St. Nicholas Day of Ember

I would really have liked to stay home all day, preferably a portion of it in bed! Instead I had to be dropped off at the eye doctor rather early. Why dropped off? Because they planned to dilate my eyes, and thus I wouldn't be able to drive myself home. Wow, they have so many elaborate machines these days, for taking all kinds of measurements and pictures of your eyes! They did various things of this nature for two hours. The doctor is a perky, enthusiastic young fellow who talks very fast. He says I don't have signs of glaucoma, although due to family history, and the fact that my internal pressure is in the upper range of normal, I should get it checked regularly. I DO have a cataract in my right eye that needs to be removed now. The one on the left is not as advanced, but he advises removing it shortly after the other one, because it will be easier to coordinate my vision if I get them both done. So, they'll implant synthetic replacement lenses. The problem is, deciding which kind to get and how to calibrate them. Some people seem very, very concerned with not having to wear glasses. Since I've worn them all my life, that isn't really concern for me. I think it is a silly thing to obsess over. I just want the best possible quality of vision. It's baffling, because I don't have much data to base my decision on. If anyone has experience with replacement lenses, I'd be interested to hear about it. The biggest decision is whether to get monofocal or multifocal lenses.

The Sparrowhawk came and picked me up, and I spent the next few hours getting sort of an approximate version of the world through my unnaturally dilated pupils. It still does look kind of that way. I tried to get back into normal life by doing a few things like bathroom cleaning and laundry. I made us a rather nice dinner, inspired by the need to cook some things that had been waiting in the refrigerator for our return. We had ham baked with onions, carrots, and baby potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with herbs and parmesan, green beans, and a buttercrunch lettuce salad with sliced pear, walnuts, and goat cheese. If you saw this on restaurant menu, you might want to order it! The Sparrowhawk practiced his piano. Just when I was missing all the texts we'd been getting from family, Tron sent us all wishes for a restful, refreshing week, and then the Nipper sent a picture of his dog, who was very happy to have them back, and the Diva sent an adorable picture of herself back at work, reading aloud to pre-schoolers.