Just checking in

How about text to speech? I am seriously thinking about it too.

I hope things speed up for you, Michael. Good luck.

Why the delay?

Yikes! Why did you wait so long before getting your eyes done? (I don't mean to assign blame; rather, wondering how things got that bad)

Hi, Michael,

Good to hear from you. Any ETA for the surgery?

Hobbses will keep you in our prayers.

Cheers

Phil

I am dealing with the VA. They kept putting it off, until last week when they could not ignore it, any longer. I couldn't read the required line during the eye test, and only two letters, two lines higher. I am waiting for the surgical consult, and for the surgery to be arranged at a VA hospital. My other eye isn't much better. They admitted that it would be a wasye of time and money to make new glasses, without the surgery.

On Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 4:12:06 PM UTC-4, Phil Hobbs wrote:>

Not yet. Awaiting the consult with a VA Eye surgeon.

The cataract surgery is quick and painless, and really fixes things. Before that was invented, most all old people went blind.

You'll be fixed-focus, so you'll need glasses either for reading or for driving. I elected to stay nearsighted (as I've always been) and use glasses for driving.

Ah. "Amusing" difference when what they get paid depends on what they

*do* (e.g., in private practice, they'd likely have recommended the surgery before you actually "needed" it).

Again, no real incentive for them to get it done quickly. Here, you'd receive the surgery in the doctor's private "clinic" -- so he could pocket the "facilities charge" in addition to the surgical fees.

Well, at least they got *that* right! I'm in the process of buying new glasses -- the 40 year old prescription is starting to show signs of age! (every Rx since then has largely been the same so I didn't need to upgrade eyewear)

[Apparently, glasses are now a "fashion statement" so finding what I want is a bit more difficult than I'd initially hoped...]

You'll have to decide (assuming you are given the choice) whether you want your eyes "set" for near or far. They supposedly have an adaptive lens, now (neighbor had it installed) but I think the technology is still too new for that.

Most folks have their vision set for distance (perhaps this is easier to "get right"?) and end up needing "readers" for anything closer than many FEET away. (My other half has readers scattered around the house... any place she might want to be able to *see*! :> )

Good luck!

Glad to hear from you. I was just thinking how we had not heard from you in ages. It's good to know you are still with us.

I had an eye exam today and was told I have cataracts although not in need of surgery as yet.

Hang in there.

I have worn glasses for 60 years. I bought a low vision viewer like this on Ebay for $41.16 a few years ago. Someone had played with every mechanical adjustment, and had them all jammed at one end stop or the other. Once freed up,it worked OK I still need to close my right eye to use it.

It pays to be both mechanically and electrically inclined. :)

Thanks, to everyone. It is too much work to reply to everyone individually, right now.

Hopefully you'll get the cataract surgery soon. It's low risk and high reward.

Take care.

A nonprofit with which I was affiliated had received a donation of a dozen of those (similar model). They sat on a shelf... FOREVER.

One day, I overheard a man&woman digging through our schoolbook supplies (we collected used schoolbooks and would mail complete sets -- including teacher's edition -- to any teacher requesting on school letterhead). *He* was reading the texts aloud (she obviously visually impaired) and *she* was thinking about the content: "OK, I can transcribe that for them" Obviously, she was a teacher with visually impaired students. She was looking for "material" that she could transcribe into braille for her students.

OK, here's a potential *need* for all those low-vision readers piled up in the back hall!

I explained the "opportunity" (let's get rid of those things; I've found a potential good home for them!) to The Powers That Be. My request was denied.

OK, maybe there is some BETTER plan for their disposition that I've not been read into...

A month or two later, they were scrapped. I was livid.

I've repeatedly seen this sort of arbitrarily stupid decision making at other non-profits. Had it been a for-profit organization and that opportunity a *sale*, you can bet they'd have found some dollar amount greater than "scrap value" that would have pleased all parties!

A special needs school in Ohio that I used to do work for (Edison, in Middletown) had a very early setup for low vision. It was a crude Vidicon based security camera with a lens that only covered a few lines of text at a time so it was quite akward for the disabled kids to use. The video was fed to a crude modulator, which lowered the resolution. I had to repair the camera, but they could have easily used a coupler dozen systems. Only the very worst students could use it, while others had to use large magnifying glasses. I think they were charged over $10,000 for that one monstrosity. That school system lived within their budget, and some equipment was over 40 years old when I was maintaining it. Kids didn't destroy things, like today, and they generally bought good equipment to start with. The only mistake that I knew of was when they were sold what were supposed to be 'Institutional' Channel Master TVs. The so called engineer designed a bare bones set, and the series of tube filaments was only 86 volts, with a diode in series. The CRTs quickly went flat. I added a separate filament transformer, and bypassed the original point in the string.

Used systems fetch $1000 around here. I have used a flat bed scanner on Library books, so I can read them on the monitor after scanning the entire book and returning it.

Just saw your post today (been traveling) or I would have written sooner. Here's hoping you get that surgery soon with a vast improvement in your vision! You'll be in my prayers.

Ed

You do indeed. Good luck with the surgery, Michael.

Thank you!

Thank you!