Retina Detachment Surgery Update

Quick update since I can’t see to read still. Surgery yesterday, lay on my right side all day and all night. Get patch removed today, lay on left side all day and then all night tonight. I will be here at week and more. 

Wills Eye Institute

Wills Eye Institute 

Spent the night at Sheraton Suites at the Philadelphia Airport. I had an 8am appointment so of course I arrived at 7am. This place is very busy and I must say it runs like a well oiled machine.  It’s now 9am and I’ve seen 3 nurses and the doctor. After some poking and pictures I am having surgery tomorrow. I was given the choice of in office procedure or surgery. The difference is can’t fly for 2 weeks or 2 months. I’m having surgery so I can get back to my travels as soon as possible. Call me crazy. 

After the surgery I have to have my head cocked in a 45 degree angle for the next 7 days. . Now that sounds like fun. Guess I’m going to be listening to a lot of movies and tv this week. I haven’t watched tv in the past few weeks and haven’t missed it at all. Even last night getting to the hotel I didn’t turn on the tv. And this morning I turned it on while getting dressed and turned it right off because it was crap news. 

As I write this, it is very crazy since I can’t really see what I’m writing because my bad eye is my reading eye and they put drops in my left eye. So I don’t see typos and can’t reread it at all. 

To get the surgery I had to see a primary doctor to see if I can survive a surgery. They sent me across the street to a cardiologist and all checked out good. Low blood pressure and low heart rate like normal. I can’t praise the professionalism and kindness of Wills Eye and everyone involved so far enough. 

Since I’m not having the surgery today it’s time to eat. I want a street vendor. Couldn’t find a hotdog stand , it is kind of crazy because of COVID there are very few places open and few stands. I settled on a gyro. Settled nothing, it was great for $4. Looking for the train home I went to Reading Station and got some snacks, dark chocolate cranberries and crystal ginger, Mmmm.

Guess I will go home and prepare for tomorrow. Maybe I will go for a bike ride. Heck I think I will go for a motorcycle ride. 

Challenged

As I sit here in Nashville between flights on Monday afternoon I wonder how this challenge will affect the rest of my trip or for that matter my life. 

My goal was to not get near an airport for the better part of two years and here I am flying back to Philadelphia to go to Wills Eye Hospital tomorrow morning. I can’t see out of my right eye. 

Pretty shocking to read right, heck it’s pretty shocking to write. I guess it all started probably 4-5 days ago. I noticed that I had little black specks floating in my vision. Kind of like tiny pepper specks. It was just there no big deal, not a lot, not even that noticeable. On Saturday during our hike where I was swatting flies that were trying to eat me I had a shadow I couldn’t figure out.  I was very preoccupied with getting away from the flies that it wasn’t until after my bike ride that I took the time to finally realize that the shadow that I thought was my nose was actually a half crescent in the lower part of my eye about 5-7% of my right eye. No pain, no discomfort.

On Sunday, yesterday, it was pretty much the same when I woke up. I went for that glorious hike in Pictured Rock National Forest in the rain and somewhere during that hike it started to get worse. But with the views, the rain and where I was. There was nothing I could do except keep going. I was so happy I was using my hiking poles because I was losing my depth of vision and the poles kept me from falling numerous times. I even had the thought that if this was the last thing I see it wouldn’t be that bad. It was that beautiful of a hike. By the end of the day I was down about 70% of my vision. Concerning huh.

On my drive to catch up to Jill at our new campsite in Ragaga Michigan I stopped to get groceries and do laundry. This being the first time all day I was able to get cell service I got online to do some research and to try again to call Dr. Galiani. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to have my semi-annual check up on August 4th and his office called me on Friday to reschedule.  I tried calling my drive in the morning but couldn’t get thru. While doing my research I self diagnosed retina tear and now probably retina detachment. I was going somewhere on Monday, I just didn’t know where.

I was finally able to get in touch with Dr. Galiani while doing laundry. I explained what was going on and I told him where I was. In the absolute middle of nowhere.   The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is 6 hours from any major city. We talked about my options, he said it was not an absolute emergency but if does need to be taken care of this week. He suggested Wills Eye in Philadelphia and I told him I would make my way there in the morning and that I worked for an airline so it would be relatively easy. He give me his cell number and said to give him a call when I knew when I could get there and he would have everything set up. Sounds good to me.

At this point I’m down to about 90% vision loss in my right eye. So... after a 6 how drive to Milwaukee this morning and now sitting in Nashville for 3 hours I’m on my way to Philadelphia to stay in a hotel tonight and go to Wills Eye at 8am tomorrow morning. 

