Well I haven’t written for a while, have I? I keep telling myself that if I would just write a little a couple of times a week then I wouldn’t have to cover so much ground each time and I would be better able to remember what I’m trying to write about. Time just gets away from me, especially since I started working again.
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been working at Walmart for 6 weeks now. The first few weeks were pretty rough, as I have mentioned, with my legs being pretty sore all the time. During the last couple of weeks though, they have finally been catching up with the demand I’m placing on them. While I’m at work they don’t really bother me at all. As long as I keep moving that is. When I take my breaks and sit down for a few minutes then they hurt again when I get back up, but it only takes a minute for them to loosen up again. At home in the evenings they really tighten up on me and it hurts to walk but even that is getting better.
On the weekend of October 20 and 21 I started feeling a cold coming on. I was hoping to just get through Monday and Tuesday and then I had the day off on Wednesday. Well, I did get through and sure enough on Wednesday I felt pretty miserable. Unfortunately, I still felt pretty bad on Thursday and I had to call in sick. Thursday was one of our coldest days yet and I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to work in the cold all day when I was already sick. But after two days of Joni’s chicken-noodle soup I was ready to go back on Friday. I expected kind of a rough day on Friday but I actually felt pretty good that day and on Saturday as well. So I got over my cold without too much trouble.
I think it was that weekend that I started noticing a red spot in my eye. That didn’t concern me very much because that same spot gets red now and by the next day it’s usually gone. This time, however, the redness didn’t go away and by Tuesday I decided I better call the doctor. This was October 30. I called Dr. Feilmeier’s office in Omaha to find out what day he was coming in November and they said the 8th, more than a week away. I told them what was going on with my eye and the nurse said I should really get it checked out as soon as possible, but instead of asking me to come to Omaha, which is kind of what I expected, she offered to call the Kearney Eye Institute and see if someone there could get me in. She called me back a bit later and said she had gotten me an appointment with Dr. Vaughan, the same doctor who did my glasses back in July, on Thursday, November 1. That was fine with me as it saved me a trip to Omaha.
I saw Dr. Vaughan on Thursday and the report was good. There was no sign of any infection, and the sutures all looked okay. I had been thinking that one of those sutures came loose again and an infection was starting since that has happened before. Dr. Vaughan said the redness was because my eye is very dry. With cold weather coming on, the air is getting more and more dry all the time, and now that I’m working outdoors I’ll probably feel it even more this winter. Dr. Vaughan recommended some lubricant drops, commonly called “tears”, which you can get over-the-counter. Joni and I stopped at Walgreen’s on the way home and picked some up, both of us thinking that we had really dodged a bullet that time.
So all was well until Monday evening, the 5th of November. At a little after 5pm on Monday, one of Dr. Feilmeier’s assistants called from the office in Omaha. She said that Dr. Feilmeier had just seen the notes and results from my visit to Dr. Vaughan and he wanted to see me right away, as in the next day. I was so flabbergasted that I didn’t even think to ask her what Dr. Feilmeier had seen that got him so anxious. She wanted me to set an appointment for the next day but I honestly couldn’t think what to do. I was totally caught off-guard and I was supposed to work the next day and everything. I finally told her that I would call back in the morning. Mind you, I already had an appointment to see Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney on Thursday the 8th. Well I though it over for a couple of hours and finally decided I would have to go. Dr. Feilmeier hasn’t let me down yet and I trust him.
On Tuesday morning I called his office and told them I was on my way. Then I called in at Walmart yet again and we got ready to go. Dr. Feilmeier wasn’t in until 1pm that day so we didn’t have to hurry too much, but it was Election Day and I wanted to stop by and vote on our way out. The polling place for our area is about 7 miles east of our house so it wasn’t really out of the way that much. Also, up until this year, I have never voted before and really wanted to do it this time. I had wanted to in 2008 but didn’t get registered in time. We left the house at about 9:30am I think, stopped by to vote, and we were on our way.
This post is getting pretty long so I’ll cut to the chase. Dr. Feilmeier said pretty much the same thing Dr. Vaughan had said a few days before. We weren’t there very long and were back on the road heading home. In some ways it felt like a wasted trip, but some things are worth being extra careful with, and one of those things is your eyesight. So I have to keep putting those tears in my eyes several times a day, but everything is fine and my eyesight is still good. Today was my day off so I got to relax and do some fun things, which I will be writing about soon.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ESV
Matthew 14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ESV
Showing posts with label Dr. Vaughan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Vaughan. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Journal - A Double Dose of Doctors
Yesterday, Thursday, I had two eye appointments, one with Dr. Vaughan and one with Dr. Feilmeier.
