Pre-Op for Eye Surgery #5

Medical Clearance: Check

Surgeon Pre-op: Check.

No hard contact lens for a month: Check.

All the Papers: Signed.

Only my right eye got dilated today and it looks funny, as usual.

I did not have to watch the pre-op video again, thank goodness.

Now I'm all set for Eye Surgery #5 next Tuesday.

Hopefully it will be the last one I'll ever need.

I am so, so, SO ready to be on the other side of surgery.

It's going to be mostly the same as last time- Femtosecond laser to knock out hopefully all or most of my astigmatism, paralysis shot, goniotomy to control the pressure spike after surgery, and a monofocal IOL implant.
(I only qualify for a monofocal implant.)

My right eye has always been worse than my left eye so they are using a slightly different implant.

Apparently the whole surgery is expected to take 15 minutes.

Last time I think it took a half hour total in the OR. 

Probably because of the paralysis shot and the goniotomy, which I don't think are standard.

My eyes are a special case.

Apparently because the Femtosecond laser was kind of new technology, and they wanted doctors to start using it, there was no charge to patients as a grace period for a while.

I definitely did not get charged for it in 2019.

Now they are charging for it.

And once again, I am receiving 100% financial aid for the hospital charge, which is separate from anesthesia charges and doctor charges.

I do not know if the hospital charge is separate from the laser fee, which is $800 (!!!) and I had to sign a paper saying I will be charged $800. Insurance does not cover it, ever, for anyone, WHICH IS STUPID because it absolutely is a medical necessity, especially for me.  I would be super stupid not to do it, even if I do have to eat the $800.

Maybe NYU Langone will not charge it as part of the 100% financial aid????

Send good vibes for that, please...!!!!

FUN FACT: There is always a small risk of retinal detachment, which I was really scared about last time. Especially since my left retina already detached once.....

Back when I was 13, when my retina detached, I also had repair surgery on my right retina at the same time.  It is something called a Cryopexy.  Today my surgeon said that the Cryopexy procedure offers more protection to my retina and there is less chance of anything happening. 

YAY something GOOD about past retina surgery!!!

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I slept well last night- even though some awful dumbass set off firecrackers which woke me up TWICE because I heard them through closed window, AC, and earplugs....

...Except I had some TERRIBLE anxiety dreams.

I dreamed my friend C couldn't pick me up after surgery so I had to ask my other friend G last-minute.  There was a weird building-maze.  I was taking a picture of a map to send to G but a guy kept standing in the way  deliberately even though I kept asking him to move.  I accidentally got him in a picture and his girlfriend got jealous so she remote-erased my iPhone and all my iCloud data back to 2013!!!

So in the dream i was supposed to be getting my pre-op numbing drops but was trying to figure out how to get 10 years' worth of lost pictures back!!!

And then I had a dream I had..... A BABY.  I wasn't pregnant and didn't give birth, I sudden;y had this.... baby... that I DID NOT WANT.  I was figuring out how t put it up for adoption.

Being pregnant is literally one of my worst nightmares so..... 

Yeah.

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After my dr appt today I went to Day's job to see what's up and get a drink.

Daya was NOT IMPRESSED I was there. No smile, complete pissy-face.

I have never been to her job before and this is her last week so I don't think she has any right to be pissy.

AND I tipped.

But she did make me a nice matcha latte.

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A True NYC Schlepp

I guess for most of the country, when they have a heavy task such as bringing a bunch of books to The Strand to sell, they just put everything in the car and go.

Not in NYC!

Kedrin cleaned out her bookcases and had many heavy books to get to The Strand.

She lives in Brooklyn.

I told her I'd bring my Costco cart and a hiking backpack to help.

And that's what I did today.

I took three trains an hour and a half to Brooklyn with the Big Cart.

We loaded up the cart, walked three train stops away from Kedrin to have an elevator, and got off at Union Square.

Neither of us realized THERE IS NO ELEVATOR AT UNION SQUARE FROM THE 4/5/6 PLATFORM. Weirdly, there is one to street level.

This city is a dismal embarrassing failure when it comes to accessibility.

So we transferred books into 2 hiking backpacks and did the schlepp up the stairs.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

She took me out to lunch after, which was really nice.

My cart has never been further than across the street!

The Shooshy Lady

I can't paint in this heat.

It's awful and I'm miserable.

So, the only place to be is on the water.

Tonight we paddled over to New Jersey to the statue we call The Shooshy Lady.

She suddenly appeared just after covid.

It was a pretty easy paddle, almost exactly 30 minutes each way.

Kedrin pointed out that we were, in fact, caught between the moon and New York City.

I stopped talking to her for a few minutes after that, it was so terrible.

The Shooshy Lady:

Great Clouds & The Boathouse Dog

Here are some great clouds from tonight....

I got home late, just at the start of a crazy thunderstorm.

Isis was not very impressed with it.

Bitz was biking home in it and got trapped under a bridge at 108th street with her dog, who she wears on the bike in a backpack. 

It is ridiculously adorable.

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Only in NY, Four Things

We are at the start of a bad three day heat wave, the heat index is something awful like 104.

