The Eyes Have It

If you're squeamish about your eyes, you might not want to read this post.

For two or more years, I have known that I have cataracts in both eyes. If you don't know what a cataract is, here's your 30 second lesson.

Light comes into our eyes via our cornea which is the outside covering over the iris -- the blue, brown, gray, or green part of our eye. Behind the iris is a lens that focuses the light onto the retina that creates the image that is transmitted to our brain by the optic nerve.

In normal vision this lens is clear. As we age (don't you hate getting old) this lens can become progressively cloudy which diffuses the light instead of focusing it and we get a blurry image. This clouding of the lens is called a cataract.

Originally, my cataracts were so slight that my eyeglasses were able to compensate. Fortunately, my right eye is still the same and will not need surgery -- at least for now.

This past June when I had my annual vision check I was told that the cataract in my left eye had gotten worse (which I already knew as my vision was definitely worse in that eye) and I would probably need cataract surgery in a year or so.

Since then, the vision in my left eye has gotten progressively worse. If I close my right eye at night when I'm driving, I can't read any signs and everything is blurry. Night vision problems is definitely a symptom of cataracts.

Yesterday, I went back to the eye doctor and he confirmed that the left eye was definitely worse. We agreed it was time to have the surgery as it would progressively get worse.

I will meet with an eye surgeon soon for a pre-surgery check and will probably have the surgery shortly after the first of the year.

Now here comes the icky part.

They will make a small incision in my cornea and slice the covering of the lens and peel it back. The great majority of the lens will be removed and an implant put in -- basically a flexible, interior contact. The lens covering will be put back into place and it will heal without stitches. The incision in the cornea will also heal without stitches.

I'll be limited in my activity for about two weeks with lots of eye drops -- both steroid and antibiotic drops. It will take about six weeks for complete recovery. Assuming no complications, my distance vision will be greatly improved when all is said and done.

I'm told that it is a relatively safe surgery that is done all the time. Let's hope they're correct.

The technology has progressed quite a bit. In the old days, all they could do was remove the lens and then you would have to wear really thick Coke bottle glasses to be able to see at all.

I kind of like the hair style and the bow tie -- they definitely go with the glasses.

Fortunately, I won't have to wear those glasses -- or the bow tie and hair style.

If you have an extra prayer, I will gladly appreciate it as I go through this process over the next couple of months.

I'll keep you advised.

Christmas of Horses Parade

This past Sunday Corrales held its annual Christmas de Caballos (Christmas of Horses) Parade. It's sponsored by our local horse association Corrales Horse And Mule People (CHAMP). I do the CHAMP newsletter and function as the "official" photographer.

Here are some pictures from the parade.

The Marines always lead the parade because it's also a Toys for Tots event and lots of toys were gathered for the Marines.

Then, of course, comes Santa in his carriage.

Of course, we have our rodeo Queens.

We always have lots of wagons, carts and carriages.

This wagon is carrying the University of New Mexico Lobos womens basketball team...


And, lots of riders with their horses. This first group is a local group of women riders called "The Hot Flash Riders."


Finally, a group photo of all the parade participants at the arena.

Kids who came to the arena got a carriage ride with Santa and there was Wagners fresh apple cider and cookies for all. A good day.

Monday Video -- Turkey's Perspective

Thursday is Thanksgiving and it's a day we all give thanks for all of our blessings. However, this song gives a turkey's perspective on Thanksgiving.

Enjoy.



PS: This has nothing to do with this video, but if you want to see some amazing videos of a full-grown bull being transported in a car -- check out this site:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bullcar.asp

Sunday Reflections – No Coercion

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."  At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-20)

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)

When Jesus told Peter and Andrew and later Matthew to follow him, he turned and walked away to whatever he was doing next.  It says that they “followed him” which implies he was already on the move.  He didn’t stand there and watch Peter, Andrew and Matthew to see if they would follow him.  He invited them to follow and then gave them the room and the freedom they needed to make a free-will decision to follow him.  He moved on and they had the choice to follow or not.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

When non-believers hear this kind of statement their first reaction is, “How narrow, how intolerant, how exclusive.” Yet, this is the widest, most tolerant, and inclusive statement ever made.

