How's your day?

[MargieH 6,616]

Pleased you cataract surgery went well Loppy.   I had one eye ‘done’ 20 years ago and it was brilliant - my eyesight was really good afterwards.....

Unfortunately, I now have macular degeneration in both eyes so my eyesight is deteriorating once again.

But looking on the positive side, I suppose it would be even worse had I not had the cataract removed all those years ago.   

[jonab 1,636]

I had my cataracts done about five years ago. One of the best things ever!! I had, very unwisely, neglected my vision for a while such that I was classifiable as being blind. Anyway, I had two rounds of surgery, both completely painless such that after the first, I was actually looking forward to the second.

 

Sometimes  (and it happened to me) after a few years it can happen that your sight deteriorates due to "posterior capsular opacification". This is very easy to treat with a few blasts from a laser so, it it happens to you, don't worry about it.

 

My sight now is as good, if not better, than it's ever been.

[PeverilPeril 2,765]

I could write a book on my poor eyesight and how it affected my life. 15 ops at the last count and waiting for another. When checked at the W'ton Eye Infirmary last week I was able to read the next to bottom line on the chart and half guessed the bottom line with my right eye. Amazing when considering that the eye was -24 myopic as a young man and had two detached retinas repaired and cataract removed! Retina in left eye is badly damaged. Can't see the chart! Next op will try to get some daylight into it to help my balance and awareness of surroundings. 

If I had been born a few years earlier I would not have survived a normal life. I would have been blind and deaf! As it is I am enjoying myself and and can do more than most people of my age....life is good.

[PeverilPeril 2,765]

Forgot to add. Two of my many eye ops were done privately at Moorfields, who are among the World leaders in eye surgery. Both ops were failures! Only one of the many NHS ops failed - that was in Nottingham 1965.

[jonab 1,636]

Blimey!! PP. I really don't know what to say.

 

It seems a bit trivial to say that before my ops, I could only read the bottom line of the Snellen chart through a pin-hole test lens.

[Jill Sparrow 8,466]

My mum developed secondary cataracts on both eyes after cataract surgery. Laser treatment was administered at QMC but it actually caused damage to one eye. I went with her and recall staff running around and looking very worried about something! Mum experienced a lot of pain on that occasion and the sight in that eye was never much use afterwards. It was a shame because the initial cataract surgery improved her vision immensely.  She did develop macular degeneration, which didn't help.

[Jill Sparrow 8,466]

You know what a terribly inquisitive person I am, PP. I find myself wondering whether, perhaps, something like your mum contracting rubella whilst pregnant caused your sight and hearing problems. As teens at school, we were all vaccinated for rubella after being warned of the dire consequences of catching it when pregnant.  Of course, your mum wouldn't have had the benefit of such a vaccination.

 

I know a chap who has a deformed hand which is thought to be the result of his mum very briefly taking Thalidomide for morning sickness early in her pregnancy. She took, at the most, two of them. Had she continued, the damage would have been far worse.

[MargieH 6,616]

I taught 6 hearing impaired teenagers in the 1980s whose mothers had contracted rubella during their pregnancy.

[Jill Sparrow 8,466]

I'm not certain, but I think the rubella vaccination was fairly new when we received it around 1972 ish. Being, from birth, needle phobic, I created a stink about having the jab. At Manning, we were given explanatory letters and parental consent forms for the vaccine.  I argued the toss with my mum. I was never going to have children. I knew that from a very early age, so I didn't need the vaccine!  Waste of breath. She signed the form and I was forced to have the jab.

 

When it came to the TB jab, a year or so later, I was immovable and didn't have the test!

[PeverilPeril 2,765]

Mum having rubella? Never thought of that. It was always assumed that a bad bout of measles caused the problems. All other members of the family have good eyesight and hearing.

[Jill Sparrow 8,466]

That is quite feasible, PP. Measles was very serious and brought all manner of complications with it.

