Four More Days



Friday is the awaited cataract surgery on the right eye. This rapidly developing late unset cataract has been a daily surprise for me. And I have been looking for ways to explain it to myself and others. Today for instance my computer screen was painful to look at. It was just too white. And too bright. I toyed with putting sunglasses on over my reading glasses.

The illustration above taken from Google Images really came closest to explaining what I have been going through just since January. With most people cataracts grow slow enough that they are almost unaware of them until they are removed and the colors are richer. To me the world seems too bright and everyday too much brighter. Night driving is out. Sunrises and sunsets can be painful. A flash of light blinding. And I understand for some people light even becomes painful.

I have become very picky about light. As an artist I suppose I have always been sensitive to light but that is rather different. My studio has tons of lights on different switches and almost all on dimmers. And lately I find myself working only with a low diffused light. One that does not blast my retina. And I squint a lot to keep light out.

There is also a rapidly growing cataract in my left eye. One which my eye doctor tells me I will really be aware of after Friday's removal of the one in my right eye. So I will probably want to do this again really fast. I want that deer in the headlights feeling to go away.

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