Eye Surgery Is No Fun

For a freelance writer, eye surgery is about one of the least fun surgeries out there. I’ve been recommended (by three different eye doctors, now) to have strabismus surgery to fix my double vision issue. Essentially, the doctor will cut the muscles that attach to the sides of my eyeballs, move them, and reattach them, hopefully, in such as way as to aim both of my eyes at the proper point.

I’ve been recommended to whom I’ve been told is the best eye doctor for surgery in the Denver area. Funny enough, the best strabismus eye surgeons tend to work a lot with children, because the cross-eye thing is often seen, detected, and fixed in younger kids. Mine, while affecting my vision has never really been all that noticeable just by looking at me. So, I keep having appointments at a children’s eye physician office where I’m pretty much the only adult patient, so far as I can tell.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t more painful or scary surgeries (there are), just that eye surgery is particularly un-fun for a professional writer. After all, writing, also involves reading, and not just for the editing process. It’s all too easy to lose your place in your thought and have to read what you just wrote, or to have an idea that needs inserted earlier in the text.

It has always been my contention that the only people who should be professional writers are those people who love writing.  I am one of them.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve also grown to love designing and building websites and experimenting with the countless tools and services provided via my computer. Each and every one of these things requires the ability to look at a computer screen, focus, read or examine, and then react.

But, as I type this, my vision has already begun to fail. I just can’t keep my eyes focusing properly.  It isn’t surprising, computers are much brighter than we give them credit for, and the particular type of focus required to read on a computer is a fairly tough one for the old eyeballs to manage.  So, here is where the no fun part comes in.

Many of my favorite pastimes, from reading to writing, to design, to just plain going through my RSS feeds, to answering questions, comments, and criticisms are all on my “can’t do” list as I recover from my recent surgery. For several weeks, I will have to let my eyes heal without forcing them to focus too much on screens, especially smaller screens like cellphone or tablet screens. Even books are out, unless I wander down to the library and get a bunch of the large type books.

Oh, well.  Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.  In the meantime, I’m stuck with TV which isn’t nearly as fun.  Of course, I am catching up on my napping, so that’s a good deal.

See you soon.

Update: My surgery was a success, although it may be slipping back now. Recently, I started wearing glasses for the computer.