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October 12, 2009

Blue and greens revitalized

By Liz Ciancone The Tribune Star Mon Oct 12, 2009, 10:03 PM EDT

What did they mean I needed cataract surgery?

I could see perfectly all right — with glasses, of course — and wouldn’t cataracts have made everything hazy and unclear? Well, I DID have to blink and refocus to be certain of those little numbers in crossword puzzles, but maybe they are making the print smaller these days. And, if I read for more than an hour or so at a time, I had watery eyes. Still, I didn’t actually have any trouble SEEING! I could even see to drive at night, OK, there were those little halos around oncoming headlights, but I could see the car.

But, when a “minor correction” in my prescription didn’t make the crossword clues any clearer or add to my quality time with a book, or eliminate the halos, I sucked it up and turned myself in for a referral.

The project pretty much shot the summer. Pre-op required a program of eye drops, not to mention considerable apprehension on my part. The thought of someone messing around with my eyes was a downer. I had to believe the doctor knew what he was doing.

My Best Friend watched the video in the waiting room which — he said — explained everything. He urged me to watch too, but after a quick peek, I decided there were some things I was happier not knowing.

D-Day arrived all too soon and I reported as ordered to the surgical center. The nurses couldn’t have been nicer, the doctor reported on time and the whole thing was over in about 20 minutes. It never hurt! I wasn’t asleep and it didn’t hurt!

The nurses handed me a glass of orange juice, another shot of eye drops and a pair of VERY dark glasses and I was sent home. I was not offered a seeing-eye dog. I might have liked that, but it wasn’t in the cards.

The second eye was easier. It was three weeks later and I knew what to expect, friendly helpful nurses and a speedy and competent surgery.

It has been about a month now and I’m still doing post-op eye drops. The halos have disappeared (they WERE pretty, but they are gone).

What I notice most are the lovely colors I hadn’t realized I was missing. Blue looked gray and green a rather dull brownish color. I can tell shades of blue now and green too. I got my new glasses a couple of weeks ago and no longer squint to work crossword puzzles.

I wonder now why I waited so long and fought it so hard!

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Liz Ciancone

• LIZ CIANCONE: Give pets the gift of a better, longer life

  It’s amazing how many of us at the Family Sports Center are involved with pets. But I recently became aware of how involved some of us have become.
   

  February 7, 2012  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Super Bowl festivities mostly for super rich

  I hate being in a minority, but I guess I am. I am considerably less than thrilled over having the Super Bowl altogether too close to my back yard.
   

  January 31, 2012  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Catalog this mail as junk

  On or about Dec. 1, I picked up the mail to find three Christmas cards along with an unusual spate of catalogs. The cards reminded me that mine were still in the bottom drawer of the desk waiting to be addressed. I appreciated that.
   

  January 24, 2012  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Up close and personal with Da Bears' Mike Ditka

  Mark Bennett’s delightful story of how his son acquired Barry Larkin’s autograph reminded me of how Number Two son scored the signature of Mike Ditka.
   

  January 17, 2012  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Small-town kids were naive, but not stupid

  I told my Best Friend the other day that I thought I’d write about growing up stupid. “We weren’t stupid,” said he, “we were just sheltered and naive.” He’s right. We had no idea that there were people and things in the world that would want to hurt us.
   

  January 10, 2012  

• LIZ CIANCONE: She’s all for spacing out those holidays

  That swooshing sound you heard may not have been the wind. It was me! I was breathing a sigh of relief that the holidays are over until the next time.
   

  January 3, 2012  

• MS. TAKES: Some look forward to spring and garage sales

  We are officially into winter and just days after the longest day of the year. We can begin counting the days until spring and can look forward to waking up to a bit of sun.
   

  December 27, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Let gifts to lawmakers help cut the deficit

  In the holiday spirit of giving, I’d like to pass along to Congress a tip I ran across in my reading. If adopted, it would enable the competing parties in Washington, D.C. to enhance federal income without raising taxes or reducing social programs.
   

  December 20, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Pujols’ gift list overflows — for now, at least

  It’s going to be a Merry Christmas for the Albert Pujols family this year!
   

  December 13, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: How much 'twinkle' do we need for holidays?

  I had an especially dear friend who went into a blue funk in Christmas season. She once threatened to spell out “Bah, Humbug!” in twinkle lights on her lawn.
   

  December 6, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Work's not a 'right', it's a necessity

  I understand the Indiana Legislature intends to work to produce a “right to work” bill this coming session.
   

