Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Good News!

The eye doctor says my eye is improving. His words were to the effect that there is very little swelling left and I am one of the lucky ones. I don't go back to see him for a month. So I made arrangements for my next appt to be the same day as DH's cataract surgery since he will have the surgery in the morning and be back at the dr's office that same afternoon. Life has been so interesting for the past year or so.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Quiet Time

Haven't done much with the new computer yet. No photos downloaded from the camera or music to work with. Using just the programs that came with the computer when we bought it right now and trying to wait for the Windows 7 upgrade in October. We are hoping to have a better experience that way for the install. Vista seems to be fighting with our Brother printer, too. If we leave the printer on all the time, it works. If we turn it off and then back on when the computer is already on the printer has been locking up on its boot. Went to the Brother site and found out about updated drivers but have not done anything further yet.

I go back to the opthamologist on Tuesday afternoon. The last appt went well from my perspective. I thought my eye was not much different from before. He seemed surprised I said that and I got the impression he was seeing more damage internally. I suppose since I live with it every day I don't really notice small changes. I still think I am not seeing any worsening of the shadow. I do get a little dizzy sometimes after looking back and forth at the computer screen at work and at the papers I am working from. Could be the eye or could be my vertigo saying hello again. OTC meclazine(?) takes care of it.

In further developments, DH is going to have cataract surgery in October - right before his 60th birthday. He goes for pre-op on the 21st and surgery on the 27th. He is also supposed to get his driver's license renewed before the 30th of October. The eye doctor says he "should" be able to pass whatever eye test the DMV has people taking now.

Missing posting photos. Missing taking photos. Missing playing with photos and music. Looking forward to getting everything computer wise straightened out soon. Missing going yard saleing. This summer got lost with the surgery and recovery period.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

And Life Goes On

Thanks for the welcome back from Jen, Kim, and Linda. I really missed you all. Kim, I need a new invite to your "new" blog as the old one expired.

Our lives have been so interesting lately that I often think of the blessing/curse "May you live in interesting times." I would settle for some boredom right now (but not too much, Lord).

Some wonderful things have happened since January. We finally were able to get a newer vehicle thanks to DH's temporary VA benefits (lemonade from lemons). We got new TVs for the living room and bedroom (he can watch football and I can watch HGTV, NGEO, etc.). And of course the new computer. We have been eating out more often (I love that part) and eating better, too. There are other good/nice/wonderful things, too.

But what stands out right now are the challenges.

You know how much I look forward to Vacation Bible School each year. I love doing the crafts with the children and plan all year long to have good, easy, enjoyable, keepable crafts for them. This year I made it all the way to the Friday before the week of VBS. I had a regular doctor appt that day and DH and I went together (any excuse to take time off work). I mentioned to the doctor that I had had an upset stomach the day before and unusually for me I did actually upchuck. He said at first that it was probably just a gastro-intestinal virus. But as he was almost out the door he turned back and said "You know what, my wife had symptoms like this and it turned out to be appendicitis." Since he was going to be out-of-town for the weekend he wanted me to go over to the hospital and have tests done right then so we could rule out any problems with the appendix. That same night I had surgery to remove my appendix. That was June 12.

I missed all of VBS and dear sister Beth and niece Jen had to take over the crafts. They did a wonderful job but I will not hear the end of it for a long long time (probably every time it gets close to a new VBS).

I then spent the next month recuperating. I had hoped to get back to work quickly as we had just had a new database installed the same week as my surgery and I needed to be there to learn it the same time as everyone else. No such luck. My appendix was not in the "normal" location so I was not able to have the scope surgery but had to have the old-fashioned full incision so the pesky thing could be located and removed safely (Thank you, Lord, for CAT scans so they did not have to go poking around too much). So I did not get back to work even part-time until a month after the surgery. Part of the incision did not want to close and I have had to continue doctoring for it.

Two months later it has finally healed ... just in time for the next part of the saga.

Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy ... I have developed a "shadow" in my right eye that the opthamoligist says is due to this four word condition. It just happened this past week and I got to the eye doctor the next day. There are at least two versions of this thing and I seem to have the less nasty of the two ... the non-arteritic form rather than the arteritic or giant cell version which can be really bad. But I have lost part of the vision field in my right eye and there is a chance it could get worse or even appear in the left eye in the future. There is also a chance it could improve somewhat over the next few months. A little depressed right now but coming to terms with it. At this point I still have good forward vision and hope to retain that. As long as the shadow does not spread it should not impact my reading, computer useage, or photography too much. Driving should not be a problem (if DH ever gets my car running again - it has not been driven since my surgery).

So life does go on and we are enjoying as much of it as we can. There are wonderful things every day. Clouds and sunshine that just take my breath away (I love light and shadow playing together). The cats running around the house in insane antics (and DH and I have the wounds to prove it). Children and babies (almost always make me smile). Flowers and trees and even insects (isn't the imagination of the Lord wonderful!). We will prevail.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Hello, Hello, Hello

I'm back at last!

We got the computer virus and spyware infestations in January and have been unable to safely go on-line since then until just recently. The solution for us was a new computer so I am now adjusting to Vista and will soon have to re-adjust to Windows 7 when it comes out as we get a free up-grade.

The old computer was gone over by our computer savy nephew and he succeeded in taking care of most of the problems but some remained. He told us the solution may be to reformat the hard drive so we have been saving files (photographs! music! crafts! and so much more!). But when it came time to do the reformat we lost courage. So we will be asking him to help us once more.

I have missed you all! It was difficult to try to get computer time elsewhere and I have had to read blogs on the sly and not very often.

It has been such an "interesting" time for us. So much to share. But right now I want to catch on what I have missed on your blogs.