Frankly, My Dear…

Had a trip back to the eye dr today to see what was goin’ on in my eye. Some inflammation. Normal considering they were playin’ around in there for awhile! I haven’t had much pain, which is fine with me! I have to keep reminding myself to take it easy when doing things that affect the eye. Sure don’t want to do anything that might damage it! Still have 4 different drops to put in everyday and still seem to get more on my face than in my eye! Dr said no underwater swimming–ha! I think we can scratch that off the list of concerns! Eye chart was better and in a month might be still better. I’d click my heels if I thought I could manage it!

There was a poster of the eye on the wall and I asked the dr to show me what areas they worked in. I was curious but before I didn’t want to know too much ’cause it was queasy to think about but now that it’s over, I’d like to know. I was just very glad not to see it going on when it was!

Oh to be a little white dog with a cranky owner, now deceased! Leona Hemsley left 12M to her Maltese dog, who will reside with her brother. I wonder how long it’ll be before there is an accident?

Two grandkids were left out–for reasons known to them. Good grief! When you’re sitting on BILLIONS, how can you be that way with your grandkids?

The pampered dog reportedly refused to eat dog food and her chef had to make special meals for it–which it refused to eat off a dish and a maid had to hand-feed it! She was constantly bitten for her trouble! The dog also bit whomever was bathing it! Nippy little mutt! I call BS on this! If the dog got hungry, dog food would be eaten off a dish! Maybe that was Leona’s way of giving Trouble human-like traits and making him as hard to get along with as herself! When he dies, he will be buried along side her. Together always.

Billions, people, billions! Spread around that could do a lot of good! What a shame.

Sad story is at:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08292007/news/

click to enlarge

This is my big, beautiful lap baby, Little Man. He adopted me several years ago. He was such a big boy (18 #) and had this tiny meow–actually sometimes he’d open his mouth and a squeak would come out–and that is how his name came about. I shortened it to Little Man. He could get louder, especially if another male came around and got into some ferocious fights! Even after I had him neutered, he’d still kick some kitty butt! His nose still has a scar from a fight.

He just showed up one day and I guess he decided to stay. For a long time, he wouldn’t come inside so I got a small dog house and put it on the deck to give him a place to sleep and get in out of the rain. Although, he didn’t mind the rain and would sometimes sit in it until it got real heavy. I kept offering to let him in and one day he accepted but he still wanted to go back out. Then one day I guess he decided being inside wasn’t so bad and he wanted to stay in more than he wanted out. That was when I found out what a lap baby he was! He would put all 18# of himself right in my lap and he purred very loud–I loved it! He was also a head-butter and liked to rub his head against me. He also liked to eat and begged for food pretty much most of the time! Whenever I had some yogurt he would sit by me until I finished and them I’d hold the container for him to stick his face into and clean it out. I think he would have pretty much eaten anything I offered him!

I’ve often looked at him and tried to imagine what he looked like as a kitten. I bet he was an adorable ball of fluff! His eyes are a light green and look like they are lined with eyeliner! (Don’t tell him I said that!) He was alittle overly agressive for the 2 girl kitties and they tended to stay away from him. If I was in the bedroom they’d usually all end up on the bed with me and if one of them was in a spot he wanted and didn’t offer to move, he’d lay down almost on top of them. He believed in making his presence known! The habit that drove me nuts was him walking right in front of me so I was tripping over him! MOVE! meant nothing to him!

Last year he started sneezing a lot and it was messy. I took him to the vet and left him for a week-end so he could medicate him. When I picked him up, he seemed better. but not too long after, the sneezing began again. The vet said he couldn’t do anything else for him. He has feline herpes and no, it isn’t like the herpes humans get! It’s a respiratory disease with no cure and contagious to other cats. I made a very hard decision last fall that he could not come back inside, in hopes the 2 inside cats wouldn’t catch it. It’s a situation that has brought me to tears. He doesn’t understand why if he gets in, I immediately put him out or stop him at the door. It makes me feel like such an a orge! He remembers there are soft places to take naps on!

