brain musings

In early August, I got my second opinion about my eye.  Since then, I have been trying to figure out in my brain what to do next.  And take care of all the people in my life who I take care of.

The second opinion is that I will need a cornea transplant.  The ophthalmologist believes this would have happened with or without the injury from the ax.  The head trauma just made it happen now.  She believes that I have something called ICE syndrome.  What caused it?  Not sure.  It may be viral.  My arthritis may be a factor.  It will be a factor about how long the transplant would last.  It is possible I would need a cornea transplant every five years.

I am wondering if this is a way for my body to tell me to rest.  To take care of myself instead of others.  The surgery would also require a cataract surgery at the same time.  I would need to be flat on my back for three days (45 minutes out of every hour).  I am not sure how that would happen with my life.  My boys really like Alaska The Last Frontier and they say a lot "with this lifestyle, this is how this works."  That is how I feel about this surgery.  With my life, how would I make it work.

I have medical ground work to do and tall short person has school where I watch the boys twice a week.  My ophthalmologist is changing practices.  The surgery I would need is also not common so there is usually only a few surgeons in a city that can do it.  Whether Houston or Seattle, it will take doing.

During all this, I have been back and forth to my Dad's too.  More doctors appointments.  Shoe shopping that turned into a doctors appointment.  Potential of more surgery.  My sister found a companion for him so that is less of a worry.  He did fine by himself but he did not really wish to be alone in case something happened.  As he pointed out, health decline can happen fast and everyone else is a flight away.  I do not worry so much if I cannot get up there every other week.  And with doctor appointments, work, and family, sometimes it doe not work that well.

We planned a trip to Homer this fall.  That is where these pictures are coming from.  I really like picking a state, then a small town, and going.  I gave the boys the choice of Utah, the mountain, or Alaska.  They chose Alaska.  I then said Sitka, Homer, or Kodiak.  They said Homer because we had already done Sitka.  It was a long flight and a unexpectedly long drive to Homer.  The four hour drive turned more into six.  Would I do it again?  Yes.

Homer is a small town.  It was shoulder season so we missed some festivals.  The autumn colors were lovely.  The temperatures were wonderful.  We had much rain for a few days so I was glad the duplex we rented had a washer and dryer.

Was there a lot to do in Homer?  Not really.  The Pratt museum was good, especially with Blue who ran through it but thought all the skeletons of animals were great.  The Wildlife Refuge Center was also good, but again boys attention spans.  There was shopping but the main place we went was the hardware store.  There were a lot of places that were already closed for the season, especially on the spit. 

I did look up a lot of the easy hikes.  Blue does not really do distances yet.  I was trying to keep the hikes under 2 miles and they worked for him.  Both energy and attention span.  Bear grumbled about every hike until he was on it and then he would say it was the best time ever!  We went walked the beach, walked the Beluga Slough Trail, Alpine Meadows loop, and Calvin and Coyle Trail.  I could have walked more but all of these worked with ALL the boys.  

I would actually go back when we can saunter longer.  But I have a feeling that another small town will be fixed next.  Driving to Anchorage has also been talked about.  I also really liked that we had a duplex with our own kitchen and washer and dryer.  We ate much better because of it.  We ate once in Homer at Thai Cosmic Kitchen.  Highly recommend.  It is some of the best Thai food I have had.  I was told Thai food is very popular in Alaska.

Adventures are good.  

I made it to 2022

I made it to 2022.  That is about how I feel right now.  The month of December was mad when it came to the business.  Which was a good thing when it came to the business but not a great thing when it came to things like remembering to wrap presents.  

Myself and my Beloved went to my Dad's for Christmas and the week after.  Snohomish and Bellingham got more snow that stayed longer then has happened since the 1960's.  My brother and sister with their families were also at Dad's for that week so it was interesting.  The main roads were clear but none of the side roads.  My Dad's four wheel drive truck was wonderful.  It also means I am starting to think about a four wheel drive truck for my next truck.

When I was up there, I went and saw my morphologist.  The axe head to the face caused my left eye to be inflamed.  I was telling them in ER that I was not seeing as well from my left eye but it was not as important as my laceration and slight TBI.  Nothing was healing with my eye and I even felt like it was getting worse.  Diagnosed as an inflamed eye.  There are currently drops going on and there have been three visits so far.  There is healing but we will see what my next appointment brings.  I may need to see a corneal specialist.

After the snow.  After one of the best meals out I have ever had at El Gaucho's for my Dad's birthday, time to head back to Texas.

We actually did not get all the way back to Texas.  Our second flight was cancelled and we spent the night in Las Vegas.  We just took it as a grand adventure.  I found a great last minute rate at the Bellagio.  We had dinner at Spago's on their deck.  We watched the fountain show.  It was lovely.  The Spago dinner was lovely but it was too close to the El Gaucho dinner to judge it fairly.  I would have dinner there again with out a qualm!  The only thing was that in less then 24 hours back to Texas, I was back to Washington. 

I think busy, maybe even manic busy, is how my year is going to go.  We are going to try to be better about camping.  I want more beach time.  More surf time.  More walking time.  I want to time to play outside.

I hope your holiday went well and the start of 2022 is going well.