This Week With Jane and Charley: Making Room for a Laptop, and an Eye Question

(Here’s what’s happening in our world this week, including the continuing adventures of Charley, the little black cat that Tim sent me the day after he passed. Read all about her shenanigans here. -jb)

Last week, I mentioned that I would try and work on my laptop by the fire. Because it’s such a long, long journey over to my desktop computer in my cold office on the other side of the house.

As you can see by the photo above, we’re still working out the logistics of this idea. Charley is not keen on giving up too much of her space, but I know we can make it happen in a way that works for both of us. We’ll keep you posted.

Below is a photo of her whenever I walk in the front door. Can you spot the cat?

By the way, when I was in L.A. in December, my son Will decided to declutter and organize the house. Part of that involved taking all of the framed photos in the storage room and actually putting them up on the wall. I love this so much. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for, well, 35 years since Tim and I built the house.

The one on the bottom was a gift from Jim and Marcy Richards from when Will worked at the Old Mission General Store right out of high school. A customer took a photo of Will outside the store and gave it to Jim and Marcy who gave it to us. Tim and I were so delighted.

This photo cracks me up because sometimes she just has no neck. Her shapeshifting abilities are really something. She’s alternately big, small, round, long, and so on and so forth.

As for me, my big news of the week was a visit to the eye doctor. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed some distortion in my left eye, so she scanned my eyes and announced that I have a “macular pucker,” which she said is somewhat common in people over 50. The long fancy name is ERM-Vitreomacular traction.

I didn’t like hearing that — in fact, I’m majorly freaked out! — but she said it’s very treatable, often with surgery. And it’s something the retinal specialists do here in town, so I don’t have to travel downstate. I’m super glad to hear that, after 20 years of trips to U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor for all of Tim’s health issues.

She assured me that I didn’t do anything to cause it, that sometimes it just happens, and that I’m not going blind. All good.

Apparently, as we get older, a thin tissue develops over the macula, and it’s supposed to pull away but sometimes it gets stuck, resulting in a pucker that distorts your vision. So I now have an appointment with a retinal specialist at Associated Retinal Consultants across from the Blue Goat. They couldn’t get me in til March 9, which I guess is good because no one seems to think it’s urgent.

However, *I* think it’s urgent because I’m having trouble seeing, mainly when I’m working on the computer. Did I mention I’m freaked out? They don’t have a “cancellation list,” but said I could call every morning and see if anyone canceled. I will be doing that.

Does anyone have any experience with ERM-Vitreomacular traction? What can you tell me that will ease my worries? Have you had the surgery, and what was that like? Feel free to leave a comment below or email me, [email protected].

By the way, I love my eye doctor — Dr. Grace Farrell at Grand Traverse Ophthalmology — who doubles as my pseudo therapist whenever I panic over my eye issues.

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