To my great surprise and delight, I received a letter in the mail informing me of an appointment in a few months time at an Allergy Clinic. I had felt concern that it might take years for this appointment to be scheduled, so this news is a relief. I will have some decision making to do when I know the results of the consultation, and will probably tackle those issues in 2027.
I just wrote a long post about the Allergist Appointment. I will not post it, but will archive that post, so that I can revisit details in the future if I need to do that. I sincerely hope that review won’t be necessary.
The Allergist Appointment is the only progress made so far towards getting cataract surgery, for which I was referred in 2025.
We have had lovely weather this month of September. Today is relatively warm, with a bit of cloud, a bit of sunshine, and a bit of gentle breeze. I am sitting in my easy chair, Attila is in the garden. All the windows are open to breeze, and the neighbourhood sounds of activity. It is oh so pleasant.
Attila diced and froze garden celery, and garden green peppers. He also processed several kohlrabi, diced, blanched and frozen. Now that he is retired he has time to attend to the garden, and to enjoy processing some of the harvest.
I have been baking bread and a few dozen breakfast muffins, doing laundry, attending to bill paying, just all sorts of smaller projects that do not do themselves.
Attila and I have been watching programs on the Apple channel. Tomorrow our subscription expires. We enjoy the Ted Lasso series, and the Silo series. The Silo series is very intense and action packed. It includes scenes of violence, but they are minimal and integral to the story line. I find the Apple channel offerings are super dramatic, and have had my fill of such intense drama, at least for now.
We have just begun to watch Call The Midwife for the second time. The first five episodes are available on Prime Video, which we have. We have seen the episodes of this series before, and I think we will enjoy watching it again, and perhaps going on to watch all fifteen seasons. That could take all winter!
I learned something new about my Mom when we went for a visit last week. Other than to have her babies, she has never stayed in hospital before! Wow, that is quite an achievement at 95 years of age! It is never too late for new experiences!
Worldly
Weather
17°C
Date: 4:00 PM EDT Tuesday 29 September 2026
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.8 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 16.5°C
Dew point: 12.7°C
Humidity: 78%
Wind: SSE 10 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“There is properly no history, only biography.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1882
You shame me for being impatient when I can’t get an appointment to see someone in less than two months. You could give TED talks in Steadfast Determination. I hope you get cleared for your cataract surgery soon. Good for your mom!
Thanks Steve Paul! Kind words of encouragement are appreciated more than you know!
It is interesting, I’ve done some research, and if I have about $10,000 I can get the surgery done within a few months, allergy and all. If I use the OHIP covered surgery with the same organization, the wait time is over a year, the hospital facilities used for the OHIP surgery are the bottleneck. The emperor has no clothes in Ontario.
I was surprised Mom had not needed to be in hospital for anything other than childbirth… when I think about it I never knew her to have been in hospital when I was growing up.
I’ve loved Call the Midwife too. I saw all the episodes via PBS, as they came out. It would be good for a rewatch. Right now, I’m rewatching season four of Strange New Worlds, after watching them each episode as they came out one a week.
I can’t imagine it, 95, and not needed a hospital stay? Not even over night? Amazing!
I hope the allergist’s appointment will reveal much and you’ll get the cataract surgery not very long after.
Joan, we can take a Britbox subscription later on, to get the last ten seasons of Call The Midwife, but will wait until after we watch the first five seasons on Prime, which come with the annual membership fee. I hadn’t heard about Strange new Worlds, and will have to look for it!
My Mom is a force, she always has been. Physically she is not large, but her spirit it towering.
Thank you for the good wishes for the allergist appointment and the cataract surgery. Unfortunately I’ve been warned that I will probably wait another year for a surgery date, unless I pay cash, around $10,000, then the wait time is only a few months. I will be using the long wait time option, LOL.