I am miserable.

My AC is on at home and it certainly helps but it can't really keep up with these temperatures.

This is my least favorite time of year.

And today was a wacky heatwave day......starting early!

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Thing 1:

This morning I went into the office.

I took my time in the morning but needed to be in for a 10am meeting.

My wifi wasn't working (I usually log in early to double-check the calendar) and i didn't have time to reset it before leaving, but that's ok.

To save some time I decided to take the E train and go express.

I had to transfer at 53/Lexington.

If you know this station this story will make more horrible sense.

All... and I mean ALL of the escalators were turned off.

Why?

Because it's the MTA.

And keep in mind the subway stations are about 20 degrees hotter than outside.

Time: 9:24

Could I make it down to the office before 10am? 

yeah, probably.

But not if I had to wait in the elevator line, and also I would probably die of heat-amplified stench in the elevator.

So walking up the escalator(S) was actually preferable.

If you know, you know.

I did not take this picture, but this is the escalator, well one of them...the second one was more normal-sized:

Subtracting the 2 flights I climbed to exit at Fulton Street, 

my phone tells me I climbed 

22 flights 

of stairs this morning.

In that miserable heat.

I absolutely wholeheartedly DO NOT RECOMMEND this life experience.

When I got to the office (at 9:48!) I found out my meeting had been cancelled last-minute.

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Thing 2

...And this is truly classic............

I went to the boathouse for the public program after work.

Today I was at the top of the line to the dock, checking life jackets and giving the boundaries etc speech.

It was a hard paddle today- I was out for a few minutes before the program started and it was CRAZY on the water!  There was a lot of wind and strong currents and also waves... so I was letting people know they had to be extra strong to stay in the boundaries.

A man came over to me to ask a question.

Not a kayaking visitor.

He definitely looked homeless.

His shoes were literally in shreds.

He was definitely high on something.

He wanted to go on the dock because he said he dropped something in the river.

I said no, but I would go check for him.

I looked over the rail.

Nothing.

He said go by the ladder, so I did.

There was a tiny green plastic vial floating, and I was, amazingly, able to reach it.

It was a tiny container of weed.

I went back to him, handed it over and said "Did you actually drop your weed in the river?"

He said "Yeah!"

He was EXTREMELY thankful for its return.

Shoes in absolute tatters and all this guy cared about was his tiny amount of weed.

He could have gone up to Canal Street and traded that for a nice new pair of knock-off shoes!

Priorities, I suppose...

Anyhow he was EXTREMELY thankful, I said this is the only time iwould do that.  He said he wanted to give me something for getting his weed back.

I absolutely DO NOT WANT ANYTHING from him, OMG NO, and I said so.

He went on his way.

So, weed successfully retrieved for homeless guy from the Hudson River.

I can't believe we were able to get something like that back!

If that's not luck I don't know what is.

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Thing 3

My Boathouse Brother Hector uses a walker.

Canal Street, astoundingly, has no elevator, and he needs help with the stairs.

We both go the same way home, and if I am at the boathouse I always go with Hector to help him.

The stairs are very dangerous for him.

We had a really good laugh over the homeless pot-dropping guy.

At Canal Street, a guy was standing in the middle of the stairs down just.... looking at his phone.
Hector needs to go sideways holding the rail with both hands, and I need the other rail for support while carrying his walker down.

I told the guy to move.

The situation was obvious.

He would not move.

He actually refused to move. Said 'There's enough room."

I can't comprehend this.

The sheer indecency of it just absolutely incensed me.

I got SO ANGRY.

I'm generally a really nice person and leave annoying situations alone but as I passed him to let go of the rail while carrying the walker, I let him have it.

....I'm not sure if I should repeat what I wished for him, I think I won't but it was pretty bad, it just came out. Hector was shocked, he's never seen me be mean like that.... and it's really rare.  I absolutely cannot comprehend someone not moving for a person getting assistance with a walker.

I'm not sorry.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs he was still standing there, just looking at us.  

I told him he was the loser of the year, which was mild compared to what I told him before.

Hector and I had another good laugh about it on the train.

I absolutely cannot believe people, and the absolute indecency.

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Thing 4

Remember I said my wifi wasn't working this morning?

I reset it.

As I reconnected, I saw one of my neighbors has named their network Connecto Patronum.

This is brilliant and and genius!!

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Lincoln Center Summer Dance Concerts

There are free evening dance performances this week at Lincoln Center.

NYC Ballet, ABT, Harlem Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey, and Ballet Hispanico.

Sharon and I met after work, and the show was pretty awesome.

What an amazing thing to be able to see- for FREE..... Lincoln Center is beautifully decorated this summer..

Lincoln Center looks very magical at night.

Van Gogh Cypresses

I met up today with Kedrin and her friends Susan and Meg to finally go see the Van Gogh Cypress show at the Met.

There was a virtual line.  I got there early and got us in line, so by the time everyone else arrived we were able to go right in.

It was an excellent exhibit, not too overwhelming.  Only one painting was guarded with no photos allowed, but I snuck one in anyhow.