Ok, a few people seem interested in what exactly happened at the eye hospital.  It was suggested I write a post about it, so here goes.

Mo came with me again for moral support.  We arrived early, sat amongst hoards of people and waited for my ‘Ultrasound’ scan.  I was not in the least nervous about this.  “They’ll just slap some gloop around my eye and slide the scanner around” I thought.  “A bit like they do for pregnant women.”

After about ten minutes I was called in.  The first thing I notice is a bed.  No! not a bed to sleep in, one they use for procedures.  “Oh a bed” I said.  “Yes, please don’t go to sleep on it though” said the doctor.  “Oh, do I have to lay down then?” says I.  “Yes please” says he.  I gingerly climb on to the bed and lay down flat. VERY flat!  So flat that my neck hurt.  “It’s very flat” I say.  “Yes” he says, “I need your head low.” I’m beginning to wonder why he needs me laying so flat in order to spread a dollop of gloop on me.

“We’llgiveyousomedropsthatwillnumbyoureyesandthen……………” I didn’t hear what was actually going to take place but I was nervous now.  It didn’t sound like gloop and a hand-held.

Nurse: “OK I’m just going to give you some drops.  Close your eyes for this.  Let me know when it stops stinging”
Me:  “It hasn’t started stinging”
Nurse: “I’ll give you some more”
Me:  “Still not stinging”
Nurse: “Open your eyes I’ll give you more” Drop, drop, drop, drop.
Me:  “Can’t feel a thing”
Nurse: “Well you’ve had plenty so it’ll be OK”
Doctor: “Maybe you have a high pain threshold”
Me:  “I don’t THINK so!”

Doctor hovers over me with a large clear cup in his hand.  I wonder why – Not for long.
Nurse lifts my top eyelid, doctor shoves the bottom rim of the cup under my lid.  Nurse lifts bottom eyelid.  Doc shoves the remainder of the cup rim under.  I now have a cup in my eye! It soon became apparent that the cup was, in fact, a kind of funnel because it had no base.  For some strange reason having a cup in my eye was very disorientating, not made any better by the fact that ‘doc’ now fills it with water!  “It’s only water” says he.  Now the ceiling is swirling all over the place as I view it through moving water.  “I’m just going to put the probe into the water” says doc.   Here comes the hand-held.  “OK” I say.

Doc: “Look down” I look down and I’m immediately bombarded with hundreds of flashing lights and swirls of turbulent water while doc is rolling the hand-held over the surface of my eye!   Water runs down my face and into my ear.
Me:  “It’s running in my ear”
Doc: “It’s only water”
Me:  “But it’s filling my ear” Doc dabs face with tissue.
Nurse: “Long slow breaths now.  Your doing so well”
Doc: “Look up ….. look left ….. look right” Each time I get the same light show, and pretty wet around the ears.
Doc: “Turn your head to the right.” I turn, doc pulls cup out, a torrent of water is released and he quickly dabs my face with tissues.

Next eye.
Doc:  “Would you like a rest before I do this one?”
Me:  “No, just do it”
Nurse: “You’re doing so well”
This eye, for some reason doesn’t take the numbing fluid very well and it hurts a bit.  Still, I have a high pain threshold, so doc says.

Finally over, I go to sit up.  Nurse rushes round and holds me down.  “No, take your time.  Nice and slow.  You’re doing so well” Nurse on one side doc on the other, they help me to my feet.  I ask for a tissue, nurse says “Try not to rub your eyes” I say “It’s for my ears” Nurse laughs.  I wobble outside and, as instructed, sit until I feel steady.

And this is just the pre-laser treatment!

More drops and 45 minutes later I was led into the laser treatment room.
Top doc: “This will only take a few seconds.  It won’t hurt, you may feel a little pop.  Look straight ahead” Click……click……click.  The noise was like the little gas ignitions on a cooker.  “Next eye please” Click, click, click.   “OK, please see the nurse for more drops and an appointment next week for another (yes ANOTHER) ultrasound”

Aside from a slightly unpleasant feeling and a few bright red fireworks in the back of my eye, the laser treatment was a piece of cake.

So you see the actual treatment WAS only a few seconds.  I would say a hole a second.  I had three holes in each eye.

The drops that they give me, I assume are to prevent the build up of fluids behind my eye, which was the cause of my problem.  It does that job very well but eye fluid isn’t all it dries up!  I am finding it difficult to hold a conversation.  My mouth is so dry that my tongue won’t move about to form words.  It sticks to my mouth!  I’ve no doubt that me not talking may please some people.

Note:  For anyone who may need this treatment in the future, I can assure you that there was no pain at all.  As always, it’s the ‘not knowing what they are going to do’ that’s the worst part.

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My peace was shattered by a loud explosion that was quickly followed by machine gun fire. I heard pins being flicked from hand grenades, and more explosions. Agonising screams and hurriedly shouted orders could be heard above the droning of tanks.

