TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast left out of here a little after 5am so he could be at the Eye Center in Huntsville by 6:30am.  The Princess drove him and waited for him to be sent home.  They were home before 10:30am but that was still a long morning.  He had a plastic dome patch over his eye.  I didn't remember having it on until I thought about it.  I had to use mine the first day and night but after that it was only at night to protect my eye while I slept.  That was for a week.  His instructions?  He has to wear it all day long, every day for a week.

From what he told me, his surgery was more complex than mine.  At least, it took much longer.  Mine was over in 2-3 minutes.  His took over 15 minutes.  I told him his cataract must have been more serious than mine was, especially since I could see clearly the very first day.  His vision is lousy and not the least bit clear he says.  We have to be at the doctor's at 7:30am (means leaving at 6am...sigh) so we will find out what's going on then.  I'll definitely have to drive. 

My carotid surgery is scheduled for Monday at our local hospital.  Well, we have two local ones but I chose the one where I had my leg surgery.  I'll only be in overnight in the ICU.  I'm glad it's that soon so I should be pretty well healed by my granddaughter's wedding.  I'd hate to have to wear a turtleneck in the summer heat.    Then...sigh...another appointment with the retina doctor just five days before her wedding.  But that, thankfully, will be to check on the eye he just did the laser surgery on and to see how much my vision has changed.  After that, it's probably a discussion on what can/should be done.  I told the Beast we are truly old when we have to keep consulting the calendar to be sure we don't have overlapping doctor's appointments.

Chewlee was in a good mood when she got here today.  She spent some time with her mother after school got out then came to Grandma's.  She was a bit unhappy with me though.  I had gotten the new cabinet for my DVD's so I wanted to put it together.  The Beast happily got me his drill plus a hammer.  I say *happily* because HE didn't have to do it.  I don't usually let him anyway.  He screwed up my desk so badly that it took me an hour to undo and correct just the tray for it.  They don't read instructions well.  Hell, sometimes they don't read them at all!

She wanted to play different things with me then copped an attitude when I told her no because I was busy.  She pouted and told me it wasn't fair.  She had no *best friend* to play with her here.  I stopped dead and asked her, *Oh?  Who plays picnic with you?  Who plays restaurant with you?  Who gets you food when you are hungry?  Who gives you milk when you want it?  Who makes you sweet tea?*  After each question, she said, *You.*  When I stopped, she whined..*But you won't play with me NOW!*  I'm sorry but that made me laugh.  I told her she had to help me put together the cabinet and she said, *But, I don't know how to build things!*  So I told her that she could watch and learn and help where she could.  And that's what she did.

BUT...........

As soon as she determined I was done, guess what she expected?  You got it!  We had to play either restaurant or *parent* (I become Mom and I drive her here and there) or store.  When we play store, she buys imaginary food or toys or clothes and I am the store owner.  Then she flips my role into her mother again and she tells me (and shows me) all she's bought.  I always have to wait for her to talk to find out what role I am in when we play that.

She helped me put all the DVD's that had been on the floor into the cabinet then looked at it and said, *Grandma, we need more DVD's.*  ROFLMAO!!!!   When I move the DVD's off the shelves over the TV, it will look much more filled than it does right now.  It will allow me to put my CD's neatly on the shelves over the TV and it will look much neater.  Right now, they are piled up like you wouldn't believe.  It's a nightmare to try to locate anything.

When the Princess got here, Chewlee and I were playing a hidden objects game.  She was allowing me a turn even.  Actually, she was tired and anxious to go home.  I thought she would want a bath but she told me no, she had already had one.  It wasn't until the Princess got here that I realized she hadn't.  The Princess basically was ticked off that SHE had to give her a bath.  All I could think was...shit, next time tell me you want me to give her one.  I'm not charging you for my services so don't get pissed at me!  It's different if I actually get paid and/or appreciated, don't you think?

She does, once in a great while, buy me a bottle of Mudslide or vodka but that's not a weekly thing even.  Hell, it's not even a monthly thing unless I ASK.  That's the truth.  BUT....you have to understand this.....she is going to college to get her BA in math and her teaching certification.  That's tough to do when you have a kid and a household to help support.  She sure doesn't get anything from the biological father (but the paternal grandfather is good to Chewlee).  Taking care of Chewlee gives me a sense of helping her out.  I don't want to add to her burden.  It's my way of helping ease some of what could be a financial strain.  So there are different ways of looking at things.  At least I think she should appreciate the fact that I AM doing this to help out.  I love them both.  I know Chewlee loves me.  I'm just not sure about the Princess.

