Tragic consequence

During our visit to Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph Glacier in NZ we encountered these signs and warnings about the instability of the terminal end of the glaciers and flooding caused by melting and recent rains. One could only enter such areas with a licensed glacier guide. Although we observed numerous tourists passing through the barrier without guides our NZ guide would not enter because he was not licensed for glacier guiding.

Tragically a few days later two Australian brothers in their 20's visiting NZ with their parents bypassed the barriers and were killed in a glacier collapse at the terminal end of Fox Glacier. One was recovered 6 miles downstream from the glacier.

In an absurd bit of bureaucratic buffoonery their rental car company manager billed the men's parents $990 for the set of rental car keys lost with one of the brothers. Hopefully he did not recover any dignity when he later retracted the billing.

Keeping a sharp eye!

It has been 10 days since we returned from New Zealand and I am trying to think of a segue for posting a follow up blog. How about a short description of my cataract surgery this Tuesday! Last year I had a vitrectomy to address a macular hole in my right eye which leads to a cataract within a year, hence my surgery this week.


Technology in medical interventions is progressing so rapidly I am convinced one should postpone surgeries as long as possible since tomorrow's procedure will undoubtedly be less invasive, less painful and quicker in recovery than today's. Miniaturization, robotics, visualization techniques and the digital age have all contributed to interventions which are virtually pain free with recovery measured in hours rather than days or weeks.

My cataract surgery and lens implant took 15 minutes! OK, 90 minutes counting prep time and waiting for the surgeon to arrive. In that short time I was given an IV sedative, moved to the surgical theatre, had a micro incision in my eye, the natural lens emulsified and removed and the new folded acrylic lens inserted and unfolded. I walked out the door with a protective shield over the eye 90 minutes later. There was no more discomfort later than a mild poke in the eye. The shield was removed the next day and my vision was immediately restored to near 20/20 with improvements continuing for the next several days. How amazing.

Now that I have improved vision I will have to go back to see the New Zealand I missed the first time. How's that for a segue? I should have taken pictures.