#cataracts

[illustratus]

The Eastern Cataracts of the Victoria Falls by Thomas Baines

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

I’m having my second cataract surgery today. Wish me luck!

[ye1lowbug]

*from July 2024*

My cool old lady Stoneweb

My second-oldest warrior cats oc (but, you know, the OLDEST one), Stoneweb! She's half of a pair of old lady besties that @moodnoot and I invented a long time ago but never did anything with. She's a quiet and perceptive elder who has gone mostly blind in her old age due to cataracts. Her keen hearing and sense of smell, which helped her excel at herb foraging and tracking, now help her compensate for her poor vision. She still tries to exercise her skills to keep them sharp even now, afraid of losing her touch. Her vaguely tragic backstory isn't defined, but she has no surviving mates and at least one of her few surviving kits is now in another clan. However, she's since found a fulfilling and loving new family among the clan's medicine cats, nursery queens, and elders--all groups she spent much of her life choosing to work alongside and assist, and still does even now when they let her. She is content, but clearly has a bit of a chip on her shoulder. She DOES have a wild streak to her that's only really seen by her equally elderly best friend Cootstorm ( @moodnoot 's character), whose love of adventure and hijinks rubs off on her when they're out together. They're destined to go on a wild adventure together that will change the clans forever or whatever. Really need to draw that.

[secattention]

Natural Eye-Healing Secret Big Pharma Doesn't Want You to Know About - Barbara O'Neill ❤️

[littleprincesnek]

Little Prince has braved sticking his snoot out to wish everyone a happy new year!

I'm sorry for the lack of Prince photos this year. Since Summer, he hasn't wanted to come out of his viv once. He's also been startling and whipping his head round when I walk past the viv like Yuma did when she first started to develop cataracts. So I think he may now also be getting cataracts and he's lost some confidence moving around. He'll get his usual annual vet check up in the Spring so hopefully they can take a closer look and confirm if cataracts are developing!

But with him not being out and about, most photos of him this year are basically this-

He still likes to see what is happening in the room!

[morgansram]

Apollo and Aiden. Leopard cats without (left) and with cataracts(right).

[mckitterick]

Eyeball surgery tomorrow

I haven't talked much about the eye problems I've been having for the past couple years, because it's just tedious and unhappy-making. Seems I have an allergy to something (probably Miette Kitty's saliva) that causes my eye(s) to get red and really swell up.

I saw my optometrist about it in summer 2023, because it was messing with my vision, and he put me on steroid drops. I continued to use them whenever an eye would swell, refilling the prescription several times over the next year.

My vision only got worse, and fast.

Finally, after waiting months to get in to visit a proper ophthalmologist, I was diagnosed with cataracts, brought on by -drum roll- the steroid drops. Turns out you shouldn't use steroids long-term, as they mess with your body. (Arnold Schwarzenegger has a lot to say about that.)

So I need to get new, un-bumpy lenses installed. Which I do starting tomorrow (right eye), then again in two weeks for the other eye.

Ironically (again), the ophthalmologist put me back on steroid drops to prevent new swelling before the surgery... so my vision has gotten so bad that I can't drive at night, and bright lights hurt, and I can't read a screen that has white background. Critiquing student stories has been interesting.

Hopefully all goes well and my vision comes back - I have a new telescope to use!

(Not the one in the image - that's the WIRO instrument we visited on our honeymoon drive back from the wedding, which Mike Brotherton kindly introduced Lauren to.)

I'm worried I'll never see properly again after all this suffering, so wish me luck. I'd like to see through that new scope, and I'd really like to see my new baby boy clearly!