LIES

        More than a few lies are being told by politicians today. 

        I can think back to the late 1940's to a politician by the name of Tommy Douglas. Tommy Douglas didn't tell lies to further his cause. He just stood up and supported his cause until all his opponents had had enough. His cause was to help people. Tommy Douglas brought in Medi-care to Canada. 

       In Canada, John Diefenbaker was an honorable man who knew how to support his cause. Lester Pearson was instrumental in bringing in Peace Keepers. These were two Prime ministers in the 50' and 60's in Canada. 

      Over the years , I guess, politicians wanted their own things so had to play fast and dirty to get what they wanted. 

     Somewhere along the way telling lies slowly entered the political scene. 

     The smart guys knew how to tell a lie that sounded like the truth and got away with it. Then they started telling lies about each other. Elections brought lies to a much higher level. Others could tell blatant lies and didn't care if people recognized it. Trump fits that category. 

     For the sake of simplicity let's divide things into left and right. I admit that I'm a lefty. Oh boy, I just lost a bunch of followers! So I could spot  lie from the right wing from miles away. Of course, the lefties were the good guys and didn't tell lies, so I thought!

     So politicians of all stripes are using lies to get elected and further their causes. 

    I have recently begun to recognize that both sides tell lies. I should have known this a long time ago.

    What about religious denominations? Are they squeaky clean when it comes to the truth?

    It hit me when the Ukraine war started. Both sides were making good use of propaganda. 

    I lived in a time when politicians were somewhat reliable. I would like to go back to that time again.

BRAGGING RIGHTS

      I acquired some bragging rights this week. 

      I've had cataract surgery on both my eyes. 

      For the second eye it was done without an anesthetic!

      The first thing they do is give you a series of eye drops...four or five, I don't know. They also give you a funny hat that covers all your hair. You also get a gown to go over your clothing. 

      Then they take you to the room where they prepare you for surgery. This consists of more drops. The eye has been numbed before they put in the freezing. They put something on your eye and you're told to look up, down and to both sides. You also get an oxygen tube attached. You get an IV attached and you're ready to go except that you wait for a long time. 

    Yesterday , I was wheeled into the operating room. They got organized with their equipment. Then they told me to look at a blinding light and they were ready to go. I couldn't see anything except for this bright  ugly orange light. For the first eye they used an anesthetic. It was nice. No fuss . NO mess. Yesterday they started work on me. I was waiting to conk out. I soon realized that the conking out wasn't going to happen. So I had my cataract surgery with out anesthetic. 

   You've heard of blinding light. They ask you to look at a bright light and then you can't see anything. They start to work on you. Your head is rolled around. You feel pushing and pulling on the eyeball. Then you hear the laser and you know that they are making a slit in your eye. You can feel them take out the original lens. You can feel them slide in the new lens. A liberal amount of water is used in the process so there must be some mess that they wash away. 

    So I'm proud of my self for having the surgery without anesthetic even if I didn't know it was going to happen. They didn't tell me the surgery would be done without anesthetic. They didn't ask me. They just went ahead and did the surgery without anesthetic. 

     So there you are. All you need to know about cataract surgery. The surgery went very well and my vision is much improved. Now I just have to take three kinds if drops , four times a day for six weeks. 

BLOCKED FROM THE INTERNET

   This week, one evening, I went to my computer intending to read blogs and comment. To my horror there was a message that  said that I was blocked from the internet. I was shocked as I know little about correcting such issues.

    Later on I found out that only my access to publish was blocked. Sometimes I could read posts . All of my other sites were not blocked like face book twitter etc.

    I found  blogger help site but after three days I've not had a reply.  

    Then I started to think if there was a blogger I could contact. Jennifer from from Cottage Country Reflections is a face book friend. She's also very savvy when it comes to computer stuff. So I contacted Jennifer. Her suggestion was to log on from another browser. I did this and there was my blog instantly and I was not blocked. 

    So I've been absent from blogland again . Maybe I needed a break from blogging!

ANYBODY NOTICE I'VE BEEN ABSENT?

      Well, I've ben busy . So busy that I've not been able to read the posts on some days.  

       It's not pleasant getting so far behind that you don't have enough time to read blogs or make comment. 

     We've had some nasty weather so some of the jobs outdoors in the yard cannot get done. It's been hot. Too hot for an old guy to be out in the afternoon. 