Was Mo watching a war movie?  No she wasn’t.  So what WAS all this noise?

Well you may be surprised to find out that Mo, at the ripe old age of 66 (going on 16) is knee deep in ‘The Call of Duty’.  Yes, she has a PS2 and loves playing these games.  She’s had all of the ‘Final Fantasy’ series and was very sad when they stopped making it.

So while I’m blogging and playing Bejeweled, Mo is on her PS2, making as much noise as her games do!

**note:  Just as I was finishing off this post Mo suddenly said “Oohhhhh, I’ve finished my game. I beat it, and I was SO enjoying that.  Oh well, I’ll have to try another one.”  She promptly took out another war game and inserted it into her PS2!

I had a go at it once.  I tried a few times and got killed in the opening sequence each time.  It’s definitely not for me.  I’ll take blogging and Bejeweled thank you.

You can guess what will be in Mo’s Christmas stocking this year!

Is there any one of you that know of any (more mature) female that has a PS2 or similar and plays these games?

EYE UPDATE

It has been decided that I won’t have a cataracts op.  I am so relieved.  Today I had laser treatment.  They made a few holes in the back of my eyes to relieve the pressure and I go back next week for the results.  Thank you all for your care and words of encouragement.  It really helped me this last week!

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I couldn’t sleep last night because of bad pains around my right eye.  I did get to sleep some time this morning but when I woke and got out of bed I knew something was seriously wrong.  The pains were still there, I couldn’t see out of my right eye.  Everything was white  and it felt really weird.  I checked in the bathroom mirror and it was totally blood shot.  I quickly rang Mo, who was out.  I knew I had get checked out, and soon.

I have to go for annual Glaucoma checks because my dad had it.  So far I have remained clear, though they have been keeping a check on my pressure, which was found to be high by an optician some years ago.  It has slowly been creeping up but my field of vision was good so I was deemed to be free of it.  I went for my test a few weeks ago and was told the pressure was up to 28.  I received a letter yesterday saying I would need a trip to the eye clinic to discuss my condition further.  24 hours later I am rushing to eye casualty!

Here’s how the afternoon went….

We arrive at Eye Casualty.  Nice, jolly chap takes me into a side room.  Two drops in each eye …….”Oh dear, this can’t be right. Hold on, I’ll check again.  This CAN’T be right…..68?!!!!!  I’ll check the other eye.  This is very high too.  Hmmm…. Must be a faulty (special equipment) I’ll change it……..Let’s try again.  This says 66!!!!!  Let’s check the other eye.  Oh that’s better.  This is correct now – 66!!!!  Do you feel sick at all?”  Me – “Well I did feel a little queasy earlier.”  He looks at me blankly, I wonder why.

Doctor now enters More drops more checks and lots of questions. “Do you feel sick?”
I am told that I will be given some tablets and then hooked up to a drip as they need to act quickly!  I’m nervous now.

Someone is called to put the needle in my arm.  Two very painful failures and he gets a smaller needle for the third and final time.  I am past nervous now. I ask Mo for some water as my mouth is totally dry.

Doctors and nurses pass by, stop, look at me and ask “Are you OK?” with a look that worries me.  I’m more than past nervous now.  I ask Mo for some more water.  With a big grin, jolly chap says “You may want to hold off on the water, this is diarrhetic fluid we are pumping into you”.  Oh I need a wee!!!!

Bottle is almost empty.  “Great” I thought.  Jolly chap comes back and fills bottle again.  “You need two of these”  Oh I neeeeed a weeee!!!!

Jolly chap says “I don’t understand, with eye pressure as high as you have you should be vomiting”  I haven’t done that since I was nine years old.  I’m nervous again.

Finally the second bottle is empty and I get to go for a wee but my bladder isn’t all that empties.  Those two tablets!  Now I knew what the looks and ‘”Are you OK?” questions were for!

More drops – lots more drops I counted about 30 drops in all but I lost count.  I had lenses sat directly on my eyeball and shifted back and forth and tilted at varying angles,   A cocktail of drops were running down my cheeks and gel was spread all over my eyelids.  Once she was finished I cleaned up and suddenly got a runny nose.  I blew it and was surprised to find I had just cleared bright orange eye-drops from my nose!

Finally I was told of two options they had.  The first was that they put a hole in the back of my eye (can’t remember where) with a laser to ease the pressure.  They finally rejected this idea because they discovered I have cataracts!  Now they are going to remove the cataracts in order to relieve the pressure.  I’m scared now.

Mo asked if there was anywhere we could get something to eat locally and she said “Oh you can’t leave the hospital.  I am sending you to a ward until the pressure drops”   I’m really scared now. I’ve never been in hospital and have a real fear of having to stay in one.

Jolly chap comes by and Mo asks if I will need to stay the night.  “Oh I doubt it”  he says.  I am relieved.

I have to pick up a prescription and administer it myself before arriving at the ward.  More drops.  Three types.  All to be administered at different times a day!  One once a day, one twice a day and one four times a day in both eyes!  I hope it’s only temporary.