Love you all.  Have a great weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I didn't sleep well last night so when I got up (again) around 6am, I figured the heck with it and got dressed for when we went to the DMV.  If I had realized they changed the system a bit, I would have gone back to sleep and not worried about getting there early to avoid the crowd.  New licensees, license transfers from another state and those that must take the driving test now go to the old DMV location.  If you are just renewing your drivers license, renewing your license plates or registering a new/used car purchase, you go to the courthouse.  Talk about quick and easy!

The Beast took me out to breakfast, which I enjoyed.  It's been a while.  We came home and we both went back to bed and slept for a couple hours.  I had just gotten up when Johnnycakes dropped Chewlee off at the house.  I hadn't expected him to pick her up from her half day at school and drop her off here immediately but, hey, she was in a happy mood and I had some good, if short, sleep.

We played a few games on Pogo then had a *picnic* then she played restaurant.  I finally told her I didn't want to play any more.  She exhausts me sometimes and I cry *uncle*.  The Beast took pity on me and let Chewlee watch her cartoons on the big TV.  I decided to take a short nap and so did she!  LOL!  She tried to tell me she didn't take a nap (I woke up before she did), she was just *resting her eyes*. 

We had sandwiches and apples for dinner and then the Beast took us out for some ice cream.  When we got home, Chewlee jumped in the bathtub so she would be ready when her mother got there for her.  The Princess didn't get out from her classes up in Athens until almost 6.  It was just about 8pm when she got here, tired and a bit cranky but happy that Chewlee got a smiley face for today.

I found out today that the Princess is taking the Beast to Huntsville for his eye surgery tomorrow instead of me.  I only have to worry about being here when Johnnycakes drops off Chewlee (another half day of school).  I'll also be here when my DVD cabinet I ordered is delivered.  I'll be so happy to get that taken care of and get my DVD's off the floor and reorganized.

Since the Beast is leaving early, I'm debating about moving a few things here in my room around just to see how they will fit.  I need to move them to vacuum the rug well anyway so I figured, why not?  I may even slow cook the baby back ribs we have in the Hickory Brown Sugar Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce for dinner.  We tried out that flavor the other day and really like it but the Beast didn't put it on enough of the ribs I had boiled up (beef).  He used the regular flavor on most of the ribs and I told him he should have done it 50/50 but he wasn't sure he would like it.  Heh!  He only thinks about if HE will like it.  Sheesh.

Oh well.  Love you all.  I'm really tired and am going to bed early.  Be good.  Drive carefully. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was another one of those mornings when I didn't want to get up.  I stayed in bed until it was almost 10am.  The Beast went down to the courthouse to get both our cars registered (and the one license plate transferred).  Then he drove past the Driver's License building and it was packed he said.  He couldn't see us out there in the sun for a couple hours.  So that was the end of any idea of going there to renew my license.  We will have no choice tomorrow since I must be able to drive legally after the Beast's cataract surgery.

He would actually be able to drive with the sunglasses they give him IF it were just a matter of recovering.  That's the easy part.  The reason he won't be able to is he has to have glasses on to drive.  With one eye corrected with a lens implant, he can't wear his glasses for the correction he needs on the other eye.  So, I must drive.

So, I decided to start clearing out my flower boxes.  They have been neglected because the Beast can't tell weeds from many flowers and he doesn't recognize grass until it starts to stick it's tongue out at him because he can't reach it in his John Deere (unless he's sitting on it, parked next to the boxes and pulling it by hand).  Fat chance of that.  The grass must have been about a foot and a half tall!  Of course, it was all bent over, trying to hide, I guess.  At least, that's what I told the Beast.  He was going to give me a hand but grabbed a bunch of grass and got a few thorns mixed in because he wasn't paying attention and grabbed some of my rose bush, too. 