      But what has really taken my time is cataract surgery. In my case I have to arrange rides because the Micro Manager doesn't drive. The eye clinic hospital is about 30 km away. 

    Two days before surgery you have a regime of eyedrops which keep you close to home. Then you have to arrange the necessary materials to take along to the hospital. The total time for the procedure is about four hours.

     You have several people come around with charts and ask questions. You get eyedrops about six times. The anesthetist has a little visit with you. 

      Then they actually prepare you for surgery. An IV is hooked up. Oxygen is applied. You wait and finally you are wheeled into the OR. The surgeon says hello. He asked me to look at a light. I looked at ceiling lights instead of the one in his machine. Then it was lights out for me. I woke up and was in recovery and then wheeled to the Micro Manager. My ride was there and we went home. 

     When I got out of the car I was very dizzy and it's a good thing my driver caught me before I did an eye plant. 

     The next morning I visited the surgeon and he pronounced that it was good and took off the eye shield. Vision was disappointing but I found out later it takes some time for everything to adjust. 

     So now I'm on three sets of drops four times a day. There are many restrictions on activities for the first seven days after surgery. 

     I'm amazed at the new vision I have. Things are bright and clear. Needless to say I am pleased. 

     On Aug. 16 I get the right eye done.

    A heads up for any prospective cataract patients. Have a very good look on the web for information on cataract surgery. You will get all kinds of information that the surgeon likely won't tell you. 

ULIMATE KLUTZ

     For part of my evening I may listen to music and play games on the computer. Right now I've found South African folk music. 

     With earphones on to listen to music a noise has to be very loud before I hear it. 

     Last night there was a big rumble. I took off the earphones to check the noise. I called for the micro manager. I got no response. 

     At that time I became somewhat alarmed so I decided to get out of my chair quickly and check the house. What did I do? I rolled onto my big toe with the wheel of my chair. Some how the wheel was stuck so I found myself sitting on my big toe. Good trick if you can do it! Finally, I had the brains to sit up and the chair rolled  off my toe. 

      At about this time there was a lot of noise in the house from someone yelling about their toe. 

     About this time I discovered what the noise was about. It's hot here so we run our furnace fan to cool the house a bit. The Micro Manager was turning the fan off and putting the panel back is noisy if you drop it. 

     So has anybody else run over their own toe? 

PLANES FOR BOB AND ANDY

      Has anyone ever heard of or read the book "Planes for Bob and Andy". This was my very favorite book for me in grades there to five. 

      I went to a rural one room country school. The library was a glassed in book case with three shelves. The glass locked doors was rather uninviting. It contained about 50 books. There was an ancient set of encyclopedias that the teachers wouldn't let us have. 

    However, there was Planes for Bob and Andy. I read the book many times. I liked airplanes and stories about airplanes. I always wanted to fly and this book increased my interest in flying. 

    I looked this book up on line. There are many of them for sale Some asking around $90.00. As far as I can tell the book was first printed in 1941. I think they were all hard cover books. I remember the green color of the cover.

    I can't find if this book won any awards. 

    So for a while I've been down memory lane. 

MORE ON COGNITIVE ISSUES

      I have written on this topic before and some of you may remember that post. It fits in with my last post.

      In 2008 I had a two hour period where I did not make new memories. I came in the house and saw that it was 12:20 PM and didn't know where I had been. I usually make lunch around 11:30. So I had no memory of the last two hours. The micro manager said quick. We have to get to emergency because you're having a TIA. So off we go and I'm driving. Many times the Micro Manager starts a trip and then says I wonder if I turned the stove off.  Apparently, I turned around and took her back home and then went to emergency. 

     I thought I was only minutes in emergency before they scanned me. Apparently I had to wait. They did many tests and couldn't find a problem. They had me stay all day for observation. From about 1:30 on I was again making new memories. I was sent home.

    Three years later I had the same situation. I had the same neurologist. She said , there's no sense in doing the tests over again because they will show that you are fine. But, she said there's one test we haven't done. We haven't done an  EEG with sleep deprivation. So I had to stay awake all night and go at 9:00 Am for and EEG. The EEG showed an area in the brain that indicated seizures. 

    Now many seniors have this condition and it's not diagnosed and they are treated as if they have permanent damage or aging. The situation is easily controlled by medication. For me it's lamotrigine.

    Check this link and you will find lots of information on this topic. I happened to have been very lucky to have and excellent neurologist who diagnosed me.

     So now I'm as good a forgetter as the rest of you.