I get to the ward, now tasting drops at the back of my throat!  Doctor comes in. Not a jolly chap but he gives me more drops and a test.  “Great” he say.  “I just want to check with the other doctor before sending you home, but the pressure is down to 21″  I’m thrilled. “But I need you back at 10am tomorrow “  More drops and another test, to make sure the pressure has stayed down.

It’s scary to think that you can have an eye pressure go from 28 to 66 in a few weeks!  It seems I was extremely close to seriously damaging my eyesight!

Having finally had my needle removed,  I leave the hospital with my three bottles of drops.

It’s been a very stressful and tiring day!

I nervously wait.

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Mo ordered some boots from a catalogue recently.  The parcel arrived and I opened it and took out her boots.  There was another package inside.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s my free handbag”  Mo said.  She had been told she would receive a free gift of a leather handbag, purse and wallet.

“Doesn’t feel like a handbag to me” I said.  I handed her the very soft package and she frowned as she opened it.

This is how it went……

**Poppers and zips hurriedly undone**

Babs: “Nice handbag” (grin)

Mo had just got herself a new handbag, and didn’t want one anyway, and though I’m always cold, I can’t really see me wearing this – unless we have a really bad winter, then I just might.

Does anyone know what it’s called?

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Life is beginning to get back into some sort of order now, though it will never be the same again.   Sindie was such a huge part of our lives, and a huge personality. She will always be missed.

As the post title says, I’m climbing back into the saddle.  I will be getting back to blogging properly now, not that I know what ‘proper’ blogging is.  I’ll also attempt to catch up with Entrecard again.  I apologise to all my advertisers and droppers but I haven’t dropped or advertised in weeks!  It will be like starting over.

I do have a post lined up but I’m waiting for Mo to pose for photos – Well you don’t expect me to pose do you?

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Every time I do Blog Blast for Peace I think of a song I used to listen to, back in the early seventies. I haven’t been able to find it on YouTube.  This year I managed to get hold of an mp3 of it.  It’s written and sung by Tom Paxton and says it all really.   As most of you know, it’s been a hard time for me to think about blogging lately but I didn’t want to miss this day.

I put this little movie together at the last minute.

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When I was a little girl, not long after WWII (Eeeek!), food was not plentiful.  It was rationed and you had to use coupons to buy it.  Once the coupons for a particular food were used up, you could buy no more of that food until the next book was issued.  There was a ‘Black Market’ and some people would get hold of food without coupons – for a price.

A vivid memory for me was going round to a friends house with one of my sisters.  Her mother was never in and unlike us, who always had our mum home, the kids did their own thing all day, and possibly into the night.  The first thing she would do was raid the food cupboard.  I have no way of knowing if it was black market food or gifts from American GI’s but she always had food in her cupboards.  On this particular day she lifted out a large jar.  She unscrewed the lid, and we watched in amazement as she scooped out the contents with large tablespoons.  She handed each of us a heaped spoon of this orangy brown delight.  We had never tasted anything like it before.  It was like a spoonful of heaven to us.

As there were seven of us kids we never had any luxury items.  Mum would have to swap those coupons with people who didn’t need so many basic foods.  The swapping of ration coupons went on a lot.  Because of this, us younger kids had never tasted foods that were not deemed to be essential.  They were tough times but what we had never had we didn’t miss.

It’s nearly sixty years since I first tasted that little bit of heaven, known as Peanut Butter, but you will always find a jar of it in our cupboard.

How do I eat it?  On a spoon of course!

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Just a few Autumn photos I took last week.  We were collecting conkers again.  If you look closely you can see some that we couldn’t reach.

You can click to enlarge them a bit,  for better quality.

I hope to be back blogging very soon.

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This post is in memory of our beautiful niece Sindie, who passed away this evening at 39 years of age.

Our lives will never be the same.

Sindie and her brother, having just finished the Pink Ribbon walk.

________________________________________________________________

This is what a friend wrote about Sindie yesterday – It says it all.

“Sindie is a remarkable woman. Always positive in adversity, always looking on the positive and lighter side, always concerned for others, a fighter to the end.”

It was Sindie’s wish that donations be made to the ‘The Cavendish Centre’. For any of her friends that wish to donate, and leave a comment, here is the link to the site.

I’ll be back blogging soon.

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Remember our invasion of the shrooms?

They came back a couple of months ago but the weather was too hot and they shrivelled up within a day.  I was a bit disappointed because they look quite nice in the garden.  Well they’re back again!  You can’t keep a good shroom down!

Though you can’t see in the photo, there are lots of stones amongst the mushrooms because they forced there way up from under the shingle.  I think I will consider these similar to an autumn shrub and look forward to them each year now.  Maybe twice a year, and maybe we’ll keep the stones off that tree stump to make sure they have a nice clean entry in future.

Am I alone in thinking they are quite attractive?

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