Nov. 1, 2014

I just got back from the eye doctor (ophthalmologist) yesterday. I went in at 11am in the morning and my turn only came at about 3pm in the afternoon. He finished the job of taking out the cataract and putting in a new lens by 4pm. I left the hospital at about 4:30 getting a lift back here to our place, Mater Dolorsa, ugh! Home.

     In the meantime, I have been going to the outstation, Savannah Park, each Sunday.

It has been raining a lot and the grass (weeds of all descriptions) has grown. Finally, last Wednesday, Br. Conrad brought me a new weed eater ( some call it a brush cutter). By the time I got it together properly and read the instruction booklet (it is a Stihl—a great machine, made in Austria), I had no time left except to try it out a bit that Wednesday. However, on Thursday, I really got stuck into it and whacked those weeds for and hour and a half before breakfast (5 to 6:30am) and then again, after bkfst another hour and a half (9 to 10:30) and once more, after lunch another half hour (2 to 3:30). I got most of what I wanted to do done. The grass was, in most places, about 18 inches high and it took a lot of effort to chop it down. There is a section near the septic tank that grows like crazy and that was the area I tried to concentrate on. The rest is more or less easy.

    I didn’t want to overdo it the first time so I took in in small chunks. I am grateful that I still have the stamina to do that kind of thing and some look in awe on my ability to do that at my age. Yes, I am grateful to the Lord for pretty reasonable health, in spite of the normal aches and pains that go with ageing.

    Friday was the op day so I didn’t try anything.

    Today I go for an examination by the doctor as to how satisfied he is with his job. I am wearing a patch over my right eye and I don’t know if I will have to do that or not for a while. I have Mass tomorrow at the hospital and they will be laughing if I come with this patch, but we will see.

     He said that there could be pain, and there was something that felt like razor blades moving around in the right eye but I wouldn’t call it pain, exactly, but more like sharp irritation. But I  managed to get a fairly good sleep in any case.

     I am hoping that when I finish this update, I will be able to test my right eye and see how it is going In the meantime, I received this lovely email from a friend who is an ophthalmologist and who worked for some years in Guatemala training young Guatemalans to be Opthalmologists, only to discover that many of them forgot to help the poor but went for the big money in the citieis there. Disappointing. She has given her life to helping the poor to get decent eye care. Here is the email she sent to me. We were both participants on the sabbatical at CTU in Chicago back in 2012. She decided to do more studies in Theology but still continue as an eye doctor. She has been chosen by the Lord for something special which is still to come, I am sure.

Linda Novak	9:03 PM (10 hours ago)
to me

Hi Fr. Cas,I have been trying to contact you - and I thought that you were trying to contact me via "Linked In" however I do not do linked in - I sort of started but really I have been to busy other than to respond to personal emails.

I am at CTU doing a MA in Theology - I started thinking that it would be Bible and Spirituality and now it may be either a MAPS or an Mdiv.  The hard part is fitting this all into a ministry and whether I will continue with the student part from Loyola.  Altho I do intend to keep going there myself and actually I want to just do Ophthalmology there now that the technology will allow health promoters to go out to the villages and get a prescription for glasses and even do a visual field - which is a FREE App that you can put on your iPad.  I will give you the name of the app once I get back to my room.  We are having internet problems at 5401 - and have been for the past month.

We had an all building Halloween part last night - it was a huge success - something about Halloween brings out the fun in folks - that is one reason why I enjoy it.  We played telephone, Biblical charades and we had a ballon contest where everyone stood in a circle with a paper plate and had to keep a series of about 20 balloons getting passed onto the next person - drop the balloon and you are out.

The hit costume - and there were many - however the real hit was a thin priest who came dressed as a nun - very funny!!

With respect to your eye - I will say a prayer for the surgery - most likely the pressure will drop just by removing the lens - I don't know if he is also planning on doing a filter or putting in a tube.  If you do need a tube or something.  We can try and arrange something - - I have a dear friend - who just spent a few days with me at CTU - last week - who is the top Glaucoma person in New Orleans.  and we can see what can be done there - or else I will look for someone in Chicago for you.  

As a rule , cataract surgery in the face of glaucoma - does well.  Most important for you is to not lift anything heavy and not to rub your eye especially with an unwashed hand or unclean tissue.  The most common cause of post op infection - which is rare - is from microorganisms on the skin of the face and lashes - so stay out of the dust and dirt.

Also a shield for bedtime and sunglasses or eye protection during the day.

I would expect a positive result - so much so that you may desire to have the other eye done for cataract surgery in the near future.

Anyway lots to say - really I should call or figure out how to Skype you.

I believe Fran is coming to Chicago Nov 5-8 or so - I am really looking forward to seeing her.

Much love, many blessings and prayers for you and your community,

Linda - your next door neighbor

I just came back from the doctor and pharmacy. Have to clean my eye once every day and put it 3 different drops, do of them 4 times a day and one once a day in the right eye. The left eye still gets the drop that stops the pressure from buikding up (what caused the glaucoma in the first place). Dr. says I can that the patch off tomorrow but should make sure that I clean my eye with the sterilized water and the cotton pads every morning. The pad is to make my eye comfortable. But don’t get gunk into that eye. Hmmm!

     He said that I can continue to use the weed eater but I don’t want to take a chance of getting dust in that eye. Also, the instructions say that I should not lift heavy things. The weed-eating machine is heavy but not so heavy. But if I don’t do something, the grass will get uncontrollable.. So, a dilemma. I will probably have to wait at least till Wednesday to start again.

    Le me call it quits for now. I just had some eye drops put in (I need three hands—one to hold up the eye patch, one to pull down the eye at the botton, and one to put in the drops. We haven’t yet learned how to grow and extra appendage as have some of Gods’ Creatuers.