A day late…but winning all the same!

My initial plan in concluding Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s Suspense at Work giveaway yesterday was to inform the lucky winners early in the a.m…and then write up that information later in the day.  The first part of this went swimmingly; the winners of our contest were OTR historian Craig W. (a big fan of “radio’s outstanding theatre of thrills”) and longtime TDOY reader/supporter Roger S.  A copy of the Radio Spirits Suspense at Work collection (valued at $39.98) will be sent to both of these good people, and I only wish I had been able to do the same for everyone who entered (it’s an excellent set; one which I had a lot of fun writing).

The delay in making the announcement centered around the fact that I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for that same day.  Back in May, I started to develop some blurriness with my vision…and because it had been some time since I had my eyes checked, I made arrangements with a local America’s Best for an appointment.  I thought perhaps I just needed a new prescription, but instead I was informed by the optometrist that my hinky vision problems might be a sign of diabetes…and he suggested I make an appointment with my “family physician” tor a physical checkup and some bloodwork.  I do not have a “family physician”; so my Mom made an appointment with her and my Dad’s doctor…and yesterday was the earliest I could see him.

I’m still waiting on the results from the bloodwork, but the vision problem was kind of concerning for my doc…so he was able to pull some strings and get me in to see in a retina specialist that same day.  (This, by the way, is the reason why our healthcare system will never have to go door-to-door begging for change—physicians make money sending patients to other physicians.)  The specialist was most reassuring in that I did not have any detached retinas (if you have that, you’re pretty much boned as far as vision is concerned) but he suspects my problem may be Fuchs’ dystrophy—“the disease usually affects both eyes and causes a gradual decline in vision due to corneal edema (swelling) and clouding.”  (Yes, I’ve been reading Stacia’s Big Scary Medical Book again.)  I have an appointment to see another optometrist in two weeks (this guy will also do a cataract evaluation, since I am apparently developing some of those as well).

By the time I got home yesterday, it was close to 4pm…and because I had to have my pupils dilated so the doc could get a better look at the problem I was pretty much a member of the “can’t see for sh*t” fraternity for the rest of the day.  My eyes are a lot better this morning (I’m able to type on the tablet provided I take my glasses off first), and I was able to whip this up for the blog.  So profuse apologies to all of you who were waiting on tenterhooks to find out who won in the giveaway.