 

I caught measles over the terrible winter of 62/3.  My bed was brought downstairs and placed in a darkened room to protect my eyes.  I was pretty ill. Delirious, hallucinating, very sick.  Its legacy was a tendency to bronchitis every winter. I milked that one, I confess. Always good for a trip to Forest Dene and 2 weeks off school!

 

A friend at Manning lived at a butcher's shop in Bulwell. As a child, one of the marble slabs fell on her foot and broke several bones. She was admitted to the Children's Hospital, on a large ward where she caught measles.  No precautions were taken to put her in a darkened room. She was left on the bright, sunlit ward and her sight suffered as a result.

 

 

[LizzieM 8,668]

31 minutes ago, PeverilPeril said:

Mum having rubella? Never thought of that. It was always assumed that a bad bout of measles caused the problems. All other members of the family have good eyesight and hearing.

But you’re special PP.

[MargieH 6,616]

Very special, PP x

[Gem 1,397]

On 11/22/2020 at 5:28 PM, benjamin1945 said:

 Another cracker that Ann,,

The Great Jackie Milburn,,

Ben and Maude,,like it,,

Gonna be hard choosing

 

How about Cushie and Butter after a tyneside fish seller Cushie Butterfield.. 

The song goes...she's a big lass and a bonnie lass and she likes her beer!!! 

[Jill Sparrow 8,466]

You've met big Maude have you, Gem? 

[nonnaB 4,143]

For the last 4 days, or is it 5 and for the next few days , my daughter and I are making gingerbread  houses. So far we've made 18 largish ones, 8 small ones and 13 tiny cup ones. My house smells of ginger bread and is so christmassey. Haven't got much time for anything else. 5 are finished apart from the last touches of shimmer. We've been panicking in case the decorations we ordered didn't arrive in time but the last ones arrived yesterday. So when they are finally finished they will be given to their future owners. 

[Beekay 2,796]

How about a picture Nonna? X

[DJ360 5,458]

Yesterday (Tuesday_) was a bit busy..

 

Our neighbourhood WhatsApp group has decided that we will have a 'Mass Christmas Lights Switch On'' tomorrow at 5:30.  That is much earlier than I usually put the lights on. I usually go for about 5 or 6 days prior to Christmas.  But.. the only two young kids in the street are doing the count down.. so I can't let them down.  They are a bit out of time really.. most of us moved in at the same time and had kids who played together but are now grown up.  Those two are basically alone.  No friends of the same age in the street.

I feel for them.

So.. I put lights up and..... since I also put lights inside the windows.. had to clean windows inside and out too. 

We don't presently have a window cleaner.. I sacked the last one.  Windows were worse after he'd been..

 

I'm levelling paving slabs on the 'patio' tomorrow.

 

Life is just so rich and fulfilling....

[Oztalgian 2,275]

18 hours ago, nonnaB said:

my daughter and I are making gingerbread  houses.

A snack food company in Adelaide claimed it was the states largest builder as it made hundreds of gingerbread houses at Christmas.

Here is an Aussie Bush Shack complete with kangaroo, koala and cockatoo (photo from SBS)

 

[nonnaB 4,143]

Lovely Oz .Very characteristic it doesn't have to be elaborate to be effective . It tells you what it is.Unfortunately here we have only cows, foxes, hares, cats and dogs and vineyards. A bit difficult to incorporate.  I was going to post some of ours but I have to wait until they appear on my laptop (Mac) take photos with my phone (galaxy) and its a bit complicated to transfer them to laptop unless I send them to myself and they go into images.There must be an easier way but I cant find one. Just going through them again. This morning I put the roofs on 2 and put together another 2 ready for decorating. II turned round and must have touched one of them and it collapsed. Soon got it together again though.

[nonnaB 4,143]

This is just one pic of GB houses

[nonnaB 4,143]

We were in the middle of decorating and we had a power cut.

 

 

[nonnaB 4,143]

And now the baby ones

 

[Beekay 2,796]

Well done Brenda ! Very impressive and I like your ingenuity with the power cut.

A Diabetics dream. 

[nonnaB 4,143]

Our village at night