First was Dr. Vaughan at 11:00am. I saw Dr. Vaughan last month in hopes of getting some eyeglasses. On that visit, however, he said my eye, while healing very nicely, was still too unstable to really get good numbers for a prescription. At that time my best possible vision with glasses was around 20/30, very good indeed. Well, let me tell you, on yesterday’s visit I got all the way down to 20/30 on the eye chart, with no correction at all. I was simply amazed. I knew my eye was getting better all the time but I had no idea it was that good. Dr. Vaughan ran me through the tests and said that with glasses I could get up to 20/25. My eye is still very unstable though, as shown by the big change since last month. He said that before giving me a prescription he would really like to have one more set of numbers, making it three in all, so that he could kind of average them together. He recommended one more visit in a week at which time he would go ahead and make out a prescription for me. Aside from that, he said that my eye, and my vision, are amazingly good for someone who had a transplant not so long ago.
My visit with Dr. Vaughan took less than an hour so I thought we would have a long wait to see Dr. Feilmeier, but his assistant took us back almost right away once we were done with Dr. Vaughan. It was only a little after twelve and my appointment wasn’t supposed to be until 12:40.
Dr. Feilmeier came in with his eyes on my chart and said, “I don’t believe these readings, you must have cheated.” He’s quite the kidder. He looked at my eye and was very pleased with everything. He removed one more suture that was loose and assured me that “we are definitely back on track.” Dr. Vaughan has mentioned that I had a pretty severe astigmatism so Dr. Feilmeier sent me over for a topography on my eye. When he got the results he said that I did have a pronounced cone but that was probably due to the sutures. So he removed two more sutures and said that should help quite a bit with that. He also said he might remove a few more next month.
So it was another good visit with the doctors. I still can’t believe I’m seeing 20/30! And it sounds like I’ll finally be getting some glasses next week. Well, my appointment is next week and then the glasses probably take a few days after that. Then I’ll be off to get my driver’s license, something I’ve been looking forward to since my surgery.
Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. ESV
Psalms 25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. ESV
First was Dr. Vaughan at 11:00am. I saw Dr. Vaughan last month in hopes of getting some eyeglasses. On that visit, however, he said my eye, while healing very nicely, was still too unstable to really get good numbers for a prescription. At that time my best possible vision with glasses was around 20/30, very good indeed. Well, let me tell you, on yesterday’s visit I got all the way down to 20/30 on the eye chart, with no correction at all. I was simply amazed. I knew my eye was getting better all the time but I had no idea it was that good. Dr. Vaughan ran me through the tests and said that with glasses I could get up to 20/25. My eye is still very unstable though, as shown by the big change since last month. He said that before giving me a prescription he would really like to have one more set of numbers, making it three in all, so that he could kind of average them together. He recommended one more visit in a week at which time he would go ahead and make out a prescription for me. Aside from that, he said that my eye, and my vision, are amazingly good for someone who had a transplant not so long ago.
My visit with Dr. Vaughan took less than an hour so I thought we would have a long wait to see Dr. Feilmeier, but his assistant took us back almost right away once we were done with Dr. Vaughan. It was only a little after twelve and my appointment wasn’t supposed to be until 12:40.
Dr. Feilmeier came in with his eyes on my chart and said, “I don’t believe these readings, you must have cheated.” He’s quite the kidder. He looked at my eye and was very pleased with everything. He removed one more suture that was loose and assured me that “we are definitely back on track.” Dr. Vaughan has mentioned that I had a pretty severe astigmatism so Dr. Feilmeier sent me over for a topography on my eye. When he got the results he said that I did have a pronounced cone but that was probably due to the sutures. So he removed two more sutures and said that should help quite a bit with that. He also said he might remove a few more next month.
So it was another good visit with the doctors. I still can’t believe I’m seeing 20/30! And it sounds like I’ll finally be getting some glasses next week. Well, my appointment is next week and then the glasses probably take a few days after that. Then I’ll be off to get my driver’s license, something I’ve been looking forward to since my surgery.
Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. ESV
Psalms 25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. ESV
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Journal - Graduation and Glasses and Gardening (oh my!)
Well, I’ve gotten a little behind, haven’t I? Let me see, what happened this last week?
Last Saturday, May 12, was Kylie’s graduation. It was my first time seeing the gymnasium at the new school. It’s pretty nice looking. I’m sorry to say that the band sounded terrible, nothing like the old days. Mr. Kercher would never have tolerated us sounding like that. I thought going to graduation would bring back a lot of memories, but it really didn’t I don’t seem to remember much of my own graduation. I have clearer memories of playing in the band for graduations when I was an underclassmen.
After the ceremony at the school, we all went to Bobbi and Mike’s house for Kylie’s reception. Uncle Butch and Aunt LeeDel were there so it was good to see them and to sit and visit with them for a little while. Mike had spent the whole day Friday smoking some pork for the reception and it turned out great. It was a fun day, as days with family always are.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were spent watering plants, doing a little weeding here and there, and just generally watching everything grow. Of the four types of seeds we tried to start in trays, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and strawberries, not a single thing sprouted, so I took all four trays and poured out the contents into an area I had prepared in the garden.