I had gloves on but still took it slowly because the gloves aren't all leather.  I also tried to be careful that I didn't pull out any of the perennial plants I have in there.  I did that after lunch and was surprised that time was flying by.  Of course, what I haven't told you about was the Beast decided he would wash and wax the new car (plus he noticed a strange smell inside the *new* car...kind of like dirty socks...faint, but there).  I became his *helper* without volunteering to help.  He ignored the fact that I was busy and kept asking me to come look at this, come smell that, would I get him this?  would I get him that?  I'm sure you know what I mean.  It was really starting to piss me off but then Chewlee's bus was here so that ended MY being outside.

She told me about school while I made some sweet tea (her drink of choice lately), turned on her cartoons and we played the new Clue episode together.  She was upset when she found out she wasn't going to be here until after dark (we just had to wait for her mother to drive home from the Athens campus...about an hour, hour and a half away).  We'll have her longer the next couple days, however, because those are her half days at school so she will need to be picked up at 11:30pm.  Johnnycakes will do it tomorrow and Thursday, we will do it on Friday.  I have to check with the Princess about Thursday in case we aren't home before Johnnycakes has to leave for work.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should recheck the schedule for this week. 

Love you all.  Gotta get my butt to bed now so I am awake early and ready for the DMV.  I just hope they don't give me a lot of trouble over it.  Be good.  Have a great hump day. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I got so involved with the Chewlee fiasco on her first day of school, I forgot all about reporting on the last eye surgery.  I had woken up around 6am to go to the bathroom so I decided I would get dressed and go back to sleep so that I could sleep as long as possible.  Well, after washing up, putting on a bra (I really hate them) and getting dressed, it was 6:30am and I gladly grabbed that pillow and fell asleep.  The Beast tried to wake me up around 7:15am and I yelled at him to let me sleep and that I was already dressed.  He backed out of the room and I didn't see him again until 8am.  That gave me 15 minutes to make sure I had everything I needed, pour myself some coffee and make sure I had an empty bladder.  I really, really didn't want to wake up for some reason.  I was tired.

I was awake when I got to the doctor's office, I think.  It felt like it anyway.  But I couldn't believe it!  I forgot to take the pain medication and the relaxer a half hour before I got there.  So they put the drops in my eyes, handed me some water and I popped them both in my mouth.  I DID have them with me, thankfully.  Since my eyes seem to resist dilation, it worked out okay.  I was ready when the doctor was ready.

This last surgical round was different.  He actually had some kind of special lens on my eye while my head was in that contraption that keeps your head in place.  My right eye had to follow this light (the left eye automatically follows) so he could get a good look at what he was doing.  The laser color was different, too.  It went fast and I think even he was surprised.  I only have to use the drops one more day he told me instead of the four days he originally instructed me to use them.

I go back in three weeks for him to check everything out and make sure it's doing well.  He said to me, *Then we will discuss what is needed to improve your vision in that eye since you have that scar tissue.*  I told him, *The thought of you taking my eye out of my socket to operate on it creeps me out.*  He laughed and said, *Try not to think about it.  Just be glad you don't have to be awake for that kind of surgery!*  Yuck!  I don't know that I will need any but I thought I would bring it out in the open that I AM aware of some of the procedures used.

NOW we are working on getting the Beast's eye ready for the first of his cataract surgeries.  The first one will be this Thursday.  The second the following week.  Today we started two different eye drops.  One he gets in his eye three times a day, the other four times.  The final drop is used the day before the surgery and then on the morning of his surgery.  Guess who gets to drive him home? 

Actually, cataract surgery is a snap.  I've had it and was shocked at how much better my vision was in each eye afterward.  The lenses put in after the cataract was removed made my vision correction but I DO have to use OTC glasses for reading. 

We bought the second car.  We got the one I wanted which is the 2005 Buick that looks like brand new except for a tiny wear spot on the arm rest.  I like the way it rides.  Bratfink calls it a *pimpmobile* but it isn't really.  It's bigger than the new Chevy we have but nothing like the old Buicks from when I was a kid.  The seating is leather (and it has heaters in them for winter).   I like everything about it except for the fact that it's white.  You just can't keep white clean.   Oh well.  You can't have everything, I guess.

Tomorrow I go down to the Motor Vehicle office and get my license renewed so I don't have to worry about anything.  I hope it's simple to get done.  We sure don't need any more twists and turns.

