YAY Eye Surgery!

My word view is mighty strange this morning. Left eye: The fire is orange. Right eye: the fire is blue. Left eye: The sky looks grey and ominous. Right eye: the sky looks bright and blue and gives me the impression that the sun will soon be out. It’s discombobulating. My right eye is still swollen and its pupil is still three times the size of my left.

I had a great, long sleep last night after a long day of waiting—waiting for the ferry, waiting for my turn to go in for the procedure, waiting for the anesthetic to work in my eye, and then for the ferry again to come home. But it was a walk in the park and I was lucky to have Jay with me.

The doctor was great. He had a nice calm voice with which he explained everything. I was never tense. It took, maybe fifteen minutes and music was playing the whole time. And when it was done, I walked out of the operating room with a nurse, met Jay and immediately left. 

We made a beeline for food and then went to the doctor’s office to have his work checked. He felt he’d done a great job, so Jay and I took off for the 5:00 pm ferry home and when we pulled into the driveway, Sheba was waiting and watching for me. It felt so, so good to be home.  

I lit the fire to make the house cozy and warm. The hospital was cold; even the staff was complaining about the temperature. And I heated up left over stir-fry I’d saved to make dining last night easy for me.

As the freezing in my eye wore out, it was unpleasant to blink but it wasn’t painful. Besides, I was tired. I put my hard plastic cover over my eye and went to bed.

It’s been dull and damp all day. I’m actually thrilled because bright light is not comfortable yet for my right eye. So my beloved animals and I have been passing a nice quiet day together with the fire lit.

"Surgery" Day

Here goes…

Jay and I are catching the 10:00 ferry. My procedure is at 11:30 and I go back to see the doctor between 3:00 and 4:00. Then Jay brings me home.

It’s a beauty day, so it will be nice to be in Jay’s convertible BMW—and a passenger, not a driver. I’m not at all nervous; I’m sure they know what they are doing and how to handle patients. I believe it’s a short procedure. I hope we can have a nice lunch between it and the follow-up visit with the surgeon.

I’ll be very glad to get home and back with my animals.

Here are some shots from my walk with Sheba this morning along the Trail to Nowhere. Everything is so lush right now, the walks are gorgeous!

Calm

Wednesday was rough. I went through two migraine cycles starting not long after midnight. I felt awful until noon. I rested through the early afternoon and then watered the gardens until I had to stop to prepare dinner for Sue and Fran.

Four times through the day, I put the three new medications I have into my eye. I’m doing it all over again today. For almost a year, it’s been like seeing through thick Vaseline. To read, I have to move my head so much it looks like I have Parkinson’s. But as of Friday, it will finally be over. I find out this afternoon when, tomorrow, I get my procedure done. 

I made stir-fry for my guests. Stir-fry! It’s so unlike what I used to serve, but it’s healthy and Sue and Fran said they loved it. (And they really loved my cake that I thought was a tad dry.)

Today I’ve things to do but no guests and no migraines. I plan to take it very easy today and enjoy myself puttering around the yard. This afternoon, I hear when my “surgery” is tomorrow. Once it’s done, I have two weeks with no guests and no appointments. Heaven!

Annabel Day

It’s a beauty day! The endless good weather is back; it’s predicted to be in the high 20s later this week.

But Monday was wet. It didn’t rain; it drizzled all day long. I was up at 5:00 and then, at 9:00, was a dog walk with my group. Afterwards I came home and went back to bed.

I went shopping and came home to burn several boxes of the sticks and bark crap delivered with the wood—I have mountains of it taking up a quarter of the floor of my huge garage/shed. Then I baked two cakes—one for Annabel’s visit today and one for tomorrow night’s dinner with Fran and Sue.

I loved baking on a rainy day. I listened to Radio One (CBC) and had the fire lit, but the doors were open. It was lovely. The animals were quiet all day, as though the rain had dampened their spirits. It was a lovely quiet indoor day.

I’ll putter the day away today until Annabel arrives at around 2:45. I’m hoping she’ll stay for supper before she goes back to Nanaimo tonight to shoot some scenes for a TV movie she’s in tomorrow.

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Last night was tough. When I went to the store, I had a rough time speaking and during the early evening I had a lot of spasticity. My symptoms were back and it really got me down—really  down. But I’m feeling much better this morning, emotionally, but my symptoms are still present.

I’m discouraged but I’ve no doubt I’ll return to being symptom-free again. My mental health has ebbed-and-flowed since I was diagnosed.

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It’s always been this way: There’s always been the “food I eat,” and the food I serve.

The “food I ate” was my day-to-day diet. I usually made things in bulk, froze some and ate the rest for several days. And I’d these dishes this with leftovers from the meals I made and served—always demanding recipes, usually from a cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. 

Now, though, I’m always too tired from yard and housework to make complicated recipes. Besides, the ingredients are hard to get here. So now I entertain with simple cooking and that’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow. I’m making stir-fry.

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The summer people are here. Ferry lineups are longer, the grocery store is busy and there are young people here and there. I like the influx of “strangers;” I particularly like the voices of children when I am in the parks.