G'Mornin! Peter:
Like Aram, I had to imitate Ted Grant and become a left-eyed shooter. But,
then I had to learn to switch back.
When my dominant (right) eye went bad, I switched to the left eye. As with
Aram, it took me about a month to become comfortable with it. Of course, I was
using my Olympus and it has auto-focus, which proved to be a great help. But
after a month or so, it became absolutely natural and I was a leftie for a
couple of years. (I suspect retraining for a rangefinder might be a little
more difficult.... or at least awkward.)
Eventually, I had great difficulty seeing out of my right eye, and like you
complained to my sawbones, who sent me not to an ophthalmologist, but to a
plastic surgeon! My problem was a "lazy eyelid", which would no long return to
the fully up position.
Surgery was about 15 minutes, painless and I walked out of day surgery as good
as new.
Retraining the muscles (muscle memory, they call it) took another month, and I
was a right eyed shooter, again.
Now my left eyelid is following my right, so I have another quick visit to day
surgery in my future. But, at least I won't have to re-train for that!
As for the two month wait, here, in Canada, that would be considered good. I am
awaiting surgery (same plastic surgeon) for Dupuytren's disease (look it up,
it's not contagious!) and my wait was 3 weeks to see the surgeon and 3 to 4
months for the surgery... so coming up in October or November.
On the other hand, it's free. No insurance premiums, no deductibles. The last
time Rose had surgery, she was hospitalized for 3 days and the only cost was
gas to go visit her and parking at $6 per day. There is a lot to be said for
socialized medicine!
Good luck!
David.
I gotta rant.
Recently, I noticed that the vision in my right eye was getting "smeary"
and would not come into sharp focus at any distance. It looks like
taking a photo through a very dirty lens or filter. The other eye is
fine. I called my ophthalmologist. The work-from-home receptionist
tried to "handle" me and offload me to an optometrist. I had to insist,
forcefully, that I had had several complications after cataract surgery,
and that I could tell the difference between the need for new glasses
and a medical issue. She finally agreed to give me an appointment--in
two months.
Fortunately, my eye doc had a cancellation a week later. After a full
eye exam, the problem appears to be exactly what I thought it was--the
membrane behind my lens implant was growing back. So I am looking, in
effect, through a veil. I'd had this same known complication in the
other eye some years back, which is how I recognized it. It's not
serious, and it is easily corrected with a brief, painless laser
procedure that punches a hole through the offending membrane.
BUT... my eye doc doesn't do that. So now I have to see his cornea
specialist colleague. Who can see me in... wait for it... two months.
Then if this second doc concurs with the first, then they will schedule
the procedure. Who knows how long I will have to wait for that.
In the meantime:
1. Is two month's wait time normal these days?
2. Why do doctors hire people whose sole purpose seems to be to prevent
you from seeing them? I've had several instances in my life where
something was seriously wrong, but I had to argue forcefully to a
dismissive receptionist or medical assistant to be grudgingly given an
appointment. In one case I was coming down with full-blown pneumonia, in
another, one of my retinas was detaching. In the former case I was told
to man up and go back to work, in the latter, that it didn't sound like
anything serious, and I should call next week to schedule an
appointment. If I had given in to these gatekeepers, I would likely have
ended up hospitalized or blind in one eye.
3. (obligatory on-topic content) While my right (shooting) eye remains
in Pictorialist soft-focus mode, I can't focus my Leica RF, and even
using an autofocus Olympus isn't pleasant. Shooting with my left eye
feels awkward and weird. Have any of you had to switch shooting eyes,
and how did you do it? Is it worth the effort to switch for a couple of
months?
--Peter
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