This has not been a fun week for me. I was having trouble with the vision in my right eye: a shadow across the left side of my field of view. Concerned, I saw my optometrist, who assured me that it was nothing serious, just one of those annoying floaters. But, within a few days, the blockage had gotten bigger and moved to the center of my field of view. I asked classmate Ernie Sutcliffe, who’s an ophthalmologist, for a referral, and got another from my primary care physician. The doctor who examined me told me I had a detached retina in my right eye, and immediately sent me to their retina expert. He confirmed the diagnosis, and I had a procedure done right there to reattach the retina, using a cryogenic instrument and an injected gas bubble (you don’t want the details, believe me).
Needless to say, this was all a tad disturbing. But, by the next day, the shadow was gone and I could see objects with my right eye. It’s been 5 days now, and I am starting to be able to see ordinary screen print. The doctors anticipate that I’ll recover most of my vision. They also found that my left eye is kind of tending in the same direction, so they plan to do a laser treatment on that one to fix that retina in place so it doesn’t go anywhere.
I’m really glad that there are such treatments for such problems. Otherwise…
I still haven’t gone through the info from the Reunion (and now I finally have a good excuse), but we did locate some more people through the magic of Facebook. As a result, we now think we know the whereabouts of 651 classmates, a new record! Yay us!
I do have some sad news to report. Classmate Ken Rogers died this past weekend in Florida after a long struggle against cancer. Here is his Facebook page with a final message from him, and tributes from friends and family:
https://www.facebook.com/ken.s.rogers?sk=wall
Classmate Franne Donovan reports: “Ken Rogers's Memorial Service will be held on October 15, 2011 at Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home, 659 E. Greenwich Ave, W. Warwick, RI. Visitation at 1 PM, memorial service at 2 PM, including military honors service. The Westerly Sun and the Providence Journal will have more information (Thursday edition).”
Our condolences to Ken’s friends and family.
Condolences to Gail McKenney Marsigliano on the death of her mother, Lillian McKenney.
Bruce Brailsford and his wife, Joyce, celebrated their 24th anniversary in August.
His youngest son Bill graduated from the University of Hartford this past December and is employed as a computer tech with the Branford School system.
Youngest daughter, Kelly, after nearly 3 years at UConn, decided she no longer wants to be a nurse and has transferred to the University of New Haven to become a Forensic Psychologist or something to that effect!
Oldest daughter Jaclyn is married to Roy, a Special Ed teacher at the Branford, CT High School and has a daughter Skylar who will be 3 in August and a son Cayson 6 months.
Oldest son Greg, the only one of 4 kids still in RI, just became the Senior Field Engineer with a Tech Firm in Fall River. Also, he and his wife Melissa are expecting their first child in October!
He also found this web site for the CHSE class of 1961, if you want to compare and contrast:
www.chse61.com
We’re still looking for classmate Karen Richardson Griffin Pettis, who fell off our radar a while ago. Any sightings?
I’m also unsure of a number of email addresses. If you know the correct email addresses for the folks in the list at the bottom, please let me know.
We have lots of ways to keep in touch online, now. For example, we have a web site:
www.chse1971.com
(thanks to Ernie Sutcliffe for starting and maintaining)
and wiki:
https://chse1971.wikispaces.com/
(also thanks to Ernie)
and Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=51722469479
and a Facebook event for the Reunion:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192240297471327
Check out one or more of these easy ways to see what people are up to.
Well, the Red Sox sure set records this season! Losing games in September, most pitiful showing against Baltimore…
That’s about it for me. What’s going on with you? What awful medical predicament would you like to share with everyone?
Later.
Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com
PS
Here are the people whose emails I’m not sure about. If you have email addresses for any of these folks, please let me know.
Sandra R. Orenberg Greenspan
Anne Ardillo Urbach
Anthony V. Grossi
John M. Lester
Susan Radtke Lindia
Brian McDonald
Robert Thompson
Arthur Butler
Roy Eckloff
Darlene Burdick Gnip
Dave Dowding
David Macaruso
David B. Fowler
Debra A. Pless Johnson
Dorothy Cantone McDonough
Harry Law
Gail Glen Whitfield
Barbara Joyce Halavik
James D. Bickford
Jane Garland Bartholomew
John D. Jetty
John L. Dyer
John W. Callahan
Linda Dimeo Gillooly
Marianne C. Votta
Terri (Maria) Gliottone Iannotti
Sheila J. Lawrence
Frances Grabowski Dorsky
Doreen Dias Holmes
Dianne C. Saffron Dugan
