And this is the latest

This has been an interesting week. The newspapers have been going all out to speculate about the South African athlete who murdered his girlfriend. When the media gets hold of something, anything can happen. It's trial by media in this country-and probably everywhere else.

I got tired of it all pretty quickly. He "allegedly" killed her because he thought she was an intruder. Of course-witnesses heard them fighting, he "allegedly" beat her up, then one of them was in the bathroom and he shot her four times. Er...I don't know who was where, but if this was an accident, I'm the Duchess of Windsor.

I have to say that-even after the first ten times this whole event was on the news-I still couldn't remember his name. I keep calling him Pistachio. Whatever. Pistorius, Pistachio-actually, who cares? I'm growing bored with all the drivel in the news-most of which is fabricated, anyway.

I've been doing my walking, but being a bit more careful about it all. My friend advised me to just pick a route-a mile or so-and time my walking without thinking about whether I do 5,000 steps or 11,000 steps. That makes good sense. At 11,500 steps-like two days ago-I am ready for resuscitation. And I might just end up with legs the size of tree trunks. Anybody ever really look at all the athetes? They look like quarterbacks-quarterbacks with no boobs. Hmmm...that's a bit gross, isn't it??

Yesterday I went to have my eyes checked. I knew there was a problem, because I've been getting some really bad headaches. The ophthalmologist at Barts last checked my eyes over a year ago, and suggested I see an optician when my eyes settle down. I think I left it a bit late.

It's a good thing I pushed myself to go. It's like going to the dentist, or the doctor: who really wants to go until it is absolutely unavoidable? And-it turns out that my vision has suffered since my last eye exam three years ago-BUT-my eyes aren't working together. I don't have one pointing one way and one pointing the other (that would be interesting!), but they aren't focusing together. The problem, said the optician, isn't with my eyes themselves, but with the lack of a vestibular system. This means that the gentamicin did more damage than just completely destroy the vestibular system. It affected my eyesight and vision, too.

It won't get worse-but it also won't get better in a hurry. So now I join the legions of people who need to wear glasses all the time. And-my glasses have a prism in each lens, so that is why I need to wear them at all times. The prisms should work the eyes so they begin to focus together. That will also help my balance. So why didn't they tell me any of this at Bart's?

Oh, what an interesting life this is! As we get older, things begin to break, calcify, drop off, head south...sad, isn't it? Of course, when we consider the alternative, growing older isn't all that bad; at least, we are still alive, even with our asses trying to touch the floor. I'm working out before my bingo wings grow bingo wings.

One interesting thing about my appointment yesterday: Talia, the optician, has known me for a few years, and she asked about the walking stick and the history. So I told her what happened. She was outraged on my behalf-she said to go to the newspapers; the radio stations in London would probably pick up the story and the Health Minister would have to respond to the question of why gentamicin is still being given when there are so many newer-and safer-antibiotics on the market, ones that will do the same job but without the hideous side effects.

Talia made a point of telling me that I am morally obligated to do this so that other people don't suffer the same fate. Actually, other people have suffered the side effects of gentamicin-so I will give it a great deal of thought. I don't want to go off (as I very nearly have several times before), make a big fuss, and end up shooting myself in the foot. I still need the immunologist at Barts-until I can sort out another one.

Well, onward and upward-and that's just my backside...time to work out. If someone found a way for people to just think about exercise and grow muscles and get stronger, they would be billionaires. Any takers?