Myopia Regression - years later

 I did not in fact ever figure out how to remove my prescription contacts without hurting my eye.  I several times severely irritated my cornea and constantly fought dry eye.  It took awhile, but I did eventually get reasonable reading glasses and adjust to wearing them at the end of the day.  (At first I had terrible vertigo switching between contacts and my old eyeglasses.)  I had the best quality vision of my life wearing underpowered contacts with low powered "tuners" over them, but no doctor is going to support that, and I got scared about using contacts that were not properly fitted. (Unlike glasses that just bend light, contacts can thin your cornea, scratch your cornea, or increase infection rate if not properly fitted.)

The usual reduced lens method with contacts is to wear contacts for either near or far vision and wear glasses over to get to the other focal length.  I wasn't wearing contacts for vanity, but for the superior image quality you get from having more of the refraction on the surface of your eye, and there were significant cost savings if I went down 3D into the normal range lenses, so I had both reading and distance lenses to wear over.

After I gave up on contacts, I started wearing my reading glasses more and more.  I test ok at the Snellen chart in them, so I'm even legal to drive in them.  I don't have 20/20 vision, but I can see a squirrel on the road, I can definitely see a child or a car.  Eventually my full prescription lenses got a scratch in an annoying spot and I stopped using them.  

My vertigo is improved, my headaches are gone, my myopia has stopped progressing, my anxiety about worsening vision or breaking my glasses is improved.  When I do need new glasses I can just order them.  Have I seen regression? No.  Is it still totally worth it? Yes.

I did a lot of research while not improving. (Some would say all that reading is why I didn't improve).  I really didn't find anyone making credible large reduction to their axial length (the physical length of the eye is the primary cause of myopia), nor even refractive changes after growth was completed.  I did find very solid evidence that using glasses with a reduced focal length improved the function of the ciliary muscle and increased the thickness of the choroidal tissue in the eye.  Secondary effects were not studied, but the biomechanics suggest that this could improve eye health and reduce long term risk factors that high myopes face.  It's no guarantee, and not likely to be proven in my lifetime, but since it helps me in the short term it's good to know it might also be positive in the long term.

The intersection of COVID and Conservative Christianity - What are you afraid of anyway?

The thing I'm afraid of, is that the conservative church's reaction to COVID says more about their politics and their fears than about their faith and their love for others.  I'm afraid that all those headlines about super spreader events at churches and anti-vax preachers are hurting the witness of the church.  You say you're not afraid of COVID, but you are afraid of the government and their shot?  Don't you know the persecuted church grows faster than the coddled one?  Is God not greater than the government he allows to exist?  Was Pharaoh able to stop God from liberating his people when he saw fit?  Can God not speak through a mask?  So what if the shot was straight up poison? God can protect you from snakes and viruses, but not needles?

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."  

Mark 16:17-18

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13 ESV

I'm struggling with the patience part right now, but a lot of you are insisting on your own way rather than looking out for others and sound like a clanging cymbal to the non-Christians around you that see you not as brave, but as a threat to their very lives.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  

John 15:13

 

The intersection of COVID and Conservative Christianity - What is Church anyway?

 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 13:1 ESV

https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/frequently-asked-questions-proof-full-vaccination-or-mask-requirement-businesses-and-venues

The current executive order binds me in certain ways, but it does not bind me from being a part of the church.  Since I decided to not go to church for a few weeks, some might criticize me over:

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10, ESV

Since I started "staying home" I've had people over to dinner, I've visited the sick, I've mentored a teen, I've continued to show up on social media and speak the truth as I see it.  (Maybe could use more salt and light in my social media posts, but I'm definitely not staying socially isolated, and I have more to say in text than I do sitting in my little post at the back of the church.)  Meeting in large groups for fellowship is powerful and good, but is not necessary for us to fulfill Hebrews 10.

Late last year I listed to the audiobook version of "Letters to the Church" by Francis Chan. I encourage you to also read this book, and think about what else you can do that is the real heart and soul of the church besides those few hours on Sunday morning.  He is way more eloquent and educated than myself on the topic.  Church is supposed to be a family, not just a lecture and a song and getting off the hook for "doing church" for another week.  Sunday morning is important and good, but it is not enough.

The intersection of COVID and Conservative Christianity - Why I'm not in church today

 I have a health blog, and I've not yet written about COVID.  It's not like I have followers waiting on this post, it's not like I have any information available that you can't look up from more reputable sources, but there are a few things that need to be said as I sit home in my second week of ever intentionally staying home from church other than for an illness or travel.  I might write a few of these in a row addressing several aspects of the intersection of COVID and Christianity.

When the NY shutdown began in 2020, the church doors were closed to the public, but the definition of "essential services" was rather open and I was part of a small team that made sure that some of the spiritual needs of our church family were met through remote video services.  My personal goals were not just continued teaching (which pastor was right could come from any of the more famous and better produced online preachers) but also to keep our spiritual family connected, to keep showing them familiar faces and familiar voices, the familiar piano and sanctuary...  these things are important to mental health as much as spiritual health.  As the pandemic stretched on, this connection was essential to the continued maintenance of our congregation.  Building maintenance, pastor salaries, and congregant needs don't vaporize just because people are staying home from church, but donations and prayers can.  I encourage you whatever your church's stance on COVID, to remain connected to your church family in some way.  

So why the turn about, why am I home while others are fellowshipping, when before I was fellowshipping while others were home?

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Romans 13:1 ESV

https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/frequently-asked-questions-proof-full-vaccination-or-mask-requirement-businesses-and-venues

I understand the pressure on our consistory, that we are a small church that takes pride in being a "mixed multitude" that can have very different positions on many issues, but yet we hold some central truths as important enough to stand together.  We may interpret the bible differently, but we do believe the bible is the sole rule of truth and practice.  But...  if the consistory is unwilling to stand buy the governing authorities, and asks me to follow my conscience, I must obey the governing authorities as an individual.  Since I have no control over the behavior of others, the only thing within my power is to withdraw from others breaking the executive order while this executive order is in effect.

My role physically at church isn't very important, any teenager or photography buff can repoint the camera.  My husband's role is more essential, he needs to be there to make the stream run efficiently.  (Partly because he's just too stubborn to accept help, partly because he keeps adding new fancy features and the help he has has trouble keeping up with the changes.)  I respect him continuing to provide that support, and he respects my decision to stay home.

I will continue doing the things I do outside church hours to support members of the church.  I am watching the sermons from home that I'm usually on the other end of.  I'm trying to get over my social anxiety and pick up the phone to arrange to go visit some folks bound in their private residences so that I might be able to continue to gather together with fellow believers in some way.

I will be back.  I realize COVID executive orders have the habit of getting renewed and this might be longer than the currently stated weeks.  I miss you all.