Now that the weather has warmed up and I’ve been outside with him more, I can see bad days are ahead. He feels like he’s lost quite a bit of weight and his hair is not as thick. I know what’s coming and I dread it so much. One day, I’m going to have to put him in the car and drive down the road to the vet’s to have him put to sleep. I just keep looking at him and thinking, just alittle bit longer.

It’s going to be a sad day.

And indeed, it was sad when I took him to the vet’s the morning of my surgery last Thrusday. It hurt that I couldn’t stay with him…really hurt.

Don’t you love to hear about someone’s surgery? Well, that’s what this is about. Eye surgery. So look away if you’re not interested! Actually, there’s nothing too gory about it–other than it was surgery on my eye!

My cousin got here around 9:30 and we left for the eye clinic right away. Traffic wasn’t bad and we got there right at 10:00. That’s when the problem started! Seems the parking deck was full and we spent 25 mins going in circles, up and down, looking for a place to park! We weren’t the only ones. There were a couple of cars ahead of us and several behind us doing the same thing! This was the first time we’d had this problem and it was something we hadn’t considered! Finally, we saw some people standing outside their car and managed to find out that they were indeed about to leave. If you see people looking for a parking space why would you be standing around instead of getting your rear-ends in your car to leave?! We parked and went inside, after talking about how dumb it was to be standing around in a parking deck!

The inside of the eye clinic is confusing to me but my cousin seems to have it down pat. We got to the waiting room and it was packed! I signed in and we sat down but were on the move before long. The first person took a picture of both eyes and a computer made a print-out of what kind of lens I would need. From there, we went downstairs to give info to an administrative type lady and she passed us off to a nurse who asked more questions. Everyone wanted to know my name, birthdate and what I was having done. The nurse wrote an abbreviation of what I was having over my right eye. I had said I was going to put a mark over my eye so as to avoid a mistake! She also asked if I had a living will–yikes! And I consented for pictures to be made of the surgery if they wanted. I might end up in a medical book, or my eye might. Someone on that floor was having something to eat that smelled good–especially to someone who hadn’t eaten and was hungry!

The surgical unit was next and, of course, the first thing they want you to do is put on this loverly gown that would go around me about twice and…..it had a matching robe AND, a lovely powder blue shower cap looking hat and to top it off, a pair of maroon socks! Is that a fashion statement or what?! I had trouble getting the gown to stay on until I got my cousin in the room to help me! Then after I’m dressed, the woman handing out the gowns tells me she’s found a smaller one and don’t I want to change–in a word, NO! My clothes were put in a plastic bag and put under a bed that would go into surgery also. My cousin keeps telling me she wished she had brought her camera–haha! They brought heated linens over, which with the heat outside I wasn’t sure I wanted, and covered me with them. (It was alittle cold inside!) Then the waiting started. For awhile, I had a steady stream of people coming by to ask questions and tell me what their function would be. The anaestheologist told me what would be happening but first he had to put an IV in, of course. I thought he would put it in my arm, but no, it was going in my right hand. He thumped around on my hand which hurt and found a vein he liked and got the needle in. At least, any future shots would go in the IV. The surgical unit patients started clearing out and I was really hungry! My cousin brought some cheese sticks and crackers and had a snack around 2. She asked me if I minded her eating and I kiddingly said it was okay to torture me! We thought I had been forgotten but at 3, I was on the way to surgery. I was first told I’d be put to sleep but that was changed to being under but not knocked out all the way. I was awake but numb when I had a c-section with my daughter and I didn’t want to feel anything going on in my eye! He gave me something just before we left and after I made it into the operating room, I was out. Actually, for the 2 and a half hours, I was in and out. There was a show of colors going on when I was awake. Bright purple, yellow–they said that was common when the retina was being exposed to light. When I felt like I was awake more than I wanted to be, I moved my fingers so the anaestheologist would know I was awake. I could hear the drs talking and they were listening to an old Michael Jackson cd.(The Way You Make Me Feel) Had I known before, I would’ve suggested some Sting! I also heard the lazer when they used it. Meanwhile, my cousin was getting concerned because we didn’t think it would take long and she asked a couple of times if I was still in surgery. The drs said they had to be careful getting the blood out of my eye so as not to damage my sight. They took the veins out and did something to discourage more from growing, took out my lens and replaced it with another. I would’ve liked to have seen what they took out of my eye but didn’t think about it in time.