Love you all.  Have a great day. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Life with Chewlee around is never dull for one reason or another.  Today was her first day of *real* school.  Her first day in kindergarten.  The Princess had packed her a lunch even though Chewlee gets hers free because of two things:  school lunches sometimes suck big time! and, because Chewlee can be very fussy about what she will eat. 

She didn't take the school bus to school this morning because her paternal grandfather was here and wanted to take pictures of it.  But she got on it after school was over (even got the correct one).  However, her mother was standing by the screen door waiting and the school bus whizzed by without letting anyone off.

The Princess called the Beast to find out if he had perhaps picked her up (no, he hadn't) and then she called me to find out if she had been dropped off (no, she hadn't).  When the Princess called the school, she was told that the kids sometimes fall asleep after being busy at school all day so the driver would either bring her home or back to the school.  They told her to wait 15 minutes.

About three minutes after the Princess told me this, what should make the turn at our corner but a big yellow school bus.  Sure enough, it stopped in front of the house and Chewlee came running down the steps calling out, *Grandma!  Grandma!*

The bus driver was on his cell phone (possibly talking to the school) and, when he got off, I told him that Mondays are her *drop off at home days* and the rest of the week, she comes here.  Chewlee stood right by the steps and said, *You went right past my house and I TOLD you!*  When he asked if she would be taking the bus TO school, I told him he would pick her up at home every morning.  She hadn't gone on it today only because we had family that wanted pictures of her first day.  He wrote it down in his book so, hopefully, we won't have a scare like we did today again.

Chewlee was unhappy that, since she was here anyway, she couldn't just stay.  She tried to get her mother (who jumped in the car as soon as I called) to let her stay but got excited when she was told that someone named Irene was coming to visit her so they had to get home fast.  That got her moving!  Then her mother added the frosting on the cake with.....*and I made you some cookies for your milk*.

Chewlee was happy about her new teacher.  She likes her.  She gave her *the rules* right away and Chewlee started telling me what all the rules were.  She was unhappy about the kids because she said they all had best friends already so she had no one to play with.  I told her to never fear, she would find HER best friend in a few days.  I had to laugh because when she told that to her mother, the Princess, she said the exact same thing!

She told me they did *numbers* today and she wrote down all her letters and the teacher was surprised but told her she was going to have to practice doing them neater.  She told Chewlee not to worry, she (the teacher) would help her learn how to do that.  I knew the teacher was going to work on THAT with her.  Even with my getting her that special paper for kids that are learning (wide lines with a broken one halfway between), because *I* wasn't a teacher and she wasn't in school, she didn't really feel she had to listen to me.  Once I gave her the tablet, it was HER paper and she could write on it any way she wanted.  Little snot.

She had more to tell me but her mother pulled up so she said she would tell me more tomorrow.  Offhand, I would say she enjoyed her day overall.  She just needs to find herself a best friend soon and she will be a very happy child.

She had forgotten to grab her backpack off the bus when she saw me walking down the driveway to the bus but Olivia (a neighborhood girl, older) noticed and brought it to the door.  Chewlee ran up to her, thanked her and grabbed it, threw it over one shoulder like a pro and then ran back to me.  I reminded her that Olivia was one of her friends, too, but I guess she doesn't count because she is in a different room.    Chewlee kept giving me these looks like I was some alien person because I didn't know all this stuff already.

That was our excitement for today.  Now watch, tomorrow the bus driver will forget and try to drop Chewlee off at home instead of our place.  That'll be different.  But I know Chewlee.....she will be very vocal about it and he will get a real piece of her mind!  When she wants to go to Grandma's (and she knows she should be here) she will make sure she gets here! 

Love you all.  If your kids are back to school now, too, join the rest of us in a drink.  Summer is officially over, regardless of what the outside temperature says. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I thought our search for a second car was done when we spotted the Buick.  Alas!  The Beast found another, newer car with less miles on it and the record shows it was well taken care of from oil changes to tire rotations.  It looks like brand new and is another Buick.  Then the Beast comes up with another idea.....let's wait until we are paid for the house by Tara and buy a new, smaller Chevy that gives great gas mileage.  Cost?  Around $18K if the prices don't change much. 

