As you all know by now, I visit a retinal specialist periodically and get an injection in my left eye to treat a condition known as wet macular degeneration. A couple of years ago the interval between injections was six weeks; now it’s up to twelve weeks. Which is not bad — that’s effectively once a quarter.

Today was the latest one. I’ve been doing this for more than eleven years now, and I can testify based on my experience with it that you really can get used to anything. It’s all still horrible, of course, but it’s horrible in a familiar way. I know exactly what to expect. I know exactly what it feels like when the needle goes in. I know I will lose sight completely in that eye for about a minute afterwards. I know it will burn horribly for quite awhile, but that will gradually recede. I know that I have a better than 50-50 chance of being forced to watch a dancing bubble for 24 hours after the injection.

Today I was lucky: No dancing bubble! Going grocery shopping and driving home is so much easier when the bubble isn’t jerking and jigging across my field of vision.

However, I did have to get my pupils dilated this time. That always makes the recovery take longer. I have to wear temporary shades on top of my prescription sunglasses, and even then I wince at every bright reflection that appears.

For the first six years of this ordeal I used to come out of the medical building, climb in the car, and sit back with my eyes closed while I talked to Dymphna on our old “candy bar” cell phone. It made the process seem less awful. But I can’t do that anymore, unfortunately. I just walk out into the parking lot, get in the car, and drive to the supermarket.

Even so, it’s not too bad. I really am used to it now.

My eye is doing pretty well at the moment, but I don’t feel like posting much this evening. I’ll just get the news feed together, and leave it at that.