What are the odds?

A blog reader expressed a fear of going blind due to the TED surgery. This person was told that the odds were 1000 to 1 that this would happen, but it still was a concern to them.

To those of you concerned about the odds of going blind, I ask you to really consider the odds and put them in perspective. This represents a .001% chance. Here are some other odds, to help put this in perspective:

Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1

Odds of being killed in any sort of non-transportation accident: 69 to 1

Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1

Odds of getting away with murder: 2 to 1

Odds of being the victim of serious crime in your lifetime: 20 to 1

Odds that a first marriage will survive without separation or divorce for 15 years: 1.3 to 1

Odds that a celebrity marriage will last a lifetime: 3 to 1

Odds of getting hemorrhoids: 25 to 1

Odds of being born a twin in North America: 90 to 1

Odds of being on plane with a drunken pilot: 117 to 1

Odds of being audited by the IRS: 175 to 1

Odds of having your identity stolen: 200 to 1

Odds of dating a millionaire: 215 to 1

Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 220 to 1

Odds of finding out your child is a genius: 250 to 1

Odds of catching a ball at a major league ballgame: 563 to 1

Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on first try: 10,000 to 1

Chance of an American home having at least one container of ice cream in the freezer: 9 in 10.

Chance of dying from any kind of injury during the next year: 1 in 1,820

Chance of having a stroke: 1 in 6

Chance of dying from heart disease: 1 in 3

Chance of getting arthritis: 1 in 7

Chance of suffering from asthma or allergy diseases: 1 in 6

Chance of getting the flu this year: 1 in 10

Chance of an American woman developing cancer in her lifetime: 1 in 3

Chance of getting prostate cancer: 1 in 6

Chance of getting breast cancer: 1 in 9

So, you see, your odds are better that you will write a New York Times best seller than going blind as the result of TED surgery!

January 2009

Wow! Where did the year go? I’ve been so busy with Christmas and snowstorms and kids and life that I’ve neglected this site. Thanks to everyone who has emailed me and commented here. The hits just keep coming, and I’m glad to know that my little musings here are helping some of you.

Update on me…I am STILL having issues with numbness…especially on the left side. Even the right side seems to have a little more numbness lately, but not as bad as the right. I still have problems drinking hot liquids (they feel like they burn through the roof of my mouth into the back of my eye)

Last week I had a severe bout with double vision. I was out of town, and away from any eye moisturiser, and it lasted at least 12 hours. I couldn’t drive, I could barely WALK! I was nauseous the whole time, and reading anything was out of the question, unless I closed one eye. I called my ocular surgeon first thing Monday morning, and the triage nurse’s reaction was “Oh…huh? Well, call us if it happens again…that’s kind of strange.” She said that most people who have double vision have it forever, and it ususally doesn’t revert back to normal.

I also told her that my tear ducts seemed to hurt whenever my eyes watered. Didn’t seem to matter if it was from watching a sad movie or cutting onions, the first tear out of my right tear duct really hurts. She had no explanation for that either, and stated that she’d never heard that ailment mentioned before.

So, am I oversensitive, or just a freak? LOL!

I’m posting a photo taken on Christmas with very little make-up.