. I will be going to a party tonight being seen by friends for the first time in 63 years without glasses. This interim two-week period when I can see well with one eye, and do the reading/writing thing as I indicated is hard for me, but I have no choice and the days pass. I will keep you posted.
So as I got older, I knew things were going to happen. I actually had Melanoma at age 51. My father had skin cancer, I recall, but not Melanoma. That was my first surgery, and as I recall I was pretty scared. I still have the 8 inch long scar with clear remnants of the 15 stitches. I loved the doctor, Matthew Harris, who did the surgery at NYU Medical Center, and my Dermatologist, Alan Schecter, who still treats me. Then there was surgery to remove the kidney stone in 2011. That was the worst week of my life, and I never wish to repeat it. I have had minor dermatological procedures over the year, perhaps as many as two dozen or more.
About 4 years ago, when my vision began to deteriorate and I was told I had cataracts, I knew the time was coming soon for that surgery. Then my ophthalmologist, Dr. Gary Povill, retired and handed me off to the person who did his surgery, Dr. Roger Husted. I liked him immediately, but was still quite apprehensive about the coming procedure. Last September, when I could not even read the top line with my right eye and barely the 20-40 line with my "good" eye, the left, Dr. Husted told me I was ready for cataract surgery. Knowing I would need time for the whole thing, I scheduled it for after my teaching ended, choosing the two dates myself back last fall even before I asked the doctor's scheduler, June 14 and June 28.
Then I began the research, speaking with dozens of people who had it, and reading everything I could find on the Internet. I was assured that it was a complicated, but successful procedure in a large number of cases. Most people said, "ah, it's a piece of cake." Nonetheless I was very anxious, as I am for many things in life (including doing a TV show!). I started with the drops the Friday before and continue to this day, 72 hours after the first surgery. I drove to the surgical center, and my wife drove me home. I was sedated, as I requested (some people do not have that (for them getting older will be "sissy-free")). I was quite relaxed, but felt the doctor doing a lot of stuff and heard him speaking (his voice was reassuring). The surgery seemed to take longer than I recall reading, but I knew he was implanting a special Toric Lens to which I paid extra to correct my astigmatism. I went home, took off the patch on my right eye and immediately realized that I had gone from not being able to make out face features on people ten feet from me at the YMCA without my glasses to being able to see brilliantly with the surgical eye without glasses. The next day the doctor's assistant told me I had 20-30 vision in that eye without glasses. I still had who knows what in the left eye without glasses. I thought I would be quite cool by having my glasses adjusted so that the right lens was removed and replaced with a clear lens; it didn't work for me, so now here is my situation.
I walk around with a good right eye and a bad left left eye, but am managing. I drove yesterday very well as I am legally allowed (in NY State 20-40 in one eye). I cannot see short distance, as I was told would happen, so I wear a pair of drug store reading glasses with a patch over the bad eye, and that is what I am doing now as I write this blog. It is uncomfortable. I await my next surgery on Tuesday, June 28, still anxious, but eager to get the whole thing over with. I do not wear glasses anymore for distance. I will be going to a party tonight being seen by friends for the first time in 63 years without glasses. This interim two-week period when I can see well with one eye, and do the reading/writing thing as I indicated is hard for me, but I have no choice and the days pass. I will keep you posted.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Boy Did I Goof
I'm very sorry, but show # 123 was just removed from Youtube. The mistake I made with the work of Ghirlandaio in the Museum of San Marco's Book Store/Gift Show was so egregious that in my utter humiliation and embarrassment, I have decided to either have that segment edited out of the DVD of the show or do the entire show over again. I sounded like an utter doofus. Here is the actual story:
In 1486 the Monastery of San Marco commissioned Domenico Ghirlandaio to do a fresco in their facility. That is how the fresco got there. It was not a bookstore/gift shop in 1486 (DUHHHHHHH), and if I were to hazard a guess, and of course my credibility index has probably just fallen to new lows, I would say that the location back then was the Refectory. I come to this conclusion because his other two Cenacolos (Ognissanti and Badia a Pasignano) were located in the area where the monks dined known as a Refectory.
My apologies. I have no excuse other than jet lag and perhaps my anxiety over my impending cataract surgery which is quite high right now. I will keep you informed about the solution and when show # 123 returns. Too bad, because I actually liked the show.
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