Focus on spring

Following my blip yesterday when you could easily have thought we were back in autumn with the colours of the winter larch and bracken caught in the sunlight, I thought I had better refocus on the signs of spring. I took several shots but liked this one best with its hint of orange stamen lurking demurely behind the striped purple petals.

I had an opticians appointment in Perth this morning and the outcome was as I predicted. When I was 19 it was discovered that I had bilateral detached retinas. Four operations later, two of which were at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, my retinas were flat and I was fortunate enough only to have lost some sight at the very top of my field of vision. It meant little more than that I occasionally bumped into low branches, couldn't box or dive or, most importantly, give birth without an epidural and forceps as I wasn't allowed to push!

Many, many years on I developed cataracts earlier than normal, apparently in part due to the trauma of the previous operations, and had them successfully removed from both eyes a couple of years ago. Then last year the vision in my right eye became very poor and I had to have laser treatment to remove thick scar tissue which had developed behind the new lens, which apparently happens to a percentage of cataract patients. At the time the optician told me that the left eye was going the same way and that I would know when it was needing treatment. So, at today's appointment it was confirmed that it is indeed time and I now await a letter from the hospital. It is a relatively quick and painless procedure but I am so grateful for all the advances in ophthalmology that have made these procedures so available and straightforward. Hopefully once it is done I should be better able to see when my blips are in focus!