Category: My Life

The elation of getting my vision back hit a brick wall today. I got my temporary prescription filled, put my glasses on for the first time and I felt like I was going to fall over. I couldn’t see much at all. I panicked! I had the technician check the lenses. Surely someone had made a mistake!

Hubby arrived in the shop at this point and gently reminded me that Dr. W. had warned me that until my stitches come out my vision will not be perfect. The right eye is fine, but the left eye has double vision due to the stitches. With this prescription I see better, but not perfectly. He finally convinced me to leave the shop with the glasses on and to give it a try.

We drove down to Concord and went to a Greek festival for lunch. I was still having trouble with my vision, but I must add here that the quality, the clearness is perfect, so I just have to be patient until the stitches come out.

However, patient, I am not.

I had a wonderful Moussaka for lunch and Hubby had Souvlaki. It was fantastic! Our friends belong to this church and we go every year to enjoy the good food, the friendly people and support their church.

Then we went shopping. Both at LL Bean and then for food. I found a great fleece jacket at LL Bean, and well, lots of food at the grocery store.

I finally had to do a little driving on our way home when we picked up the other car. I was okay as long as I did not turn my head.

Okay, I admit it. I’m feeling a little frustrated and a little depressed tonight. I guess in this fast paced world of ours we all expect instant perfection, and that isn’t going to be the case with my eye.

Patience…patience…patience.

Once upon a time in the land of lakes and mountains, there lived a girl named Maribeth. She lived in a house with her Hubby and two dogs, Fritz and Greta. She had a garden of vegetables and 35 fruit trees, which surrounded her house. Her life was quiet and good and she was very happy.

One cool, dark, night the small dog, Greta needed to be walked outside in the back yard.. So Maribeth got on her coat and slippers and went outside with little Greta on a leash.

Suddenly Greta stopped moving. Greta’s ears perked up, her nose started to sniff and then Maribeth could hear a low, slow, growl emanating from her throat. Fritz, the larger dog had nudged the door to the house open just a little and he had his head sticking out. Maribeth could hear a low, slow, growl coming from him as well.

Then a whooshing noise came from the field, and Maribeth knew something large was rushing toward them! Since a Mama Bear and two baby bears had been seen in the neighborhood recently, Maribeth quickly ran into the house, dragging a barking Greta, as quickly as she could!

Maribeth pressed her face against the glass of the door in an attempt to see what was out there. Greta and Fritz continued to both growl and bark. Something was out there!

Maribeth came back to the safety of her computer and tried to ignore the dogs. Perhaps, if they all ignored the critter outside, it would just go away!

An hour or so later, the dogs needed to go out again, and Maribeth couldn’t say no. As much as she feared the bear, she knew she must do this. Slowly, she opened the door. Stepping carefully outside with Greta on a leash, she inched her way toward the grass, her ears perked up, (Maribeth’s, not Greta’s) listening intently for any sudden noises. None came.

When both dogs had communed with nature, Maribeth came inside, closed and locked the door and then finally started to breath again.

It was a big day today. My one month check up on my eye. I wanted to get a temporary prescription that would afford me some sort of normal sight in that eye. What I hadn’t counted on was that the stitches would cause a distortion that can only be described as a form of double vision in that one eye. It’s quite odd.

I refused to get upset about it, telling the technician and the medical student and the resident that I really thought the stitches had something to do with it. An eye topography was done and when I saw Dr. W. she confirmed that this was indeed the case.

She did prescribe a temporary prescription and that will help me to see a little better. I stopped at Wal-Mart and ordered the cheapest lenses for my glasses that I could. I can hardly wait for them to come in!

Hubby and I spoke at length with Dr. W. today and discovered that she speaks German! It turns out that she learned German in High School and then won a competition and spent 6 months in Germany! Part of the time she was in Nürnberg and the rest in West Berlin. So she and Hubby spoke a little in German! Needless to say, I told her about Greta and the dog show and the perspective puppies!

