MacKay Hospital, BSA 1954, my eyes

My Eyes 

I had laser treatment on both eyes this past Thursday and that will probably be the last treatment. This is because my next scheduled visit is at the end of January. So after having 1 or 2 treatments per week for the last month, we are now going to let nature see how it can improve on what the doctors have done already. Great!

I still have a bubble of gas in my right eye but it is getting smaller and should be gone in a week. It is kind of like the bouncing ball in the old cartoons which ended in a sing-along song. "Now let's all following the bouncing ball ..." I realize that those cartoons were an early form of karaoke.

I wish I had measured how bad my eyes were and then I could measure how much they are improving. I can now do computer things without much trouble but I still need magnification to read the newspaper.

One thing I do notice an inprovement on is reading the walk/stop signs at intersections.

Initially I couldn't read any of the seconds that I had to cross the street safely. Now I can easily read the numbers across narrow streets like ChangChun and JinLin. I almost can read the numbers across medium streets like MingShen and ZhongShan. My goal is to read the numbers across the wide streets like DunHua and RenAi.

MacKay Hospital

The neighborhood hospital that I walk to for treatment is MacKay Hospital, a private Presbyterian hospital founded by the Presbyterian missionary Dr. George Leslie MacKay in 1912.

(I wrote about the Presbyterians in Taiwan two years ago:
 
 http://mikeess-trip.blogspot.tw/2011/03/presbyterians-in-taiwan.html

) 

Mackay Hospital is a teaching hospital and part of the Taiwan National Health System.

 I doubt many people going to MacKay know what this kind of Christmas display is about. But just like me, sick people just want to get well.

  

1954 BSA

One sure sign that my eyes are doing well is that I can recognized motorcycles on the street. This is the oldest motorcycle I've seen in Taiwan. Although it isn't working there must be a good story on how it came to Taiwan.

BSA stands for Birminghan Small Arms Company, besides making pistols rifles, ... , this British company made bicycles, motorcyles ... In 1910 they started making motorcycles, around 1970 they stopped.

I remember that while I was in highschool we use to go to the drag strip races and this was the most popular motorcycle in the unlimited class. Although Triumphs were also about 650cc and raced, this one was the One. I think the Harleys were at 1200cc but they were too heavy and not raced. (They didn't call them "hogs" for nothing.)




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IM