I returned a little while ago from my quarterly visit to the retinal specialist. Both eyes got a clean bill of health once again. However, I haven’t quite recovered from the dilation of my pupils, so I’m taking it easy at the screen for the time being.
For readers who are new to this blog, two years ago I developed choroidal neovascularization (more commonly known as wet macular degeneration) in my left eye. For a while I had to have an injection in that eye every six weeks or so, but the progression of the disease has been halted and the my eye has stabilized. I haven’t had a needle in the eye since last summer, thank the Lord.
A visit to the eye doctor back then was much more grueling than it is now. The routine now is: After I read the chart the technician dilates my pupils, and then I have to look into scanners and endure bright lights for a little while. Then everything is blurry and I have to wear temporary shades driving home. But I get to listen to Bach the whole trip, so it’s not unpleasant.
More encouraging news: the gap between visits to the doctor has been extended to four months, because there is no sign of further trouble in either eye.
Life is good. It’s been a tiring day, though, so posting may be somewhat light this evening.
Way to go Baron!..Happy for you and Dymphna..
Ouch – I hope no IS-tard is reading this, or they might get inspired by the “needle in the eye” action.
Whenever I hear about eyes, I am reminded of this magnificent poem by Rainer Maria Rilke: Der Panther. This is not the best delivery (she is obviously French and speaks with an accent – and I think the poem needs a deep German Male voice, but this video gives the most fitting images:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e58I1Vzj1Vg
Here’s one translation:
The Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly–. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
I see why you thought of it. After his decades as a landscape artist, the Baron’s vision suffers from “the tensed arrested muscles of his eyes” – that line works on several levels.
The reader’s/reciter’s voice is also ‘arresting’. The delivery is enhanced by her accent, imo.
Thank you.
Thank you Dymphna:) This ^^ is one of the better translations, as far as poetry is translatable.
From my department of unsolicited explanations:
You must imagine the Panther in a cage, (in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris) pacing to and fro. In his magnificently subtle German Rilke, speaks from the perspective of the caged Panther and suggests that it is the cage bars that walk by him, relentlessly, thousands of them.
I have been looking for a version I once saw: only the panther, the cage bars and his eyes…but can’t find it any longer. Yes you are right, the reader’s voice is ‘arresting’, and the accent really does add to it. (Sometimes I’m just too teutonic 😉
PS:
How cruel He/She/It is: hitting Beethoven in the ears and and the Baron in the eyes. He/She/It seems to be a little on the sadistic side – hitting everyone’s most important tools….(islamists better watch out for their [redacted]-> pointy manly parts, if you will forgive my vulgarity…IS made me do it.)
Nice to hear about your recovery!:-) God bless!
Glad to hear your eyes are doing better, Baron!
Best wishes for your recovery to be complete.
Hi Baron, Dymphna and everybody else. I’ve been lurking in the shadows couple of months now- it’s my first comment. Because this blog was recommended by a good friend of mine I didn’t have to waste time on research for signs of ‘astroturf’.
I’m impressed with quality of articles and about cooperation with other known bloggers. I recently found ‘Accuracy in Media’ (aim.org)- still checking it for biases, help me on that one if you know whether it’s sound.
*To the point:*
In one of the latest ‘New Scientist’ issues for UK there was an article about Adah Almutairi using polymers in form of nanospheres that harbour the proper drug. You only need injection of that stuff rarely (maybe once a year), then every couple of months doctor shines near-IR light that releases exactly the amount you need. Wait a bit longer and you get nano-assemblers treatment or bionic eye:)
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2015/03/nanoparticles_for_drug_delivery_are_engineered_to_release_at_inflammation.html
Wish you plenty of good health,
Alan Walker
That sounds like what Orson Scott Card speculated about in one of the “Ender’s Game” books. I can’t remember which one it was, maybe the second one. The family was Portuguese-speaking, and the character with the bionic eyes was a kid who was nicknamed “Olho”, the Portuguese word for “eye”, by his siblings.
I’ve been thinking about Olho a lot for the past 2 years…