My stitches will remain in for a while longer. I am thinking it will be around Christmas before they come out. I told her that this was okay.

Everything in it’s time.

I went to North Conway yesterday and was able to visit my favorite store, The LL Bean Outlet. I’m not usually lucky with Outlet stores. My size is usually gone and I end up buying things for Hubby. There is always a ton of tall man’s stuff there and he tends to make out like a bandit!
Yesterday, I made out like a bandit! I got:
A coral sand colored mock turtleneck.

A new cream fleece bathrobe for the winter.

A new pair of winter boots.

And a new pair of lined ski pants!

Yes, I felt heady with the purchases weighing down my arms. What a joy. We even went over to Liz Claiborne where I tried on a few things, coming away with a short sleep blue shirt and a new pair of brown trousers!

Ah yes, retail therapy. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Today the joke was on me. And all I can say to Mother Nature is, “Not Funny.”

I was a little late starting dinner. This means that at 5:30 I was looking at a few cookbooks wondering what culinary masterpiece I could pull off in the span of a half an hour.

I decided that I could probably muster up a baked French Onion Soup and a Salad Nicoise. I started to slice up the onions, when, all of a sudden, WHAM!

The mother of all hotflashes hit me. Now usually if I drink some ice water and rip off all the clothes on my body I start to cool off. Today that didn’t work. It was odd. I started to feel shakey and the sweating was worse and I realized I hadn’t had very much in the way of protien at either breakfast or lunch.

I was having a hotflash AND a low blood sugar attack!

I quickly drank a large glass of orange juice, while shoving some of the gruere cheese into my mouth, (a lovely combination, to be sure!) after about 15 minutes I was back to normal, but stood there soaking wet.

Now, I have to say, menopause is definately not all it is cracked up to be. First of all, the hotflashes, have nothing to reccomend them, to be sure. You think maybe you can stand it, but I have to tell you, no matter what people say about finally feeling warm in their old age, well this is like the devil on crack! Just too darn hot!

Then there is the emotion thing. Hmmm, that’s like PMS all the time. One minute you feel okay and the next you are crying like a baby!

And my metabolism? Yep, it’s a real drag. I went from having a fairly good one to having the metabolic rate of a turtle. A 95 year old turtle that is half dead! Not fair. At this time in a woman’s life you should at least be able to indulge in chocolate and not gain weight! Chocolate would help, I just know it would!

So I’m not happy, do you hear? I am not happy at all.

Time to hit the shower, oh yeah, and put some clothes back on.

Okay, so I know what you will all say. Yes, I probably did too much, so I have no one to blame but myself for the eye ache I’m having tonight.

My only defense is: I’ve been bored! I’m passionate about my Soap Operas, but I have to tell you, when all you do is sit on your proverbial bottom and watch, (in fact listen) to the TV, you get bored fast. Even with the Soaps!!! (I know, you are shocked!)

I’ve never really known what a putterer I was until now. I will go from one thing to the next to the next and sort of watch the Soaps while I’m doing my work. This down and out stuff is murder.

So, I started doing my stuff again. Changing sheets, doing laundry, cooking meals and (I know, I know, the forbidden) I vacuumed. I couldn’t stand it another minute.

Then this afternoon after I got back from driving Greta to have her nails clipped and her ears plucked, my eye started to hurt. Ooops. Let’s see, not supposed to be driving, or vacuuming, or bending over to change the sheets. So guess the sore eye is a natural thing. Better sit down.

So I sat down and rested a bit, took some Tylenol and waited. The pain got better.

You see, although many of us think we could just give up doing the stuff we do, it’s not always as easy as we think. The first few times I did stuff, I felt good and so I tempted fate a little more and a little more. Today was my comeuppance.

So with hand over my heart I promise to be a good girl and not over do. I will do some things, but not overdo. I promise!

