The LuLac Edition #3011, August 10th, 2015

UNCHARTED WATERS

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to make an announcement regarding LuLac. As you all know ever since we started in 2006, LuLac has been here every week with three exceptions. My hospitalization for Colon Cancer in 2008, Hip Replacement in 2011 and my surgery to combat Myastehenia Gravis in 2013. The stays in sick bay lost us less than a month in real publication time for LuLac. As a matter of fact, doing this site in my opinion has had a positive effect on my various recoveries.
The last eight years have been problematic health wise for me and if I were a superstitious conspiracy theorist, I’d think some people who disagree with me politically might have a big ass voodoo doll with my name on it.
All of the above brings us to today. We are going to be taking a health break from LuLac and unlike the prior instances, we are heading into uncharted waters.
After the 2014 election Mrs. LuLac had an invitation from our friends at Engle Eye Wear to go to a trunk show event. The plan was for only one of us to get new glasses but when I saw a Ralph Lauren CC model pair of specs, I had to have them. I had a visit right there on site with the optometrist and she said that there appeared to be a cataract on my left eye. (I do not have any vision whatsoever in my right eye since a bout with Uveitis in 1969 decimated my vision in that eye. It happened when I was 15 and the only big deal to me then was changing from batting left handed to right handed in softball and getting a driver’s license.)
After the exam at Engle, I was referred to Dr. Harvey Reiser at Eye Care Associates and dutifully went to the appointment.
Now I had taken my mother in law there numerous times before she passed away and knew it was going to be a long session. However, when you are in an examining room and a lot of people come to look at your condition you know something is up. Dr. Reiser described the situation.
I had a cataract but I also had an underlying disease called Fuch’s Dystrophy. Fuchs' corneal dystrophy is a disorder of the front surface of the eye (cornea) that is hereditary and decreases your vision over time. The innermost layer of cells in the cornea undergoes degenerative changes. This cell layer, called the endothelium, is responsible for maintaining the proper amount of fluid in the cornea.
The one thing that is a problem for a person with Fuch’s is that cataract surgery will accelerate the decline of the corneal cells.
So there are two issues here, the cataract and the Fuch’s are fighting with each other pretty much like Chris Christie and Rand Paul the other night at the debate.
If a Fuchs patient undergoes cataract surgery, the fragile endothelial cells of the cornea may be damaged. (The endothelial cells are those cells at the very back of the cornea. The endothelial cells deteriorate in patients with Fuch’s.) The loss of too many of these cells can lead to edema (swelling) of the cornea. This edema can then sometimes lead to painful corneal blisters, deterioration of vision, and eventually, the need for a corneal transplant.
So in my situation, I need the cataract surgery but I know that surgery may hasten the need for a corneal transplant.
I was referred to a surgeon in the Lehigh Valley by Dr. Reiser and saw him last December. The surgery was set for February but I chickened out. But as time went on, I could see the decrease in vision at work, at public events and doing LuLac. And trying to read TV cue cards..uh no way! So earlier last month I bit the bullet and saw the surgeon again. This time I was ready. He seemed surprised but welcomed me back.
So the surgeon’s game plan is this: to do a first cataract surgery this week and then wait 30 days and perform the Cornea Transplant. There is a 10% chance I will not need the Cornea transplant which means there is a 90% chance I will.
The bottom line here is that without the use of my right eye, I’m not sure what the recovery time will be for the left.
Thus the uncharted waters. I can pretty much deal with anything if I know what is required of me. I’m a pretty judgmental co-worker when someone thirty years younger than me tells me they are too tired to come to work. Or that they are “sad!” Really?
I’m sure my haters are going to love this but here goes. I look at this site as a commitment to the people who have been with us right from the start. Stopping or taking a break is not in my DNA. There will come a day when LuLac will end for me but not just yet.
But until I have that first operation, I will not know how I can handle this. Health wise for the last 8 years, my entire life has been a “workaround” By extension that extends to LuLac. So until I know how to “workaround” this obstacle, we’ll won’t be publishing anything new.
I’m writing this as a type of heads up in case we will be gone for a longer time than I hope. However, when LuLac doesn’t publish, many of our loyal readers and friends worry that there might be a problem. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. So that’s why I’m informing you today.
In the meantime you might want to check out these links out to get your fix.
http://nepablogs.org/ Harold Jenkins)
http://nepablogcon.com/about/the-team-behind-blogcon/ (The Team)
http://pittstonpolitics.com/ (Joe Valenti)
http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/borys/ (Scranton Times )
http://gort42.blogspot.com/ (Gort 42)
http://no-news-is.blogspot.com/ David DeCosmo.
http://www.wilknewsradio.com/ (WILK)
http://postsfromthefringe.blogspot.com/ (Jim O’Meara, Senior)
In addition before our leave, we did a few more 590 MIGHTY MEMORIES on the 590 Forever blogsite. That address is http://david-yonki.blogspot.com/
Hopefully, we’ll be back to keep doing what we do.
With the help of the Higher Power, we hope to see you soon.(No pun intended).
In the meantime, as Jackie Gleason used to say to Sammy Spear “...a little traveling music.”