Me?  I was totally pissed off.  I told him that we didn't NEED another new car with fantastic gas mileage.  We don't go anywhere except to the doctors offices, to occasionally visit one of our kids (and that is rare indeed!) and the normal grocery shopping, clothes shopping, etc.  We don't do a lot of traveling so our second car doesn't need fantastic mileage.  We just need it for those times the Beast is gone and I stay behind.

He wants one vehicle that will not have dog hair in it so when we have someone sitting in the back seats, they don't become covered with dog hair.  You would not believe how much hair a doberman can shed.  It's incredible the amount of hair we get when we vacuum.  The last time he vacuumed, he emptied the container (we have a Dyson) and we couldn't believe how much hair came out of the seats (which we HAD covered well...we thought) and the rugs.  We also found a lot on the FRONT rugs and seats.  When we emptied the hair out of the container, it would have made a prize coat for a small terrier.  I kid  you not.  And we try to vacuum the car at least once a month.  Sometimes it's more often. 

So far, he's managed to only have the dog in the new car once.  That was when he took the dog to the pet store since he can go in with the Beast.  The Beast loves people's reactions to Baron.  First, they are startled to see such a big dog without a leash on him just sniffing around the store.  The people there all know Baron and they, too, get a kick out of the reactions of the people in the store.  Baron will sniff at a lot of the exposed dog treats but he doesn't eat any.  It's like he knows that is not allowed.  But, if he's told he can pick a treat, he does and you can see how pleased he is on his face.  Anyone who thinks dogs can't have expression on their faces has never owned a dog.

I told the Beast that he needs to get back to his normal behavior with Baron because I am tired of having a depressed dog in the house.  The Beast doesn't take Baron with him any more.  Baron walks around with his head and tail down and just plops down near an open door or window and watches for his man to come home.  It's sad to watch.

So tomorrow we are going to look at both cars he found and, perhaps, more while we are in Huntsville.  I want a car, even if it DOES have dog hair in it, that *I* can drive whenever the hell I want.  The Beast has gotten possessive about the new Chevy and keeps telling me it has a lot of features I don't know how to use.  Hell, I can turn on the radio and use the cruise control.  What more do I need to know?  Sheesh!  I found a couple low mileage cars that are cheaper than what the Beast has been looking at plus they are newer.  We shall see.  We ARE going to look after I am done at the doctor's.  I am bringing my own sunglasses.  They won't look as weird as what they give you and they are just as dark to protect my eyes.

Love you all.  Wish me luck. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I knew the second laser surgery was rougher than the first but I wasn't really prepared for it actually being painful enough to wake me up twice during the night.  I fell asleep early and it woke me up around 1:30am.  I put some drops in to soothe the eye.  There was a little burn and then relief!  I stayed up for about 45 minutes or so then went back to sleep.

At 6am, I had to get up for a bathroom break and another drop or two in the eye.  I went right back to sleep and slept like the dead for another couple of hours.  Twice more I had my eye ache to let me know it was there but the drops really helped.  It's been about 6 hours since the last time I put drops in my eye but there's no ache now.  I'm glad I have an extra healing day before I have the last surgery on Monday.  That will more than likely be as easy on me as the first one was.  I'm just thinking about the scans I was shown (w/contrast) and the doctor pointing out which areas would be done during each step.  I knew the second one would be the worst as far as discomfort.  Once that is completed, then I can get together with my surgeon to figure out when I will have the carotid surgery.  **Sigh**  That's another way you know you are getting old.  You schedule surgeries.  I'm also going to have to have the arthroscopic surgery to find out what is what in my right leg.  That's the one with the bypass.  I'm just getting used to putting both heels down on the floor at the same time since the heel has healed. 

THEN...I have to make an appointment with the orthopedic doctor for the prosthetic toe and my shoes.  With any luck at all, that should be it for this year.  I hope.

The Beast may have found us a really nice second car.  It's a 2005 Buick that looks damn near brand new.  The only *bad* spot looks like a small worn area on the arm rest.  The seats are leather and the dash looks snazzy.  He really thinks of it as MY car and the Chevy is HIS.  Of course.  That's the new one.   Like I've said many times before, it's always about HIM first and foremost.  He has to have the best and the newest of anything we own.  And, in truth, WE don't own anything.  HE owns it but he lets me use it.  If I hadn't been there when we bought the Chevy, it would have been in his name only.  That would have been fun when he died.  I would have had to go through hell to get it in my name AND pay some extra taxes, too.  Now it's under both our names with an *or* so that it will automatically be mine when he dies.  **Grin**

It will be the same with this new car if we buy it.  We still have to take it for a drive since it was spotted after hours.  We'll do that tomorrow more than likely.

