I haven't really noticed anything the last couple of months in terms of my eyes becoming more depth perceptive but cleaning the bathroom this morning I noticed the tiles were standing out (not litterally) and I simply had never noticed how angular the pattern is; clearly defined and so many different colours of gray. It made me start to think about blind people and that AI could be the path for them to actually see. Obviously it isn't the eye itself that does this in depth seeing but rather the brain is keyed to recognize structure but my brain had never been trained beyond the basic that I saw. Now in my 80s I am seeing so much better than I saw before the cataract surgery. No idea actually I have not had anyone other than an optometrist look at my eyes since they were operated on. My Ophthalmologist here is long ago retired (I was referred to him by my new doctor in South Ottawa (I do prefer referrals when you are local like that as they generally pass some information and save you having to repeat everything) and he went into surgery when I was in my early 50s so have not really seen an ophthalmologist (other than the very short visits to prepare for Cataract Surgery and the actual surgery) since then always optometrists as I did not make the effort to replace him as I was working at the hospital on the other side of the city and it was just too time consuming to organize all of that and an optometrist was just a quick thing. My glasses basically never changed I could still look through those infant glasses and see and read quite well (must have a look at them one of these days (I didn't do that!). Amazingly now I only wear glasses at the computer as that is where I do all of my reading and eye work. I could sew and knit and smock and embroider and all those things I was trained to do as a child but I do not and likely I would not need glasses to do much of that other than fine sewing. I think I could even smock a child's frock without glasses as it is just the really small type that I can not read readily - my eyes get tired if I try to do too much of it.
I might say that my daughter suggesting I had congenital cataracts is interesting really. I was born right at the end of the Second World War and my eyes were checked when I was only a couple of months old by one of my Dad's Scouts actually who had gone on to become an Ophthalmologist. There was a reason why he checked them and it was just because he came to see me after I was born forgot about that and I think it was that the one eye was turned and not focusing - a vague memory of that reference (so he looked at them because that was his medical focus - curiosity!). But he said that surgery would not help me; no ideas on that maybe he just didn't want to operate on this tiny baby because it was his good friend's newborn (or maybe they didn't operate then on that I have no idea). It did though always make me think one shouldn't be too closely related (either friend or relative) to one's physician. He said I would need glasses and he would try to fit me when I was a year old and he did (still have those tiny little glasses). I was named after my father's mother and I have to say my paternal grandfather did rather dote on me although he loved all of his grand children. So the idea, my daughter suggested and she is probably right, was that they just didn't want to operate on me. It was right at the end of the war and hospitals were really busy so maybe that was part of it as well. I continued going to him and he always said that an operation wouldn't help me even into my twenties as he was my ophthalmologist until we moved here (long ago retired and passed away). The same goes for my family doctor I had the same family doctor into my mid twenties when he went to set up a clinic right in the hospital and we opted to find a new doctor nearer to our house and of course then we came here and found a new doctor in the south end of the city before moving here in the east end but that is a long story for sure. The Ophthalmologist that I found when we moved here did talk about surgery but I just had in my mind that I should never do anything to my eyes and I absolutely trusted the doctor I had as a child and this was a stranger. Now if it had been my child and it was well explained then that would be different; I would not make such a choice for my child if a good recommendation was made that was supported by the medical profession. I do tend to trust the system. My eyes never bothered me and I especially liked it that I never got bugs in my eyes so wearing or not wearing glasses was never something I thought about. I was happy to wear them.
But if you read about congenital cataracts you have the impression that my vision would be very impaired now but after cataract surgery I have the greatest vision. It is amazing. So I wonder why actually. Probably I was just lucky. I never ever had anything done to my eyes and the ophthalmologist told me to never put anything in or around my eyes so I never did (probably it doesn't really make a difference no ideas on that). I just put my glasses on in the morning and took them off at night with them seldom leaving my face between those times other than bath time of course. Anyway I continue to be amazed as I really thought the last big leap was it.
I did notice today that the dust was very visible and lumpy looking because I never really saw dust on the floors before surgery as I clean every week and always have. But that was one of the first things I really noticed after surgery was there actually was dust on the floor when I was vacuuming.
Just the bathroom to finish scrubbing and then back to working on my matches. I might think about doing an hour outside on the weeds.
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