Maggie, my understanding is that OHIP pays for all the normal surgery fees, whether or not the facility is private. The thing they don’t allow is paying extra for line jumping, so regular fees should be covered even at your $10,000 place. The info says to talk to your ophthalmologist about what is covered by OHIP (at the $10,000 place).
https://www.epso.ca/frequently-asked-questions/cataract-surgery-in-ontario-2/
Maybe also talk to the $10,000 place about how much of their fee is covered by OHIP.
Teri, the clinics I’ve talked to, intake person only available, the OHIP pays for all types of surgery, BUT if you go with OHIP covered surgery the wait time is a year or more at the private clinics, because they do that surgery at the hospitals, where the wait times are long, long, long.
ONLY if you upgrade the lenses, with the upgraded testing, can you access the surgery done at the private clinic itself (where they are willing to consider non-medicinal ingredients in the medications), or “jump the queue” for only a few months wait time. That is where the dollars start to add up very fast.
So the OHIP option leaves me in the same position I am in now, waiting a year to have my surgery cancelled due to my allergy at the last minute, after the hospital gets my records two weeks before the surgery.
The information that the private clinic would consider checking for my allergen and finding alternatives is just a theory, because I’ve only talked to the intake people at the private clinics and they are partially selling product and service. The reliable information as to whether they would actually be willing to check medications and find alternatives if necessary would only come after direct interaction with the medical staff, which probably only comes after some part of the cost has been made, and that I have to research that further.
As you can see, the sticking point is always the unwillingness of the medical profession to review the medications for my allergen, and use alternatives if called for.
I am in a Catch 22, a nasty little loop that repeats itself over and over and over again.
What I NEED is an cataract surgeon with a heart in their chest, who would take the time to review the medications, and consult a pharmacist to use alternatives if needed.
So far the assembly line of cataract surgery is picking me off the conveyor belt and throwing me in the bin.
Two things: 1) the options DH was offered with specialized surgery were advanced measurements $300 and focal lens, $500 per eye. So, see if those are the options you are given. If it is, the $1,300 might be worth the added care at the $10,000 place.
I don’t know where this factors into things but DH suggests that alternatively you could get referred to an allergist and have them consult with the surgeon and pharmacist on every medication being given to you at the surgery.
There has to be some way around this cookie cutter system.
*sending you hugs”
Great minds think alike they day… that is my hope, that the allergist will work with the surgeon and hospital anaesthetist to provide me with safe surgery. It will be 2027 before I know if this is an option. I have the appointment with the allergist scheduled for late 2026.
There will be a way around this, but it takes a heavy toll on my my mental health, because it is a life threatening situation for me.
The other outcome i can think of, the one I LONG FOR, is that the allergist will find a test to administer to determine if the allergy has righted itself. That is possible, but can only be confirmed by testing. I refuse to assume it and risk my life. I do not think the original diagnosis was false, nor did the other allergists I consulted after that think it was false. It is dangerous until proven otherwise. If they can prove it is no longer threat, it would change my life!!! That is what I most want out of this.
Thank you for your kind thoughts and wonderful feedback Teri and DH!
We watched the first episode of Happy Valley because I like the lead actor, whom I first watched on Coronation Street back in the day when she played the pub landlady, or even earlier. I don’t watch CS anymore and really should, it was funny.
Anyway we both agreed we don’t want to watch the next episode of Happy Valley. Scott, because the background music is intended to make the viewer tense, and it does. Me, because I can’t handle the victimization of women by brutal men.
Glad to hear you’ve got an appointment sooner than expected; that’s great.
I should cut up some peppers and celery to help Scott out. Now if only I can work up the energy (and ambition).
-Kate
Kate, we find the BBC crime and detective shows very well done, but have decided not to let that much violence, and less than stellar human behaviour, dominate our recreational hours. I have a theory that the British people enjoy a lot o the crime/detective programs because a lot of the victims and murderers are the rich and/or powerful, killing each other, perhaps satisfying to watch in a traditionally class based social structure.
Ah, sous chef duties! Your body will tell you when to go, and when to stop, it knows.