Welcome To July, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         The seventh month is almost always the most exciting, as it is the peak of the summer.  And this year proves to be more exciting than the rest.

                                           First, there is the 250th Anniversary of the United States.  Hey, I remember the Bicentennial back in 1976.  At that time, I never thought about 250; it was in a vast, faraway time.  And yet here we are.

                                             I have so much reading and writing to do I can barely think straight.  And I have something to share with you all, which may impact my July.

                                               Late last November, I got a letter from my current eye doctor, saying he would be giving up his practice in Manhattan, and operating out of his hometown in Teaneck, NJ.  He offered me that option, but face it, girls, Bay Ridge to Teaneck by public transit would take a whole day!  Instead, though originally scheduled for February of this year, he offered me the option of a visit in December.  I chose that, because it would give me one last visit with him, and that went fine.

                                                   This meant six months later, in June, I would have to find a new eye doctor.  So, I went to my PCP, who always gives great referrals, and he gave me one, connected to NYU Langone, which I am a part of, as a patient.   Well, I went, and all I will say is it reminded me of what my dear reader, Mistress Maddie, said to me about Tory Burch--"Run for the hills!"  Cold, opinionated and giving me mixed messages--do I need cataract surgery? do I not? --till my mind was exploding, and I wanted to get out of there instantly, because I did not feel at all comfortable with this woman.

                                                           Here is the kicker.  Last weekend, we stayed at The Algonquin, which I will get to chronicling, and we saw our friends, Dan and Norma.  I recounted my experience to Norma, and she said she had a similar experience with an eye doctor.  When she got home, she emailed us.  It turned out her doctor was the same as mine.  We are on the same page when it comes to medical treatment, so, if this wasn't a sign to avoid this woman, I don't know what is.

                                                             Needless to say, after Norma's confirmation, I am not going back to this woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                   I see my PCP on July 7, and I will tell him this, and ask for another referral.  Should that not work out, I will go to David's eye doctor, here in Bay Ridge.

                                                                     Did you ever see "The Twilight Zone" episode, "Time Enough At Last?"  Burgess Meredith plays a bank clerk who is an omnivorous reader.  He survives a nuclear explosion by hiding in the bank vault, so he can read.  He emerges into a world where he has every book at his disposal and time to read them.  He begins, but at some point, his glasses fall off, and break.  He cannot read without them, and now he is trapped in a world where he cannot read.

                                                                           This story represents my greatest fear about cataract surgery.  For all that this woman seemed to say I needed it, I can honestly say in the last several years my vision has been as good as back in grade school.  I read without my glasses, and I wear glasses for distance--movies and shows and such.  I have no overt symptoms.  My father did not have it till he was in his eighties.

                                                                   I am afraid the cataract surgery will render me like Burgess Meredith, which would traumatize me if I could never read again.  And don't try to tell me about audio books; much of the stuff I read is not on there, and the experience just is not the same.

                                                                        So yes, girls, July is an exciting but fraught filled month.  Added to that on the 22nd I am having a colonoscopy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                          Anyone out there who has or knows about cataract surgery, please feel free to comment.

                                                                            The eyes are the windows of the soul.  But I do not want the shades lowered on my windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!