FRI, 19JUN15: The Daily Poop

A little bit of serious stuff, but not too much:

It's a go. The flight surgeon says I can fly tomorrow to Virginia Beach for the NMA reunion.

I guess I've been too busy hyping up the reunion to mention a certain fly that's been swimming in the ointment for the last week.

In short, I woke up one morning last week with the vision in my right eye clouding over. "Tired eyes," I tried to tell myself." "Just some dust or something," I lied to myself. Eventually, I got honest. I've had retinal problems before and know what it means when your vision is like looking through a Jeep's windshield that's being splattered with mud and the wipers can't keep up.

I wound up in the doctor's office being told my retina was torn and had to be lasered that afternoon. If you want to know what it's like to have lasers shot at your retina; come to the reunion--and don't ask unless you really, really want to know.

More comprehensive surgery will likely be required. That's not what bothered me; I've had retinal surgery before and have been expecting another bout. My main concern, of course, was the reunion; would I be able to fly?

So after Dr. Demento shot searing beams of fire into my eye last week, I asked. "Don't cancel your reservations," the doctor said, the best news I could imagine. "But I'll have to see you again on the day before you fly." Not the best news I could imagine, but, on the other hand, not bad news.

That's why I went back this morning. My vision has not cleared up since the laser attack last week, but that's only to be expected; when you've had blood and retinal scraps floating around inside your eyeball, it take time for the junk to settle down.

"You can start to resume your normal activities," he said.

To me, "normal activities" include eating sunflower seeds, sitting in my recliner drinking coffee and listening to the Chicago Cubs leave men on base. So I asked the vital question: "Does that include getting on airplanes?"

"Yes," he said.

It wasn't until then that I realized how worried I'd been. Sometimes you don't know how heavy the package is until you put it down.

I still have to take it easy somewhat, but the NMA can get along for a few days without me lifting weights and running laps around the hotel.

That's it for serious. Forward, march.