They took me to recovery and said since my blood sugar was so low, 91, I could have anything I wanted to drink–no diet sodas! They fixed a Sierra Mist with cranberry juice and graham crackers with peanut butter. My first meal of the day and it was great! And now, I know how to keep my blood sugar down-just don’t eat for almost 24 hrs! Simple!

They wouldn’t let me do anything. You’re suppose to limit your movement, etc. I was put in a wheelchair and pushed to the parking deck. My cousin went to get the car while the nurse stayed with me. She was originally from Harisburg, PA, where a friend lives. She has 7 cats and that’s what we were talking about. It had been awhile since my cousin went to get the car and we were wondering whar happened to her. The nurse pushed me inside to see if we were being paged and we saw my cousin drive by! (Think Jerry Lewis–Hey, La–dy!) The nurse left me and ran out to stop her from going up! I got in the car and it was over, thank goodness! (My cousin was nervous about driving in B’ham and alittle shook up about my surgery, so when she went to get the car she ended up at the exit and the woman told her to circle the block. When she got close to the entrance again, an ambulance startled her and she missed it and had to go around again! And then when she got to where we had been, we were just inside the door when she went by! It was funny and I’m still kidding her about it!)

I went home with her so she could be sure I didn’t croak and we went back to the eye clinic Fri. They took the patch off my eye and, at first, I was concerned ’cause I thought I had a hole in my vision in my right eye. I realized it was the lighted box on the wall, just at a very different angle. Turns out my eye was not moving from the block I got for surgery and I was having double vision! Whew! That was almost a heart-stopper! That has stopped. thankfully. I have 4 different eye drops to use everyday until I go back next week (I hope I can get a few IN my eye!) and a pair of Stevie Wonder sunglasses! I have to be careful about lifting, etc for awhile. My eye hasn’t really hurt much but it is alittle red and they want me to sleep in a patch for awhile.

For the first time in almost a year (next month), I don’t have veins dangling inside my eye—YAY! I can already see better and I hope it’ll get even better with time! Amazing what modern medicine is able to do, isn’t it?

I hope this will be me on Thursday. That’s when the eye surgery is scheduled and I don’t want to see or feel anything! If I let myself think about it, I start getting very nervous! I have never been able to look at that type of surgery on tv. Well, I can’t look at much of any type of surgery, but especially eye surgery! I know my eye will have one of those gizmos in it to keep it open–but I don’t wanna see!

I looked at the dos and don’ts booklet today and it said not to wear makeup or nail polish. I don’t wear a lot of makeup but it’s going to feel funny without it! Won’t take long to get ready, I guess. No eating or drinking after 12. I had some strawberries and sugar-free cool whip tonight for just that reason! No swallowing water when brushing your teeth! Good grief! Loose clothing. Maybe I should just go in my nightgown. I’m probably going to end up in a hospital gown and one of those silly hats! No taking regular medicine.

I hope I don’t feel like a ton of bricks fell on me when it’s over! And I hope I can see much clearer! Just to be on the safe side, I’ll most likely go home with my cousin when it’s over for a day. My cousin has been so sweet about driving the hour it takes to get here and staying during the hours it seems to take to examine my eyes! And I hope I don’t hear anyone say, I need to put some drops in your eyes for. a . very. long . time!

UPDATE: Okay, it’s official. We have a time to be there. 10:00 in the morning. I think my stomach just became a huge knot! Yikes!
Thurs 7:55–I am hungry! And I can’t even have water! Rats. I am more than ready for this to be over.

Janeane Garofalo–yes, that one–will be joining the cast of 24 this year! I would’ve posted a picture but it was too ugly! Someone must really be trying to kill off 24! That’ll do it fior me. I do not like her. Period. No, not even alittle bit. Blech.

BlueStarChronicles.com has a more in depth post on this at:

http://bluestarchronicles.com/2007/08/21/janeane-garofalo-joins-the-cast-of-24/

Hearing about hurricane Dean hitting Jamaica made me think of our trip there some years ago. It was a company trip and we stayed in a nice hotel on the beach in Montego Bay. The water was a beautiful blue and we enjoyed being there. They had crab “races” on the patio everyday and a water volleyball game anytime people were willing. There were also side trips to see what there was to see on the island. On a trip to the straw market, I noticed a front leg of a cow that they were slicing meat off for a snack! Yeah, no worries about refrigeration! We brought some things home to the kids and a few relatives, but it was mostly over-priced junk!