It’s really an invitation to all to come to the Father through Jesus.  There are no preconditions to be met, no conformations required – just decide to come as you are.

And, most importantly, no coercion.  He makes this most wonderful of invitations to all and he leaves it with us to make our own decision to accept that invitation or not.

“Follow me,” and there he goes.  Do I follow or not?

Saturday Voice – Health Care Redux

Tonight, the Senate takes a vote as to whether the Senate Health Care Reform proposal will be put up for debate. This proposal and the one from the house has several, in fact many, proposals that concern me greatly.

First, where in the Constitution is Congress granted the authority to even consider managing our health care? I know this is not the first time this has happened (e.g., Medicare, Social Security, etc.), but this will be one of the biggest power grabs in our country’s history.

Second, I do not want even a cent of my taxes to go for abortion, yet the Senate proposal will do just that. Again, where do they get the authority to force me to pay for something I find morally objectionable?

Third, if I were a young person (and I’m not), I would be concerned about being mandated to pay for health insurance and, if I don’t, I will be financially penalized and, in some proposals, even subject to legal sanctions.

Fourth, costs and taxes are going to go up. There is no way around this. You can not cover 37 million more people and it not cost more – particularly if a significant part of the system is controlled by the government which is very inefficient. A big part of the cost increase is supposedly covered by almost half a trillion dollars in reduction in Medicare costs through supposed fraud and waste. Do you really think this will happen? Government has never reduced spending or become more efficient in anything. If, by some miracle, the government pulled this Medicare reduction off, it would result in a reduction in health care for seniors which is already happening in other countries with socialized medicine.

Fifth, this will result in a tremendous increase in our country’s debt burden. The estimates you hear from entities such as the Congressional Budget Office are based on the assumptions they are given by the Congress. Congress has NEVER gotten an estimate right. In 1967 the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost $12 billion in 1990. Actual Medicare spending in 1990 was $110 billion – off by nearly a factor of 10.

Sixth, all of this, especially the expanded costs, will result in medical rationing – long waits for tests and treatments, seniors being denied certain tests and treatments because their ‘value’ doesn’t warrant them. This is already happening in countries that have had this kind of government control over health care for years (e.g., Canada, England, etc.)

Finally, and this always gets my dander up, Congress will be exempted from the bill's provisions. What's good enough for us folks is not good enough for them. And, they will exempt their union supporters from a lot of the bill's provisions.

Health Care Reform is all about grabbing a significant portion of control over 1/6 of our economy and grabbing a significant control over our lives. It is a political bill, a payoff bill, not a health reform bill.

In Canada and England where they have had this kind of program they are looking at how they can go back to privatization of health care because it is costing so much money for tremendously reduced services. Why are we trying to move toward a system that has already failed in other countries? Do we really trust politicians and government agencies to make health care decisions for us and our loved ones?

There are solutions to what problems we do have. First, allow competition among health insurance companies across all states (this is not included in any bill). This would help reduce insurance premiums. Second, deal with the legal suits that drive up medical insurance premiums (this is not included). Third, look at health savings accounts that could be supported by government funds for those people who truly cannot afford insurance. Finally, where ever possible, get government out of the health care business.

As Reagan said, “Government is not the solution, it’s the problem.”

Friday Funnies

If any of you have older kids, you might appreciate this Friday Funny cartoon…

A Man of Few – But Incredibly Important -- Words

146 years ago today, November 19, 1863, four months after the conclusion of the battle of Gettysburg, Edward Everett gave a two-hour oration that few, if any, remember.

After he spoke, President Abraham Lincoln stood and spoke for less than two minutes when he said,

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Very important words indeed that can still be applied to our day, to our age, and to our lives.