It's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry about that.

Well, good afternoon to all my wonderful readers! I know, I dropped off the map for quite some time.

To catch up, my health has deteriorated a little. I'd been having some mild chest pains off and on for a long time. Not drop-me-to-the-floor pain, just kinda sharp discomfort that would go away after a few minutes.

Well, finally, after waiting for months, I was able to see a cardiologist for a chemical stress test. It was determined that there was some damage to the heart from reduced blood flow, called "ischemia". So,  I'm having a catheterization test done next Tuesday. We'll know more after that. I may have a stent implanted, but that is uncertain until after my cardiologist completes the cath procedure.

Around the first of the year, my eye doctor found a severe cataract in my right eye. I was sent to an eye surgeon that specializes in laser repair of cataracts. However, once he got me on the table, he found that due to various things, laser repair would not work.

So, I was referred to a different surgeon, one that does the surgery the "old-fashioned" way, with scalpels and such. However, they were booked up so far in advance that my appointment was set in late March. Which of course means that by that time the pandemic had caused all "non-essential" or "elective" procedures to be postponed indefinitely. I finally got called in a few weeks ago for the consultation, but the doctor is so backed up that he couldn't even give me a date for the surgery. A few months at least. They'll call me. In the meanwhile, I've gone virtually blind in my right eye. My depth perception is gone. My glasses are so old that even the vision in my left eye isn't as good as it was, and my ophthalmologist won't prescribe new ones until the cataract gets fixed.

Corona virus / Covid-19 

So far, so good. Being a severe introvert, and maybe mildly enochlophobic - that's what they call a fear of crowded places - the quarantine hasn't been that big of a deal. The Debster, extrovert that she is, is champing at the bit to be out and about. So far, to my knowledge, we haven't had any close relatives or friends get infected, although a couple of the Debster's acquaintances have, including one that wound up on a ventilator for a time, but all have survived. There have been about a dozen deaths in the Debster's home town/county, but no one is saying who they were. Most of them were residents on one particular nursing home. It's possible some of them were Deb's acquaintances or distant relatives, but she hasn't heard anything.

Well, that's enough for the moment. I plan on telling you about a few books I've read and a few other things.

I also hope to be able to insert a few humorous things, as well as links to some of the better blog posts I'm reading, like this one:

The Clouds of Heaven

Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow Idaho is one of my favorite bloggers. In this particular piece, he tries to define and shed some (post-millennial) light on the subject of "the clouds of heaven" that surround the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as he comes in glory.

Go in peace, my friends!

Ron, AKA Just An Old Fart Doing His Thing