Evanston: relapse
Evanston: relapse
The sun was rising from Lake Michigan as I rode downtown this morning with Carol along Lake Shore Shore Drive to my medical appointment at a hospital near her office. A giant red ball deceasing in size as it climbed and turned yellow.
We passed two of the City of Chicago’s many marinas. Long solemn rows of empty slips. I find empty marinas sad.
On October 15 of last year, the day GANNET was launched in San Diego, I pronounced myself cured of captiaterraphobia, my self-named fear of being trapped by land. I spoke too soon. Having forged an alliance with my right eye, captiaterraphobia has rallied. I am trapped again.
Today’s visit was with the third specialist in the past twelve days. Doctors have divided the eye into many tiny empires. All three specialists agree that the eye requires surgery, which will be the fifth in two years. All agree that I am permanently blind in that eye. But they don’t agree on what that surgery should be. I am now scheduled to see a fourth specialist next week.
I do keep this in perspective. I know that several of you have had far more serious problems and suffered serious losses recently. My eye is a minor inconvenience. But it is not something I can ignore or resolve myself. I have no idea or control over how long the land will hold me. Certainly more than days. At least weeks. Perhaps months.
I didn’t plan to be in Evanston now and don’t really know what to do with myself while waiting for the next specialist. Perhaps I’ll buy a case of Laphroaig.
Not unrelated, Steve Earley visited GANNET yesterday and posted some photos on his LOG OF SPARTINA. See the entry, “portrait of an absent sailor.”
Steve is a professional photographer as well as a friend. It shows. That he is a friend does, too.
He’s right: we should have gone sailing yesterday.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013