We did get some good news.  Our niece, Tara, should be able to go ahead and buy the house she's been living in this coming January.  That will be a relief.  She will then own it outright and it will make her finances that much easier on her with starting her business and all.  It's growing, slowly but surely, but it will take a world of worry off her shoulders. 

More good news.  The Princess sat down and really figured out where she was educationally towards her BA.  She discovered that she will have her degree in a year and a half.  All she will need to do is her *apprenticeship* period (that's not the right term but she has to serve it before she can be certified to teach).  Since she will graduate in spring, she can serve it during the spring semester and then be eligible for hiring for the fall semester.  So, two years from now, she could be teaching school here.  Won't that be cool? 

Chewlee's paternal grandfather is here this weekend.  He wants to be there for her first day in REAL school for some reason.  I know he will be taking pictures for the rest of his family.  They haven't really seen her except through Skype for about three years.  I count my blessings that I get to see so much of her while I can.  In a few years, she won't want to spend so much time with us *old* people.  She will have friends she will want to be with instead so I am keeping these times close to my heart.

She's become very interested in spelling words lately.  I spend a lot of time spelling words for her and she writes them down.  I'm sneaky, though, and I will wait (sometimes for a day or more) and then I ask her how to spell the words.  Some she really does remember but others, it's back to writing them down.  I told her she needs to write the same word five times and that will help her remember.  I had to show her how to write them in a row.  Her printing is really a mess.  That will be something her teacher will have to help her out with.  She will be anxious to please her teacher so she will listen more to her than she does to me about that.  I'm just her grandma that loves her.  Ask her...she'll tell you that. 

Time to get this posted.  That's all I have to share today.  Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and a great week ahead.  Be happy. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

We were pretty pathetic looking people this morning having to be up early and get ready for that rid up into Huntsville,  We knew we had to try to beat the traffic heading for the arsenal which is still the main employer up there even though the space projects have almost totally been shut down.

I was stil half asleep and sucking heavily on my coffee I'd brought with me.  I had plans to sleeep until we got to the doctor's office.  What I hadn't counted on was the Beast.  He kept asking me to do this or that to the point that I became thoroughly awake. 

I took my Ativan and Lortab in the car when it was just 30 minutes before my scheduled appointment time (as was prescribed) so that I wouldn't be anxious or afraid.  I didn't feel unusually relaxed and I have a feeling the Ativan doesn't really work on me.  But I don't want to try anything else at this point.  I only have one more surgery on Monday anyway.

Today I hurt.  The inside of my eye feels a bit on the raw side.  I don't really know how to explain it.  It isn't that it's terribly uncomfortable but it IS uncomfortable and mildly painful at times. I'm also more tired than I was the other day.  This tired is from the surgery today.  It's like my body is saying to me, *Get down and get some sleep, gal...we need to heal and we can't do that with you awake and aware.

I'm a great believer in listening to what your body is telling you to do so I will be heading for my recliner at least when this is done.  When the doctor was working on my eye, I knew the area he was working on when it started becoming painful.  I'd seen the pictures of my retina and where the scar tissue was thickest.  So the pain wasn't a surprise, per se.   I may use a bit more of the drops if it continues to feel it's on the dry side but I do have two refills for it.  I'll let you know how the night goes.

Love you all.  Have a great weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Last night I had a bit of pain in my eye after the surgery.  But a drop of the medication he prescribed, a touch of heat and pain and then it all was soothed.  Nothing that was difficult or really PAINFUL, just enough to make me remember that I had the surgery. 

Tomorrow morning I go for the second surgery.  Tough to think of a laser as *surgery* but it is.  Just the laser doesn't require stitches afterward.    It IS the stitches. 

The second set starts at 9:30am.  It means we have to be up early and on the road by 8am because we will hit the traffic to the base located just off the main drag we have to take into Huntsville.  If we are lucky, we should get there about 15 minutes before my appointment.

