Maybe...

I was just SUPPOSED to lose my watch when I went through the Las Vegas airport earlier this year. It was a Mother's Day gift, not terribly expensive, but it worked. It had a second hand, was dressy enough, and I could read it in the dark. The present part made the loss upsetting to me.

A month or so later, I bought a similar replacement. It looks pretty close to the other one, but I realized that the date window was really little compared to my old reliable. Some of my friends joked that since I'm getting old, I probably just need glasses.

Being the good nurse that I am, I knew I needed to make an ophthalmology appointment, but I do not have eye problems. Dahey does. Dahey has worn glasses forever and  has always had the distinction in our house of having the most expensive glasses. I talked to my traveling partner and she recommended a doc from her old hospital, Dr. K.

Dahey saw him, had a good appointment and passed all the tests. That was in April. I said I'd have to do the same.

Of course, time got away from me and finally I decided to call their office and schedule an appointment on Veterans' Day, since I happened to have the day off. I thought, this won't last too long. Dr. K is very nice and is a veteran himself.

But it did. Dr. K.'s tech did a lot of tests, but a couple of them, Dr. K. redid himself. So we had another long discussion. I hope my eyes did not bulge out of my head, because what I really wanted to do was shriek.

The words, "you have a condition that will cause glaucoma", weren't really what I was really planning on hearing.  Dahey, my veteran, and I were planning a nice lunch somewhere, since he was off work, too.

After the almost three hour appointment, I left. However, I count myself lucky. I never served on a frozen battlefield in Korea, like the man I talked to today while waiting for some labs. I felt like I was there when he talked about prisoners in "cotton uniforms and tennis shoes." I understood when he said, "I still won't eat rice." because of the memories it brought back. He is in his 80s and still working, even if he needs a rolling walker to get there.

I may have been bombarded myself yesterday, but I want to let all the veterans out there know I thank you every day for your service. This year it's even more special, because one old Navy doc made sure I'll have a chance to see more in the future. I am so very lucky because it is treatable (which starts today) and I have no vision loss.

Losing that watch was probably the best thing that happened to me this year.

More to come...