Silver Threads Among the Gold

My dad used to sing "Darling, we are growing old, silver threads among the gold," to my mom, which made them both laugh. Since he had just celebrated his 50th birthday before he died, I now realize that neither he nor my mom were old at that time, but there were, indeed, grey hairs on both their heads.

Quite cockily, I've always been a blonde -- sort of. There have been cycles when my previously very white blonde hair no longer seemed so bright, and others when the sun highlighted the strands after a summer of working outside. With the recent haircut, I am no longer blonde, nor can I pretend to be anything other than a greying senior citizen. My hairdresser kindly added some blonde highlights to the brownish grey, so I now share the "silver threads among the gold," but it's more grey than any other color.

So be it. We all have to learn to accept the natural aging process and move on.

Today, I moved on to the appointment with the eye doctor, who assured me after an extensive exam that my prescription does not need to be adjusted, even though I really cannot see well. You know the little strip of copy that runs along the bottom of a TV set? I cannot read it: it's a blur. I have to set my glasses just exactly right on my face to read a book, and signs across a room are blurry. When I put transparencies on the overhead, I have to hold a printed copy in my hand as I wander the room because I cannot read what's on the screen. Using the computer requires me to adjust my head so I can see through the bottom of my bifocals. It's annoying and stressful not to see well, so my hope this morning was that a new pair of glasses would have me seeing clearly again.

Not going to happen as there is no change in my prescription; however, I am now scheduled for a visit to an opthamalic plastic surgeon, who is going to determine how much vision improvement I will enjoy after lifting my eyelids off my eyeballs. Really. The vision in my right eye is "significantly impaired" from the sagging eyelid and can be dangerous. My left eyelid is heading south, too, just not as rapidly, perhaps because I had ambliopia (lazy eye) in my right eye, along with acute astigmatism. When you don't use your eye, it has a tendency toward the muscles becoming lax, which is exacerbated by age. To correct the problem and restore a full range of vision, the eye institute employs an eye doctor who specializes in surgical realignment of the eyelids, an eye lift.

Hopefully, he does both eyes at the same time, rather than fixing one and leaving the other to droop more before fixing it, too. I'd look like a perpetual wink if he only fixes the right eyelid!

The good news is that my insurance will cover the procedure to the extent that any insurance covers any procedure. I find out by the end of March whether it's going to happen or other issues, such as the tyrigium removal centuries ago, the incredible attack of iritis decades ago, and continuous dry eye sydrome, a common desert malady, will prohbit me from a successful surgery.