Last night, I put the drops in my eye when I went to bed and had no trouble falling asleep even though I could feel some pressure/pain at the back of my eye.  After my drop this morning, I've had no real problems at all.  In fact, I notice an improvement in my vision.  I'm not having those times when I suddenly get double vision.  It's just from the left eye, of course.  If I closed my eye, it went away and that is how I knew something was wrong with my eye.  I have to be honest.  I thought the implanted lens had slipped and I was glad to find out it hadn't but didn't enjoy finding out what was really wrong with my eye.

Chewlee told me again today that I was her favorite Grandma...(I'm actually the only grandmother she knows well.  Her other grandmother is in Michigan).  When I thanked her and asked her why I was her favorite, she told me it was because I played picnic with her, and restaurant, and school, and etc., etc.  She really had a list going in her head and it made me feel good.  I like that she has such a vivid imagination and she will carry on conversations with her dolls if they are part of the *game*.  She can be such a joy to just watch at times.

She worries that the doctor might be hurting me and she doesn't like the fact that she can't go in with me.  We aren't taking her with us tomorrow (Johnnycakes will be able to watch her until we get back then the Beast will pick her up).  The Beast really couldn't stand her whining about not being with me and would end up yelling at her.  Not a good scenario.  He doesn't handle some things well.

Love you all.  Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well tomorrow.  Be good and remember, it's FRIDAY!!!!  Have a great weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today was the big day.  The first of three laser treatments to my retina (the back of the eye is the actual retina).  The purpose was to get rid of the fold and scar tissue to prevent any more bleeding into my eye.  There hasn't been a lot of that, thankfully, but any is too much.

I actually had an anxiety attack the night before.  I'd never had one before but I recognized what it was and took a pill to relax me and talked myself into not being so afraid.  I don't think I have ever been afraid of surgery before.  But this was my first experience with a laser and I did have a question.  Mainly, I wondered what it would do to the implant in my eye from the glaucoma surgery.  But I got a very simple explanation about why it would have no effect.  Have you ever used a magnifying glass to burn something?  The focus of the magnifying glass is the only part that causes any effect.  You can put your hand through that beam of focused light and nothing happens.  It's just what it's focused on that there's an effect.  I found that amazing from what I had imagined a laser was able to do.

I took my prescribed meds on the way to the doctor's office like I had been told.  I was still a bit scared but I knew it had to be done.  The doctor had shown me the pictures of my retina and the area that was going to be worked on.  What DID shock me when he was ready to start is he told me each treatment would be approximately 500 laser hits.  My eye was very dilated and extremely well numbed when he started.  He told me if it got too uncomfortable for me, to just tell him and we would take a break.  I could feel the laser hits and there was mostly pressure.  He hit one spot, however, that I said, *Ouch!  That hurt!*  He stopped and told me it was just a sensitive area.

By the time I have all three treatments, I will have been hit by the laser 1500 times.  Weird for so small an area of attention.  I hope it does the job or the only alternative is surgery.  I saw eye surgery on one of the information channels a few years ago and THAT scares the hell out of me.  I'm praying this does the trick.

I felt mostly tired on my way home.  However, when I walked out of the car and into the house, I had to immediately lay down to keep from vomiting.  I'm not sure if it was because of the anxiety or all the medications, including the topical ones.  I fell asleep for a short time but my stomach was under control when I woke up.  I ate lightly and found I was extremely tired.  I hadn't slept well the night before (part of the anxiety on my part) but having had the first surgery and found almost no paid, I was ready to make up for that.  I used the drops prescribed (the doctor said to be sure to use four drops by bedtime to hasten the eye feeling normal).  I'll  take one last drop after I get this posted and go to bed.

At least now I know what to expect.  My appointment for the second treatment is on Friday at 9:30am...ugg!  Too early.  I may have to keep Chewlee for a sleepover tomorrow (Thursday) because of leaving so early on Friday.  I'll have to check with the Princess to see if it's an early shift for her on Friday or the later one.  Chewlee has been dying for a sleepover so she would be happy.  I'm just not sure that the Beast will be. 

Love you all.  Thanks for any prayers offered up for me.  Keep 'em coming until I'm all done.