I also noticed what looked a lot like over-sized cardboard boxes on the side of a hill. Those were houses. So, a hurricane coming thru there must be extremely rough! I would say that the majority of people are poor. The hotel had armed guards on the beach at night to discourage locals from taking the patio furniture!

Anytime we got off a bus the company provided, we were swarmed by people selling trinkets. We finally bought a couple of necklaces made of seeds or something, so we could say we already had some! On a trip by ourselves on a local bus, someone got on with some freshly caught fish! One day on the beach, this Jamaican came up to us and excitely told us how we could use the wooden statue he had to put pot in to bring home! No thanks!

Several years later, we went back to Jamaica and stayed at the same hotel. This time we were on the ground floor just off the beach. A hurricane had been through in the meanwhile, and we noticed the print on the wall had a watermark half way up it and there was a layer of sand in the toilet! So, I guess the room we were in had been halfway under water when the hurricane struck. There’s been a couple of more hurricanes thru since then, so I hope they’ve redecorated!

(A funny note: Everywhere we went, we heard “Yellow Bird” so I found it very funny when one of the first days we were home, I heard it again at the dentist’s office! I’m sure the other people wondered why I started laughing!)

A 12′ 6″ alligator, weighing 492#, was killed in the Mobile area and is a record. If you want to read about this you can find details and pictures at:

http://www.al.com/sports/press-register/index.ssf?/base/sports/1187515938250280.xml&coll=3

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be in a boat with a 492# enraged alligator jerking it around! Actually, I wouldn’t want to be in a boat with a gator that large anywhere nearby! I think he had reason to be mad since they were throwing hooks at him and in general, causing him pain. They put a couple of bullets in his head after he was alittle worn down from pulling the boat and that was that. Took a group of people to get him to the scales and weigh him.

I have a brother-in-law in FL who used to go gator hunting and I thought he was crazy for going out in a boat at night to do that!

House #1 A 20 room mansion ( not including 8 bathrooms ) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool ( and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern “snow belt” area. It’s in the South.

House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a
leading national university. This house incorporates every
“green” feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet ( 4 bedrooms ) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F. ) heats the house in the winter
and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then
into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land
surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of
the “environmentalist” Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford,Texas; it is the residence the of the President of the United States,
George W. Bush.

An “inconvenient truth”.

BTW: This isn’t really important but while I was on the computer, Andy Rooney did his little spiel and it was about President Bush and he ended by saying alot of people wish W would stay on his ranch in Texas. Do you think Andy’s feelings would be hurt if he knew how many people think he should remove himself from the tv? That’s right, gasbag, get lost!

It’s 10:30 and I’m hungry! Nothing was said about not eating but I assume if they’re going to put me to sleep, I shouldn’t. I wouldn’t want to get there and be told they couldn’t do it ’cause I ate something! I have to be there at 12:00 and won’t see a dr until 1:00, so this is just a taste of how hungry I’ll be by then! My cousin just called to say she was on her way so I guess this (eye surgery) is really going to happen! Say alittle prayer that it goes well and I don’t have to see what’s in my eye anymore. Later.

Update: Well, the mystery of why nothing was said about not eating has been solved–no surgery today!! Both my cousin and myself understood them to say surgery was today..but no, the retina dr looked at my eyes today! Would you believe me if I told you I AM SICK OF HAVING MY EYES DIALATED??! Oh yes, I am! The next person who says “I need to put some drops in your eyes” could be in for a rude surprise! He said I have the beginning of a cataract and he wants to remove it and the blood in my eye and put a clear lens in on the 23rd. He said the retina was not detacted, so that’s good. I did some lab work today so we’ll be that much ahead.
My gut feeling was that something was not right but I ignored it! So, I’ll have to worry alittle more about all this before it’s over but hopefully after the 23rd, I can exhale!
Excuse me–I think I hear some strawberries and sugar-free cool whip calling my name!