Tuesday, November 14, 2023

I rather think that once I get a new ophthalmologist I will see if I can go yearly to him

Once I have a new ophthalmologist I will see if I can go yearly to him. If he has room in his patient load to take me on. I can always take a taxi if need be to get there and back. I did really want to just have a family doctor since I am now over 75 years of age and just felt that that is sufficient for my needs for the remainder of my life (plus I am busy and do not want to have a ton of appointments). Especially if the physiotherapist does eventually have a family doctor associated with his practice just up the street. That would be great and the mall has lots of room for that. Time will tell. But having an ophthalmologist once again does keep an eye on my new lens as I will still have astigmatisms and strabismus once I have the new OHIP lens. I generally wear my glasses for two years since they are plastic (I do think they have a limit to their effectiveness) and then have new ones made. When I had glass lenses and was very busy with children (and likely I was the last person on the planet to go to plastic in the very late 1990s) and work I just changed them when they got too scratched which at one point was nearly seven years. When you have worn bifocals since you were 32 years of age and had reading glasses to suit my work also from 32 years on as I was proofreading, you get used to the frame and hate to give it up for a new frame. I do wish they would make the same frames all the time but I guess people are fashion conscious. I am not really into that. My glasses are my lifeline not a fashion symbol. 

Hoping to hear soon that I have a new ophthalmologist who can do a December surgery on my cataracts. The waiting list is not that long apparently and given that I have already waited nearly a year since the referral (appointment nearly six months ago) and four years if you count the time when I should have been referred perhaps they can find one 15 minute slot before Christmas (16th to the 24) that no one wants so close to the season. But then I do not know when the ORs close for cataracts. I never worked in a specialty that closed - Ob/Gyn and Perinatology run 365 days of the year at our excellent teaching hospitals as well as Laboratory Medicine although I guess Women's Health at the Riverside closed as no emergency there but there was always Ob/Gyn at the large teaching hospitals). There is always someone on call but probably there is an Ophthalmologist as well. No ideas on that - the only hospital service I have ever used here is Ob/Gyn at Riverside before it was stripped of its emergency and turned into a day clinic area (not the greatest memory except for my baby although all I remember of her birth was that welcomed cry) and Internal Medicine at the Montfort nearly forgot that and it was an excellent experience and as memory returns I had a D&C at the Civic after a miscarriage about four years after we came here so in 1979 totally a sad experience of course but it hardened my attitude towards being anti abortion at that time because they put me in a recovery room with three people who had had an abortion and they were laughing - when the nurse heard them she came and got me thank goodness, the staff was wonderful. But I do believe a woman has the right to choose but keep me away from them as it is a tragic thing to destroy a life. The occasional trip to emergency for my children and once for my knee to Montfort which was excellent by the way; I was in and out in about 1.5 hours maybe eight or nine years ago. I had had a nasty fall and my knee was taking its time to heal but all was well. It was somewhat deep I guess and just took its time. I have learned to be more careful as I age because I can not count the number of times I have fallen down the stairs when I missed a step (my bifocals leave me with a blurry look down). So I am very very cautious now on the stairs and did stop wearing bifocals with my last glasses. But that means I have to carry a magnifying glass to read anything in the store - I think it must look amusing my peering into a magnifying glass to see things in a store!

No comments: