Long story, but I've done almost no fishing for the past 5-6 weeks. It all started with an ear infection. Doctor did the normal treatment procedure (antibiotics), but the infection got worse. Fluids draining out of the ear, pain, loss of hearing, etc.

It somehow spread to my eye. A panicked trip to the eye doctor when my vision started to fail in that eye (left eye) and I was diagnosed with a corneal ulcer. Pain, extreme light sensitivity, and vision went from 20-20 to 20-50 overnight.
He said he thought he could correct the condition with little permanent damage, but it was going to be a long, slow process.
I decided to go fishing the next weekend and it took me about 5-10 minutes to get the leader through the hook eye and tied, and I wasn't too sure the Davey knot was tied correctly.
Decided to give up fishing for a short time.

Yesterday, after 5 weeks of antibiotic & steroid eyedrops 4 times a day I finally got the good news the ulcer is healed! I still have some vision problems (bright lights cause me to see "streaks" of light, and there is some "cloudiness" in a couple of spots), but that is from scarring on the cornea and should lessen in time according to the Doctor.
He told me to continue the drops for another couple of weeks (tapering off on the daily dosage), but I don't need to go back unless I have more problems.
Still no contact lenses until the eyedrops are finished, but I can actually see well enough to tie on a fly with no correction (always could see well up close, but contacts for distance correction meant "readers" were required for up-close vision).

The good news, the vision is back to 20-20, just some cloudiness in spots from the scarring.

The bad news, the ear is still giving me problems (switched doctors two weeks ago), but I don't need perfect hearing to catch fish!

I now have a good pair of prescription sunglasses with all the options (AR coating, Polarized, anti-scratch, etc.), and a good pair of regular glasses for distance vision, so I may just stick with glasses for the rest of the summer. Handy to be able to tie on a fly without having to put on a pair of "readers" to accomplish the task.

Now - back to fishing!!!!!!!!!

Takes me 20 minutes to tie a fly on with bifocals . Longer if I'm in a hurry !

As if I didn't already have enough trouble tying on a fly, about 4 years ago I developed a retinopathy in the right eye which has led to the center of my vision field on the right being severely blurred and distorted. Peripheral vision is still OK. With my glasses on I have 20/20 vision in the left eye, but vision in the right eye varies from 20/70 to 20/100. Some days I can spend up to 5 minutes just trying to poke the tippet through the eye of the hook. It is good I am mostly a warm water fisherman, as I don't know how I would ever tie on a size 20 fly again. I thought it might be easier if I just closed the right eye, but no, my depth perception is even worse then. What a comedown for a guy that used to have 20/13 vision. Getting old just ain't for sissies.

Larry

Brent,
I think I may have had one of those threaders that I got from Orvis several years ago and never used. Probably long lost by now, as I don't recall seeing it in a long time. I'm afraid I would have trouble fitting the point of the threader through the eye of the hook also. I also use furled leaders, so that just adds to the frustration when trying to slip a tippet through the ring on the end of the leader. It's really not a good idea to be standing too close to me at such times as one's eardrums could become scorched.

Larry