Negligent..Sorry

Ooops. I'm sorry. I have been negligent in posting on my blog. Really, no excuses. I just don't know how many people read or care abut my musings. There aren't too many people my age (80's) that are bloggers or who use social media a great deal. But, none-the-less, I will recharge my batteries and again be a regular contributor to Zest and Zeal for Life.

My age has caused me some more grief in recent months. On April 8, 2014, I went to the Moran Eye Center for what I thought would be a standard procedure for a cataract operation. The good doctor explained that I would have the left eye done on the 8th and in two weeks, on the 22nd the right eye would receive the procedure.

My wife, Joyce, had the procedure accomplished earlier as did my son-in-law Mark Van Wagoner. Both encouraged me to schedule the procedure since their results were excellent and they saw the positive results within 24 hours.

I was not as fortunate. The next day, April 9, I had no vision. I could hardly see anything. The doctor decided that we would wait a day or two to see if the results improved. Tests indicated that the surgery went well. The cataract was removed. Nothing seemed our of the ordinary. However, my vision was very bad.

I was referred to another doctor at Moran who specialized in problem cases. He and his staff did exhaustive tests and several procedure but to no avail. One month after the surgery, I could not read. I could not see the stairs in my home. I could not drive. I could not see the numbers on my bathroom scale. I could not read the controls on  my stove. I was extremely sight deprived.

The initial doctor, who has an exceptional reputation and much experience was just baffled. He looked at his computer screen and just shook  his head. "I have done thousands of these procedures and never have I seen this result." he told me and Joyce.

The two eye physicians decided they wanted me to see Dr. Creel at the Moran Eye center for additional tests. Dr. Creel is not an MD but is a PHd and an eye specialists with certain testing equipment and procedures. I spent one entire day with the good doctor, He kept repeating after each test, "NG" "NG." I said what does NG mean. "Not Good," he told me.

He mentioned that Vitamin A was very important for good eye sight. He suggested a blood draw and lab work for a check on my Vitamin A level. The MD'S concurred and a lab appointment was scheduled. The results were astounding, I was told that I not only was VERY low on Vitamin A, I had NONE in my system. I was prescribed 10,000 IU's a day plus a double capsule of multi-vitamins that were formulated for eye health and strong doses of Vitamin A in their formulation.

It worked! Indeed, the lack of Vitamin A was the culprit. I am still on the heavy regimen of A and am scheduled to see the MD's on August 7. I know my eye sight has improved. I'm anxious to see how much they have improved and if we could talk about scheduling the surgery on the right eye. The initial doctor said he would not operate until the left eye reached 20/20.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. A little prayer would also be helpful.

GREAT ARTICLE

I was honored this week with a very lengthy and flattering article in the Deseret News newspaper. It was like reading your obituary and hearing your eulogy prior to your death.

Doug Robinson, feature columnist for the paper, called and requested an interview regarding my past civic involvement and an update on my life after retirement. He interviewed me for maybe an hour and then followed up with several telephone calls. I had no idea what the final column would look like because the interview was wide and covered several topics.

 I was surprised and pleased when the article was published on Monday, March 24. It was a very lengthy article that featured a large photo of me in my home office. It was on a split page above the fold and the copy carried over inside the section for three pages with two more photos, (It must have been a slow news day.)

One of the sub-heads featured the line, "Dynamo Fred Ball says he's lousy at retirement." At the age of 81 years old, I miss work. I really do. Doug wrote about my past involvement win  several projects: bringing the Utah Jazz NBA franchise to Salt Lake City, establishment of the Delta Airlines Hub to Salt Lake International Airport and the winning of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Utah.

He mentioned my meeting in the Oval Office with President Ronald Reagan regarding the request from the government to organize a chamber of commerce in the nation of Belize and my efforts to stimulate a very weak economy in the new country, That assignment put in contact with Vice president George W. Bush, Casper Weinburger and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Well, there was much more in the article. I was pleased. I probably received over 100 Emails from people commenting on the article and as many telephone calls and text messages. It's nice to know that you are not completely "Yesterday's News" after you leave the public arena.