November 9, 2007
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The Second Cataract Surgery and the Hummingbirds Have Gone….
I spent a week watching just before the first real cold snap we had and the hummingbirds were no longer feeding. I even asked the Beast to keep an eye out before I took down the hummingbird feeder to put it away for the winter and he agreed that the hummingbirds were gone. I read last year that they actually migrate to warmer climes so I hoped ours had gone to South Florida or even the Keys for the winter. They missed the bitter cold that hit us earlier in the week. Well, for US it was bitter cold because it dropped down into the mid-20′s and there were all kinds of warnings out so people could protect any plants that needed it. If they need protecting from cold, they shouldn’t be planted here in NE Alabama. It does get cold here. We just don’t get much in the way of snow and no below zero weather although people have said it FEELS like it when we get brisk winds. I have news for you. In Florida, if we had brisk winds and it was in the 50′s, it felt like below zero to us. That’s what high humidity does for you after years of living down there.
I had my left eye cataract surgery yesterday. The four days previous to it, I had a regimen of using special eyedrops four times a day and then a third one added the last day that was an antibiotic solution. The strangest part of the regimen, though, was washing my face with baby shampoo! I kid you not….baby shampoo. I guess it’s because it doesn’t cause any eye irritation if you should get some in the eyes. You had to pay special attention to the eye area. Is this a problem for some people? Maybe it’s aimed at those people who use makeup on a daily basis. Yes, that would make more sense than thinking people don’t wash their eye areas. I just can’t imagine someone avoiding their eyes and looking like a raccoon after weeks of not washing. Can you imagine?
You think “oh, it’s only eye drops four times a day. How hard can that be to remember or do?” Well, it is easy to forget when you are busy and time seems to fly by most days. You also have to wait five minutes minimum between the different drops so you are forced to sit still (or use a timer if you don’t want to get too distracted and forget like I sometimes do). Plus, I am still on an eye drop regimen (although different) for the first eye that was done. The day of the surgery, I no longer have to use the antibiotic drops in the right eye and I now only have to apply the other two drops TWICE a day. For the next week, I have three different drops that go into the left eye. Two of them are applied four times a day, and one is applied only twice a day. The right eye gets two different drops twice a day. Next week the left eye will be getting drops three times a day and the right eye will be down to only once a day but that one will be at bedtime. Then I can stop the drops in the right eye but will still have drops for the left eye for another two weeks after that. I swear I need a special calendar and time table put up for me so I remember what I need to do, which drops I need to use and how often. I do have the sheet the nurses gave me, which includes the dates so that will help as long as I remember to look at it. I finally decided to put it here by my computer since I am here most often than anywhere else in the house and am calm when I AM in here.
I was complaining to the Beast yesterday that my computer room was cold compared to the rest of the house. He swears there are no gaps or leaks in the ductwork under the house but critters CAN get in there and who knows for sure unless he crawls under there. I didn’t ask him to do that, I just wanted him to kick up the temperature on the thermostat a bit. Today, he bought me my own little heater for my computer room! It’s really neat and seems to be doing the trick. My hands got so cold last night while I was playing bingo on Pogo that I actually had to put the heating pad on and wrap it around my hands. They were so cold they HURT! At some point during the night, I had changed my position and woke up with the heating pad on my chest and part of my back and I was sweating! It was turned on low but we have our down comforter on our bed. The last thing I needed was a heating pad on me while I was under that. I remember turning it off and laying it down between the bed and nightstand. My hands weren’t hurting any more (obviously) and I slept well the rest of the night.
We had to be at the eye doctor’s office bright and early this morning (at 7:45am) and went to leave around 7am. We went into the garage and what did we find but a flat tire. Thank goodness we have both a truck and our car and the hubby has an air compressor. We filled up the tire, I drove the car while the hubby drove behind me in the truck and dropped off the car at Walmart for them to locate the leak while we headed for the eye doctor’s office. I called them to let them know I was going to be a little late and why so they wouldn’t head out to breakfast or some such thing before I got there. I know the doctor doesn’t start his regular appointments until 10 or 10:30am so it wasn’t unlikely that they might do something like that but thankfully I wasn’t the only one that was late getting into his office. I saw two other people that had their surgeries yesterday when I got there but one was just leaving and the other was just being taken into the exam room. I was in and out of the office within 10 minutes and I don’t have to be back to see him for a follow-up on both eyes until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Since I agreed to go with my niece, Tara, to her hearing on that same day but at 9am, I made the appointment for the afternoon. We can be in and out of Huntsville long before the rush hour starts so it will all work out fine.
I couldn’t see as well out of my left eye this morning as I had seen out of the right eye the day after the surgery on it. I was really a bit disappointed since I had such a wonderful experience with the right eye that morning. I mentioned it to the doctor and he said to me, “Of course you wouldn’t see as well. Your left eye is still dilated. You will notice a marked improvement after it returns to normal.” I was surprised that it was still dilated but he wasn’t. He said he had thought the other eye responded much quicker than this one and faster than he had expected. I felt better when I left since I now knew why it was not as clear. It’s now 2:30 in the afternoon and I am elated to tell you that my vision now seems sharper and clearer than this morning and the Beast says the eye is not dilated like it was earlier. So, all-in-all, I would say the surgeries have been successful!
So now I am going to sit here in my toasty computer room and enjoy my new heater while I go play for a while on Pogo. Then *sigh* I will have to leave my cozy nest and make dinner for us. Tonight it’s spaggetti made with ribs and some nice garlic bread, hot out of the oven. I already have my cucumbers, onions and tomatoes marinating in a nice olive oil, vinegar and garlic dressing so it should be a good meal.
Ya’ll have a great weekend and I wish you all mild weather. It’s not supposed to get any further down than the mid-40′s here tonight and might even make it to 70 tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that. We were going to go to Little Tree Canyon tomorrow up near Fort Payne but the doctor doesn’t want me out in the open for a couple days so we will have to wait on taking pictures of the fall foliage for another week. I DID make the reservations for our stay in North Carolina over Thanksgiving at the same motel that the rest of the family is staying at so we will have breakfast together Thanksgiving morning before heading over the the Beast’s aunt’s house. She and her daughter are going to join us so there will be no breakfast mess to worry about with so many people being there and we should all make short work of finishing up what needs to be done for our dinner. It will be like a mini-reunion for the Beast’s family and should be fun. I’m actually starting to look forward to it a bit since we won’t be in everyone’s lap for two days. We also won’t have to worry about Baron since my niece is going to keep him for the two days we will be gone.
Love you all.
