Reflections on going blind

In a recent visit to my ophthalmologist for an annual checkup, he confirmed that I am going blind. Throughout our lives, we are constantly confronted with "what if" situations. What if I die? What if I don't get a job? What ifs in endless profusion. One of those I have often contemplated is what if I go blind. What would I do? How would I keep writing? What about driving a car? Watching a movie? Endless consequences from what-if situations.

The reality of the diagnosis is cataracts. What if I had cataracts and I was living back in the mid-1800s? Without surgery, I would and will now, most assuredly go blind at some point assuming I lived long enough for that to happen. Because of the internet, when I was first told that I had cataracts in both eyes, I could quickly find out almost everything about the subject. Over the past year or so, I could also document the symptoms. Only recently, before the current examination, did I make a decision about traveling at night based partially on the fact that my vision was impaired.

Fortunately, the rest of my vision is just fine and more importantly, the success rate for cataract surgery is now in the 90% to 95% range. Our ancestors did not have such positive results. See "The Evolution of Cataract Surgery" in the journal Missouri Medicine, The Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association. Here is the citation.

Davis, Geetha. “The Evolution of Cataract Surgery.” Missouri Medicine 113, no. 1 (2016): 58–62.

Facing cataract surgery is only one of several physical conditions I am facing as a result of moving into "old age." If you want to know what most of the world thinks about old age, here is a quote from Wikipedia: Old age.

The United Nations has agreed that 65+ years may be usually denoted as old age and this is the first attempt at an international definition of old age. However, for its study of old age in Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) set 55 as the beginning of old age.

So actually, I have been progressing into old age for quite a while although I must say that I did not consider myself to be old when I was 55. At that age, I was still climbing high mountains (over 12,000 feet) and that continued until I was 70. So when did old age begin for me? It hasn't yet really but the accumulation of physical challenges is starting to take effect. Here is another quote about old age from the AARP.

A new study by U.S. Trust has found that perceptions of the onset of old age vary widely among different generations. Millennials, for example, say that you are old once you turn 59. Gen Xers, on the other hand, hold a slightly more generous view, saying that old age begins at 65. When it comes to boomers and the silent generation, both agree that you’re not really old until you hit age 73.

I happen to live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of older people. Many of my friends here are in their 90s. It is clear that people age at different rates. Some of those in their 90s are still out shoveling snow and frequently hiking up the nearby canyon. Some are bedridden and feeble in their 80s. From time to time someone in the neighborhood dies and the age range of the dead is considerable. By the way, I am right on the border between being a "boomer" and being a member of the silent generation although I have never considered myself as silent.

The doctor left the decision about when to have cataract surgery entirely up to me. He said whenever I wanted it but let me know that I was definitely in that category.

So what do you do or think when you are faced with such a decision? In my case, life goes on. It is just another thing to think about and considering my age and the number of times I have been involved in life-threatening situations, another one is not much of a challenge. No tears. No depression. I am too busy thinking about other things right now and I have too much to do to even slow down long enough for it to be a problem. But I do have to live, for the time being, with the reality that driving at night is not such a good idea.