Barbara J. Hamby

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Tidbits

Today I picked up my new glasses—the interim pair to be worn until my second cataract is removed. I put them on and exclaimed, “Wow.” The young man at the dispensing office responded, “I bet it is Wow from your side of the glass.” There was such a difference between the old pair (before cataract surgery) and the new, that I feared driving home wearing the new ones. By the time I walked to my car I felt more comfortable and drove home from Beaverton with no difficulty, after brushing a curb on my turn out of the clinic driveway.

Six or seven hours and a short nap later, I’m still trying to adjust to the new lenses and coax my eyes to work together efficiently. Depth perception is definitely better, giving an improved three-dimensional quality to video on a flat screen. Flowers have acquired an additional degree of color, more vivid than immediately after the surgery.

Our weather is moody and changeable. Forecasters predict possible snow by the weekend. Meanwhile temperatures are dropping and arthritic joints are taking note.

Yesterday I joined the local aquatic exercise club. I intend to try alternating their exercise program with the ones I’ve been doing that I learned from an arthritis exercise instructor at the Sherwood Y pool. I read that trading off types of exercise can be more effective than simply repeating the same moves. I can join their morning class (five days a week) or the evening class (three days) or just alternate as I choose. I took the day off from the pool due to foot pain today. I’ll try to get to the morning class tomorrow. Not easy, for a lifetime non-morning person.

Meanwhile, I hope to get a better night’s sleep tonight than last night. I got up to read when I couldn’t sleep and, unfortunately, instead of getting sleepier, the most exciting part of my murder mystery had me wide-awake from 2:00 to 5:00 a.m. It’s winding down now, so shouldn’t keep me awake tonight.