Oh these Pirate Eyes are smilin':)

Sure tis' like a morn in spring!
You can hear Merlyn laughin'
You can hear Merlyn sing!

Aye, I be blind.

But like people that have one sense impaired...the others step up to the plate.

My sense of hearing and my sense of smell are amazing. I can hear a car door outside (before Monty barks :) and I can pick up the damndest scents. As I've told the guys, (like an Indian with his head to the ground measuring the passage of the wagon train) I say..."Aye...the cat pissed RIGHT HERE...2 maybe 3 hours ago"
Or in smelling them when they came home..."hmmm...what was her name? I smell perfume..."
To which they'd quickly cover with..."oh yah, I ran into so and so and she gave me a hug at the Big M"....

But surely I digress :)

Aye, that's right mateys....I do have some GOODLY news!

Well, I wanted to make sure ye was the first to know....

After all....ye have been so grand about listening to me belly ache and bemoan my blind bat fate....
and also to those of ye who have set aside money from yer tithing jar and givin' it so freely t' the cause instead of t' the Church and all.....I do thank thee!

and ME, why, I've been savin' up all me Pirate gig money and I've given up drinkin as much and settin' aside whiskey money so as t' add to the Hawk Eye Merlyn Fund (I've recently renamed it from the "Blind Bat Merlyn" Fund as I decided that I wanted to focus on seeing rather than NOT seeing :)

After the last time I wrote ye, and told ye the bad news about my doctor only offerin' his wondrous surgery at the local hospital...and the hospital, they be wantin' an 'arm and a leg to pay for an eye....

and then I did burst into tears and all and try to stab something....and what with Harry being so close by, it were dangerous to live with me.

So I put a message in a bottle, and I did ask anyone I knew who they could recommend for a new situation.
I did have an answer to a Pirate's Prayer.

I got word from another pirate, Val, who showed up at my Storybook Club SANS glasses...she were my commiseratin' friend! She too, had cataracts! But NO MORE!!

I did call her doctor and make a visit with him this day....

and I were afraid to go in there, I was....
afraid that my eyes had gotten worse...
afraid that he would tell me I didn't have enough wherewithal to afford him and his crew....

But walk in there I did.

The news?

Aye, my eyes they be BAD.
On a scale of 1-10 (of 10 being the worst...)...
mine be an 11.

("aye, this one goes to 11, doesn't it? 11 is more than 10.." Nigel Tufnell- Spinal Tap )

So, after I told him my true tale of woe....he bein' a humanitarian type o' doctor that visits Ecuador and Peru and doth give eye care to disadvantaged children ....
he took me in hand, and said, "I don't like how the "system" treats folks without insurance. They actually penalize people who are trying to do the best they can. Did you know that they actually give the insurance company BREAKS on prices while they raise rates for self pays? I don't agree with it. I will help you."

And then he did something miraculous.

He dropped his fee by $600 for me!

And he gave me "samples' of the two different kinds of eye drops I would need for the pre and post operative care. (these drops are $100 a bottle)

I chatted with them, they were informative, helpful and kind.
I had a thorough eye exam which also included a somewhat uncomfortable (READ: "bordering on tortuous") procedure where they "measure" your eyes with an "A-Scan" machine using biometrics. This is where they hold a contact in your eye which is connected to a tool which is motivated with pressure activated by sonogram waves....while shining a bright light in your wide open dialated eyes, for a loooooong 10-20 seconds. All the while you try to hold OPEN BOTH your eyes (so they will get a good reading and not have to do the fecking thing one more time!)

I was hoping waterboarding wasn't next...

but then they said I could go!.

I am scared about the surgery. It has a 95% success rate. Which is great! But they have to mention (as a disclaimer) that there is a 1 in a 100 chance of blindness due to macular detatchment (which is elevated if you are very near sighted...as I am...) but I said a prayer to the Gods going into this...and I remain their humble pawn in it as well.

And so, March 24th I will have my worst eye (my Pirate Eye) operated on.
Then about 2 weeks later, on April 14th, I will have my right eye done (the lesser Gimpy Eye).
This will be all be done by our Spring Fling Celtic Ceilidh on April 16th.

Where I will be CELEBRATIN'....

(or Weepin')

or just Weepy with drippy eyes that will be seeing shortly.

I am grateful to you all for your support....

and to the Gods for this.

Because if it weren't for the lack of sight....

I probably wouldn't appreciate seeing as much.

Signing off as Blind Bat Merlyn

(Fer Now.... :)