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.