On Wednesday, I had my eyeglass appointment with Dr. Vaughan at the Kearney Eye Institute. He ran me through the tests and, just as on the prior week with Dr. Feilmeier, I was hitting close to 20/30. My eye is still very unstable though. Dr. Vaughan had a little trouble getting any good numbers, and he said that we could do that every day for a week and probably get different numbers each time. My eye is clearly healing and improving all the time, but it’s just very unstable. Dr. Vaughan suggested another appointment next month to see how the numbers compare, and recommended that I hold off on the glasses until things settle down a bit, which is what I decided to do. I was disappointed, sure, but not as much as you might think. I am really pretty okay with the vision that I have now, and I think I could live happily for the rest of my life with what I have now. The problem is, I need to find work pretty soon. That will be difficult, and without better vision it will be even more so. I’m not technically disabled anymore so my social security won’t continue for very much longer. I have to keep reminding myself that God will handle this, just as he has handled everything else. I’m pretty sure he didn’t give me my sight back just to have me lost my disability payments and become homeless. Right God? Right?
Thursday and Friday were filled with more gardening excitement. Oh, and I also started working out again! After my surgery last October, I had to stop working out until my eye healed for a few weeks. I never really got back into it after that, only getting on the bike sporadically. Then when I developed that infection at the beginning of March I stopped completely because there were a lot of trips to Omaha and such. On top of that I’ve been taking Prednisone, which makes me want to eat a lot. Well, lately I’ve been noticing I’m getting kind of round around the middle again and was disappointed because I had burned a lot of that away when I was using the bike regularly. So this week I finally got back on. I worked out 4 days, skipping Wednesday because of my eye appointment. They were fairly short workouts since I haven’t done it for a while, but next week I should be able to go longer.
Umm, what else? Oh yes, we have watermelons and cucumbers sprouting. All six of the cucumber mounds I planted have sprouted, and I think three of the five watermelon mounds have started. Boy I hope we get some watermelons this year! And making pickles would be fun too.
We also noticed the other day that there may be something growing where I dumped out those trays. We’re not sure, but Joni thinks it might be a pepper plant. Keep your fingers crossed!
1 Corinthians 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ESV
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. ESV
Last Saturday, May 12, was Kylie’s graduation. It was my first time seeing the gymnasium at the new school. It’s pretty nice looking. I’m sorry to say that the band sounded terrible, nothing like the old days. Mr. Kercher would never have tolerated us sounding like that. I thought going to graduation would bring back a lot of memories, but it really didn’t I don’t seem to remember much of my own graduation. I have clearer memories of playing in the band for graduations when I was an underclassmen.
After the ceremony at the school, we all went to Bobbi and Mike’s house for Kylie’s reception. Uncle Butch and Aunt LeeDel were there so it was good to see them and to sit and visit with them for a little while. Mike had spent the whole day Friday smoking some pork for the reception and it turned out great. It was a fun day, as days with family always are.
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were spent watering plants, doing a little weeding here and there, and just generally watching everything grow. Of the four types of seeds we tried to start in trays, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and strawberries, not a single thing sprouted, so I took all four trays and poured out the contents into an area I had prepared in the garden.
On Wednesday, I had my eyeglass appointment with Dr. Vaughan at the Kearney Eye Institute. He ran me through the tests and, just as on the prior week with Dr. Feilmeier, I was hitting close to 20/30. My eye is still very unstable though. Dr. Vaughan had a little trouble getting any good numbers, and he said that we could do that every day for a week and probably get different numbers each time. My eye is clearly healing and improving all the time, but it’s just very unstable. Dr. Vaughan suggested another appointment next month to see how the numbers compare, and recommended that I hold off on the glasses until things settle down a bit, which is what I decided to do. I was disappointed, sure, but not as much as you might think. I am really pretty okay with the vision that I have now, and I think I could live happily for the rest of my life with what I have now. The problem is, I need to find work pretty soon. That will be difficult, and without better vision it will be even more so. I’m not technically disabled anymore so my social security won’t continue for very much longer. I have to keep reminding myself that God will handle this, just as he has handled everything else. I’m pretty sure he didn’t give me my sight back just to have me lost my disability payments and become homeless. Right God? Right?
Thursday and Friday were filled with more gardening excitement. Oh, and I also started working out again! After my surgery last October, I had to stop working out until my eye healed for a few weeks. I never really got back into it after that, only getting on the bike sporadically. Then when I developed that infection at the beginning of March I stopped completely because there were a lot of trips to Omaha and such. On top of that I’ve been taking Prednisone, which makes me want to eat a lot. Well, lately I’ve been noticing I’m getting kind of round around the middle again and was disappointed because I had burned a lot of that away when I was using the bike regularly. So this week I finally got back on. I worked out 4 days, skipping Wednesday because of my eye appointment. They were fairly short workouts since I haven’t done it for a while, but next week I should be able to go longer.
Umm, what else? Oh yes, we have watermelons and cucumbers sprouting. All six of the cucumber mounds I planted have sprouted, and I think three of the five watermelon mounds have started. Boy I hope we get some watermelons this year! And making pickles would be fun too.
We also noticed the other day that there may be something growing where I dumped out those trays. We’re not sure, but Joni thinks it might be a pepper plant. Keep your fingers crossed!
1 Corinthians 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ESV
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. ESV
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