Tomorrow I want to make Plum Jam. It’s not hard at all. I can sit while I am slicing and pitting the plums, I can sit while I cook the Jam and then it’s just a matter of putting the Jam into hot jars and sealing them. No bending or anything required.

I guess we all need to be reminded from time to time to take it easy. Just wish my reminder didn’t make my eye hurt. Now that’s not fair! Couldn’t my Fairy Godmother have just come and hit me over the head with her wand?

I’m tired.

I decided it was time to get back to life. Actually I couldn’t stand to sit around for another moment of another day, looking at all of the things that needed to be done.

Hubby has done well. He has made sure I’ve gotten my meals and drinks and a nice place to sleep, but men don’t see dust bunnies, (or in our case huge clumps of white dog fur) newspapers on the floor or the laundry basket that has been sitting in the family room for three days.

Now some of this stuff I can deal with. I carefully stooped down to pick up the newspapers, not bending forward which would put pressure on my eye, and I scooped them up. Check

I put all the laundry in the basket and Hubby carried that down to the basement, where I did three loads of laundry. Check.

I couldn’t quite deal with the dust bunnies, so they are hopping around the house, but I plan to have Hubby get the vacuum out tomorrow so I can do that. Check

We had a small amount of plums in a basket from our tree. I got a recipe for Plum cake, and threw it all together and it came out great!! Check.

Dinner was a frozen pre-made turkey soup with German bread. Easy. Check.

So it’s a start. My mind and body are willing it’s the eye and the head that just do not want to cooperate. I know, I know. Time.

I go for my one week check up today with Dr. W. My appointment is at 11:00 AM. They will check my eye pressure, the sutures and look for any signs of infection.

Hubby is driving me in, and this will be the first time he will meet Dr. W. I know, that like me, he will like her instantly. She is just one of those really likable people.

You know the best part of all of this is, I am not nervous at all. In the past, I have always been nervous going to my eye appointments.

Having my vision back, with no glare, no prisming, etc. leaves me feeling excited and energized and confident! I also feel the eye looks better every day.

Having an incredibly black eye hasn’t bothered me at all. In fact I kind of like it. It’s my badge of courage and victory!

I wonder if Clinique makes this shade of black and blue and yellow make-up for the eyes? It could be a new fashion statement! LOL

Are you all tired about hearing of my black and blue and sore eye, yet? It seems to be the one thing that consumes me each and every moment, of each and every day. Why is this? Could it be I am entirely self centered, or perhaps, I am horribly vain, so that having this black eye is ruining my self image?

Not really. I think the biggest reason that this is on my mind to the exclusion of all else is, the happiness I feel that finally, everything has worked out and my vision has been restored!

I know, you are thinking, “Pah-leeze, I hope she doesn’t tell us the story about the 5 long years of vision loss again!”

Okay, I won’t. You have all heard it before, so I’ll simply say, that the joyous, wondrous, miraculous feeling I have inside right now, is something everyone should experience once in their lives. It makes me truly appreciate my vision, and the expertise of Dr. W.

So happy thoughts to you all on this Monday morning.

I had thought I would enjoy the time I would have to recuperate. After all, all the cooking, the cleaning and the canning had kept me busy from dawn until dusk. However, a few good nights of sleep and I feel like I am ready to go.

Of course this isn’t the case. I’ve got down time, and plenty of it, so that my eye will heal without incident.

Isn’t that funny? How often have we said, “Oh I would love to be able to sit around and do nothing”? The thing is, most of us get bored fast and I think most of us also would like to do our own thing and are used to doing it. Imagine having to ask for someone to cook a meal, or get you a drink? Water to take your pills with? It’s just foreign to me.

I’ve been caring for my family, and my home for 30 years now. I’ve done the cooking of our meals, the cleaning up and the organization. So yes, it’s hard for me to sit back and let others do “my job”.

I’m feeling better and I just need to get through the next few weeks. Then I’ll be home free. I need to relax. To rest and to stay still.