  November 29, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Holidays bring on baking duties

  Somehow, in the vast scheme of things, I have ended up point person for holiday baking.
  I know how it happened. Mom was a great cook. I’d give almost anything if I had found her recipe for raisin sugar cookies or the chocolate-orange cake. She turned out coffee cakes, sweet rolls, bread, butterfly rolls and sweet surprises. We always had dessert.
   

  November 22, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Keeping track of a tattered underworld

  Mom always told me to be sure I never left the house with torn or dirty underwear. She usually added a warning about being hit by a truck or a bus, or some other catastrophe befalling, so that I’d be carted off to the hospital where my tattered underwear would become a matter of public record and private shame.
   

  November 15, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: So far, this is a poor excuse for debate

  I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough “debates” to last the rest of my natural life.
   

  November 8, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Sounds of silence are now hard to find

  Is there anyplace left where there is no noise — other than the comforting noises of nature?
   

  October 25, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Grueling trips, but we were together

  Family vacations were a given. Dad usually had a 10-day vacation every summer and the only question was where we would go for the best fishing.
   

  October 18, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Lure of the stage gets in your veins

  When I cast my memory back far enough, it seems as if I have always been stage struck.
  As a first-grader, I was picked to play a child in the senior class play at Stockton High School. Maybe it was my pigtails? I only knew that I was excused from class early on several afternoons a week so that I could rehearse with the big kids.
   

  October 11, 2011 1 Photo  

• MS. TAKES: They’re gone, but their music is not forgotten

  Dad believed that if it wasn’t composed by John Philip Sousa or Victor Herbert, it simply wasn’t music. Imagine his reaction to Woody Herman or — gasp — Stan Kenton!
   

  October 4, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Uncle Ed’s mule Maud was faithful work mate

  I like horses. Really! I do. I like them best seen from the windows of a car as they graze in a lovely spring pasture. I even like them on television as they do a parade lap before the start of a major race. But I draw the line at a second experience on the back of a horse.
   

  September 27, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Rules would be fine, if they made more sense

  I was pleased to read that the Department of Homeland Security plans to ease up on airport checkpoints. Not for the likes of you and me, but there will be no more “pat downs” of small children. Wee ones won’t even have to take off their shoes.
   

  September 20, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: 2 women’s strength of character unforgettable

  Remember the old “Readers’ Digest” feature: “The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met?”

  September 13, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Memories of 9/11: Hairpin vapor trails

  Those of us who have been around awhile remember a lot of stuff. Not only do critical moments in our lives loom large, we also remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when history was being made.
   

  September 6, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Today’s girls have more opportunity than ever

  I confess. I had a bit of a battle with the green-eyed monster the other morning. The newspaper had pictures of high school girls playing soccer with a team from another school, and with obvious joy and pleasure.
   

  August 30, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Lesson 1: School is not a drag

  Not long ago I ran across an old letter I had written to Dad when I was five years old. He had saved it!
   

  August 23, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Charter schools won’t solve all of education’s problems

  A friend asked me the other day what I thought of Tony Bennett.
   

  August 16, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Coming to grips with typing technology

  I was asked the other day if I still used a typewriter.
   

  August 9, 2011 1 Photo  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Missing the wishing inside the catalogs

  Only 24-hours after returning from vacation, our mail person delivered a two-week accumulation of mail. Our mailbox overflowed!
   

  August 2, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Achoo! Summer cold is something to sneeze at!

  Of all the miseries visited upon mankind, I think that the summer cold wins the door prize!
  My Best Friend and I opened our third box of tissues Sunday, a BIG box, not your handy, pocket-size job. We added tissues to the shopping list assuming that one or the other of us will soon feel like getting out. I know I’m ready to go someplace, ANYplace, as long as it’s out!
   

  July 26, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Haven’t we seen you somewhere before?

  I’ve heard it said that everyone has a doppleganger — a look-alike — and if that’s true, I suppose that somewhere in the world is a person who looks enough like me to be mistaken for me. Maybe it would take a dim light, or a vivid imagination, but for what it’s worth …

  July 20, 2011 1 Photo  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Homemade bacon? Why not just go to the store

  Mom read cookbooks the way other women read romance novels. No matter how similar the plot, recipes seemed to have enough variation to send her sprinting to the kitchen to assess her cupboards and add to her shopping list if necessary.
   

  July 12, 2011 1 Photo  

• More Liz Ciancone Headlines

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