lost the edge

[Plymouthy Adams]

I tried again to shoot some paint..it is not the color..as I tried a dark and a light...I have lost my depth perception I guess...I can no longer tell on a recoat if I am covering..trust me I am not happy here...I will make an appointment for the eye doctor but I don't think they can help this..should have gone to Maaco..there is no fun in doing it badly..I was afraid of this as I first saw it about a year ago painting my son's car...only it is worse now...damn its bad when you get old before your time...

[55 Fargo]

Sorry to hear about this Tim, is there anything that can be done medically, would "Lazer Treatments" work for this.

Mind you, Lazer surgery is not cheap, I started needing reading glasses about 3 years ago, this can be a real PITA, but what can you do, could be worse, cataracts/glaucoma, or blindness.

Would you really consider a Maaco paint job, I hear great things from some, and horror stories from others, guess it depends on the individual franchise owner.

I am also thinking of getting the Maaco splash on my 47, so far 2 panels complete, one rear fender, and the trunklid, the hood, needs next to nothing, the front fenders and doors need attention, the roof, will require a lot of smoothing, and the drivers door will be 50%, meaning it will be skim coated about 50% with filler, not deep, just coated. At least there is no rust repairs to be done......................Fred

[Plymouthy Adams]

Just talked a bit with Don Coatney...he is happy to be home...he mentioned that it may be a result of my diabetes..I had not considered the fact....I have been doing well on my blood sugar levels for a while now that I have lost the extra baggage I was carrying around and being careful about what I eat..but the damage may have been done prior to my discovering the problem and I am very happy that it was discovered before I hit some very elevated numbers...last car I painted before I saw a perception problem was my Eagle Vision TSI..it is black and came out flawless...oh well...thanks for the memories..I am hoping the car will be somewhat presentable at 10 feet maybe after I put it all togehter and do a bit of rubbing....

[55 Fargo]

Tim, my Dad is diabetic, has had his eyes operated on, his vision is pretty darn good.

That could be your issue the diabetes effect on your eyes, see your Physician ASAP..........Fred

[Norm's Coupe]

Tim,

Sorry to hear about the vision problem. I think Don Coatney may have hit the problem on the head. Not trying to alarm you in any way, but I also have a close friend who has diabetes. He has almost lost his sight in one eye and the good eye isn't all that good either. He's also lost a couple of toes in the last 8 or 10 years from it. Diabetes can be wicked, especially if you don't take care of yourself. That was my friends problem. He knew he had it in his early 30's and never did anything about it until it was too late. He's about 62 now. However, if you take care of yourself it can be kept under control.

I don't have diabetes, but I do have RA so I know what you are going through. Like you I can't do everything I use to do either because of the RA. Can't use a hammer for example to drive a nail. If I drive only one nail my hand will swell up and I can't use it for about a week afterward. Had to replace a board on the side of the house. Cutting the board to size on the table saw and priming it was a piece of cake. Even taking the downspout down and putting it back up was not too bad. But...........had to call my son over to drive the nails in the board to put it on the house.

You'll just have to make adjustments like I did. Went to all air and electric tools several years ago to compensate. Just slightly bumping the back of my hands on something will leave a bruise that looks like someone dropped a brick on it. Doesn't hurt, just looks bad for 4 to 7 days. That's one reason I don't do as much on the coupe anymore too and decided to drive it the way it is for the most part. It's even hard to crawl under it anymore.

Your going to Maaco sounds like me with a lot of stuff now. Takes me too long if I can do something, and sometimes I can't anymore, so now I just call a contractor and pay him.

[greg g]

Tiim I agree it might be related to diabetes, it effects everybody a bit differently. Depth perception is usually had from the slightly different focal length from one eye to the other. and the distance between your eyes. Everybody is usually one eye stronger then the other.

Try the old aim at something with your thumb at arms length deal. One eye first, then the other. You should see a difference of 3 to 4 inches of percieved thumb movement from one to the other. If there is little or no difference that will screw up your depth perception.

That said, before I kew I needed glasses, I thought there was just not enough light to read or work. Reading magazines where they had white printing against a darker background like where they push type over photo was nearly impossible. Just needed glasses. readers mostly, can still distances fine. Just a difference in how thig change as we get older.

Last time my wife, glasses since she was 12, went to the eye doc, she was told she no longer needed glasses. She wears cheapy deals from the drug store for close work, but doesn't need them for other things including driving. So an appointment with the optricia is probably a good move also.

[rearview]

Hey... for the painting, change where the lights are located, put some lower so you can see where the edge of new paint flashes onto the old paint. I can do it without my glasses that way.

[knuckleharley]

Just talked a bit with Don Coatney...he is happy to be home...he mentioned that it may be a result of my diabetes..I had not considered the fact....I have been doing well on my blood sugar levels for a while now that I have lost the extra baggage I was carrying around and being careful about what I eat..but the damage may have been done prior to my discovering the problem.... .

Tim,you REALLY need to see a good eye doctor to have your eyes examined. Diabetes can/usually does cause damage to the blood vessels in the eyes,which causes other damage to them. My diabetes doc told me about this and told me to get it checked right away because if they catch this stuff early they can almost always treat it and prevent it from getting worse. The eye doc at the VA hospital said the same thing when I went to see him.

And yes,you really do need to see a specialist on this. The people down at the local "glasses for $49.95" place just ain't gonna cut it.

BTW,you are going to find out you have good days and bad days. It all depends on your blood sugar level that day,and your blood pressure.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the only eye doctor I know and trust is in SC and I will make an appointment to see him as I am scheduled to be in Charleston anyway..

I sprayed some more paint...still had some difficulty seeing the WET but concentrated on the spray out of the gun and relied on pure technique...

Appreciate it guys, my sugar levels I keep tabs on as I do my blood pressure..both are doing good..have never had blood pressure probs to date...I did not know how long I went with elevated sugar levels..not too very long I don't think as I had it checked about 6-8 months before we noticed it elevated..but could have been long enough to do some damage..I have since lost lots of weight, exercise on schedule and watch my diet so the sugar levels are staying in good range..then it could be pure ole old age and I am just totally in denial that birthdays arrive..matter of fact..one is just around the corner..

[greg g]

could this mean no more raisin pie for TG???

[Plymouthy Adams]

I have not had a raisen pie since last Thanksgiving..matter of fact..so far there is not even a large meal in the making for this year..time will tell...