To be continued.........  Stay tuned !

It’s funny some of the thoughts I’m having while waiting for my flight...

Okay which one of my Facebook “friends “ got jealous of all my recent picture post and put a pin in the eye of their voodoo doll. 

After all those years of riding tandems with visually impaired athletes you would think I would have built up some good karma.

Surprisingly I really don’t have any anxiety. It is what it is. I do have trust in the doctors abilities. 

I’ve seen more people in the past 3 hours while sitting in this airport then I’ve seen in the past 3 weeks while on the road. Now that’s anxiety!

Chapel Rock and Mosquito Falls Trail

Last night we had some strong rains roll though and expected rains on and off for most of the day. Sounds like a great day for a hike. Jill was not interested in being wet all day and with the prospect of black flies or mosquitoes so she forwarded to our next camp and ran errands. I really wanted to hike Chapel Rock Trail that we bypassed yesterday because of crowds. I’m sure there will be less people out on a crappy day. 

Definitely the most stunning spectacular hiking experience I’ve ever done. I’ve certainly got my hiking legs back also. A 10+ mile day on all kinds of terrain and I felt great. First off  after a mile or so was Chapel Falls very nice, another mile Or so was Chapel Rick simply breathtaking. Then 4+ miles along the coast and cliffs of nothing but overlooks and incredible views. A thunderstorm rolled in and just improved my day. I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having. The hiking poles were a must for keeping me upright and helping me keep a good pace. Soaked head to toe and wanting more. Looking over the edge I could see the kayaks exploring from below. Definitely next time I will kayak and maybe if I could in the winter. 

Okay here are lots of pictures 

Exploring Pictured Rock

Exploring Pictured Rock

After a near disastrous evening of trouble shooting the toilet in my van, I’m looking forward to spending the day at Pictured Rock National Part.

Last night right before bed the toilet in my van almost overflowed. It appears that the fresh fill over filled and almost made a huge mess. I had to dump my holding tank in the host sewage pipe. I was very fortunate that he was still awake to show me where to dump. Note to self keep an eye on levels and dump more often. 

Okay now that is out of the way let’s get back to the fun part of the trip. Today we tried to get on a last minute kayak or glass bottom boat tour of Pictured Rock. Everything was sold out of course since it was such a beautiful Saturday. Instead we drove to the Lighthouse trailhead I went for a 3 mile round trip hike. Yes it was a beautiful day but holy cow the black flies!

Black flies made a meal out of me. I spent half the hike using my iPad as a fly shatter. By the end the iPad and my legs were covered in blood. Definitely long pants for tomorrow, I hope to hike the Chapel Rock Trail. 

When we got back to our wonderful lakeside home for the night I went for a 30+ mile bike ride. More gravel roads so I put the big tires on the Open with a little light on tire pressure but that made for a fun supple ride. 

Lower Falls to Upper Falls Hike

Lower Falls to Upper Falls Hike July 24 2020

It is hard to describe how good I sleep in my van. It is sounder, deeper and more relaxed than anywhere I’ve ever slept. My dreams are full on movies, as vivid as life, in Techno-Color. I do have to work on remembering them after I wake but I know I’ve had them. I guess it also helps that we are in 70-80 degree days and probably 50’s at night. And I’ve been getting a good amount of exercise during the day with bike rides and hiking most days.

Today was a day for a full on breakfast at camp before we break down for our morning Lower Falls to Upper Falls hike. Eggs, peppers, avocado, jalapeños and salsa did the trick. And of course a handful of blueberries just because.

While sitting here relaxing after breakfast I’m watching and listening to the birds. There is so much activity going on and so much chatter. Sadly I don’t know my birds but they all seem to be happy. For as fast these birds are going back and forth between the trees, I did see a hummingbird going three times as fast. Very awesome. 

We finished off our stay at Tahquamenon Falls by hiking from the Lower to the Upper Falls. We dropped off our bikes at the Upper and drove back down. It’s a little over a four mile hike not very steep, not very hard but beautiful. The trails were not too crowded until we got close to the Upper. By the time we got to the parking lot it was jammed. I guess not so surprised with such a nice Friday.

We decided to have a good meal at the brewpub before riding back down. After a 20 minute wait for a table I had a bison burger and wild rice soup. The ride down was slow and steady that’s all we could manage. Back at camp we took showers and got ready for our next drive. 

Just a few quick words about our new Boondockers Welcome site in Germfask. Wow, wow, WOW! Let the pictures do the talking.