Fluff Update

In case you were wondering, Sen. Jarrett Barrios dropped the proposed legislation after it became a topic of debate on the radio. Here’s the article.


Ah, democracy at work!

Out of Town

I will be leaving tomorrow morning for Guadalajara, Mexico for an academic conference. This conference is for the National Association of Chicana, Chicano Studies (NACCS). While I am neither a Chicana/o studies student or teacher yet, it is interesting to see what people are working on. Plus, since will be returning July 4th, I will have a couple days to sight see and will be traveling with the ‘rents. Dad is fluent, so we are in good shape. The national elections will be taking place the Sunday we will be there as well. So it should be an amazing experience. I probably will not post until I get back.

I just finished packing and while I know I packed too much stuff, I feel really unprepared for this trip.

At any rate, to my two regular readers, have a safe and fun July 4th and I will write for your entertainment in about a week’s time.

Hungry?

Just when I thought that our government couldn’t be more wasteful with our time. How Naïve I was. I ran across this article today in which two senators from Massachusetts are going head to head over how often Fluffernutter sandwiches can be served at local schools. Having grown up and lived all my life in California, my first response when reading the headline was, "Fluffer-what?"

A Fluffernutter sandwich is apparently a combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter, preferably on white bread. Doesn’t really appeal to me but I hear that it is a staple in New England cuisine.

Sen. Jarrett Barrios “plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the local delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day.” Upon hearing about this proposed limitation as to how often Fluffernutters can be served, Representitive Kathi-Anne Reinstein responded with a proposal to designate the Fluffernutter as the “official sandwich of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

“An aide to Barrios insisted the senator is not anti-Fluff and even plans to co-sponsor Reinstein’s bill, although he still believes schools should cut back on Fluffernutters.”

I wish I were making this up but this is all true. Wow, way to go legislators!



I wanna work for the government.

Yuck

Let me apologize to any of you who actually had to suffer through yesterday's post. I don't know what was wrong with me. Well, actually I do know what was wrong. Not enough sleep. I was not really coherent. Read the next post instead.

Party Girl Presents, Part I

As it gets closer and closer to August, I turn my attention once again to putting together an album to give to my friends that reflects how I have spent the past year of my life. It may seem like it is early to already be considering a CD for August but my master audio tech (my brother) needs time to make sense out of the random list I hand him. And he always does an absolutely amazing job making a coherent album with beautiful art work for me. I have been having a hard time putting together this year’s CD since so much has happened along the way. I took a look over the last two year’s CDs, hoping to get some inspiration for this year. And to make sure that I don’t repeat myself. Here is last year’s:

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Official 2005 Collection
Intro: H-H-HE-LLO!
Tilt Ya Head Back Nelly feat Christina Aguilera
Girltalk [Album Version] TLC
History Repeating The Propellerheads feat Miss Shirley Bassey
Flawless [Go to the City] [Album Version] George Michael
Absolutely Not [Chanel Club Edit] Deborah Cox
The Sunrise [Jason Nevins Mix] Duran Duran
Ray of Sunshine [Album Version] Wham!
One Day in Your Life [Video Version] Anastacia
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps [Album Version] Lila Downs
Sweet the Sting [Album Version] Tori Amos
I Don’t Wanna Be [Album Version] Gavin DeGraw
I Just Want to Live [Album Version] Good Charlotte
Heaven Help [Album Version] Lenny Kravitz
Outro: Perhaps…

Boy, typing that up brings back memories for me. Overall, it was a pretty good year for me. Most importantly, I had good friends around me. I’ll cover 2004 in another post…

Tell A Woman

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the leading causes of Cervical cancer. Cervical cancer kills3,700 women a year in the United States alone. Currently, regular pap exams are the first line of defense to catch HPV.

Merck, makers of Vioxx, has created a vaccine that has proven successful in preventing Cervical cancer by protecting women from catching 2 different strains of HPV. It has recently been approved by the FDA. The shot works best when given before a woman has caught HPV but this is a huge step forward. Another manufacturer is working on a second vaccine as well.

The vaccine is a series of three shots that are administered over six months. This may be a barrier to women who cannot get into the doctor’s office for regular medical check ups. In addition, the vaccine comes with a hefty $360.00 price tag for the full treatment. This may be a barrier to low income women and those who might fall into the highest risk categories.

The national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will decide June 29 whether to endorse routine vaccination. There have been proposals to make this immunization required to attend school, as Mumps shots currently are. After the June 29 vote, the decision will probably fall to the individual states to decide if it is required for attending school.

Good news for women, or at least a step forward. Please share with all the women you know. Cervical cancer should not be killing this many women.

For the full story, click here.

Hold It

In the news this week, school districts in Washington State are now offering an incentive for students who don’t use their bathroom passes during the school year. If the students don’t use the passes, they can be redeemed for extra credit points towards a better grade. I am not making this up, check it our here.

Part of me understands why schools might want to keep students in class to keep things orderly but the rest of me thinks that it is ridiculous that schools are going to such lengths to keep the students in class. I think that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Some parent will claim that their child was traumatized by having to choose between answering natures call and earning extra credit points. The parent will no doubt say that their child is being unfairly penalized (re: not given the same perks) for taking care of their health. It’s coming, you know it is.

He Gets What He Deserves

I had read about this case earlier but it was either during a time when I wasn’t writing anything or when I was writing about other stuff. The basic story is this, in 1998, a man in Ohio, John Goff, used a syringe of his own semen to impregnate his daughter after his wife was no longer able to carry children.

His daughter was 19 when this occurred and both parents claim that she consented to being impregnated. She gave birth in 1999 and raised the child for a year before giving the child up for adoption.

This was John Goff’s second trial for this crime. The jury convicted Goff of sexual battery and child endangering. He received 20 years for rape and five years for those charges, to be served at the same time.

Okay, while you are still shaking your head in disbelief, this story gets better. John Goff plans on appealing the verdict. He admits that he used poor judgement but does not believe that what he did constitutes a crime.

Ironically, he was convicted under a tougher Ohio law that John campaigned for after his daughter was molested and the first molester was acquitted since rape charges at that time required intercourse took place.

Parents are suppose to protect and cherish their children, not use them as vessels for their own pursuits. Yet barely a week goes by when you don’t hear about a mother who took money and allowed a pedophile to molest her young son again or a kidnapping case in which the accused kidnapper swears the mother gave up the child for money but the mother swears the child was kidnapped. Those are just two more cases that spring to mind right now. I am sure I could come up with more examples of poor, no make that criminal parenting if asked.

I have to wonder about human nature. Is the human race becoming this vile and corrupt or are we just hearing about more of these cases now that we are a globally connected community because of the development of the internet? I don’t believe in the idea of a ‘Golden era” of American Culture as the 1950’s is most commonly referred to. If you want to read a fascinating book about how media developed in the 150’s and how it affected women in particular, check out ‘Where the Girls are” by Susan J. Douglas. She is a great writer and she presents her ideas in a way that you don’t feel she is dumbing down the topic but you also don’t get lost in the jargon associated with media or communication studies. But I have wandered off my subject.

Is our society going to hell in a hand basket or are we just exposed to more tales of abuse? Are we, as a society, figuring a way to end such abuse or are we becoming immune to the psychological and emotional trauma these children are being subjected to?

Article, Article

I’ve been reading the news a lot these days, so be prepared for my rant on all that I have found to comment on. And believe me, there has been plenty. I’ll drop a few personal things in along the way too.

Leave the ratons* alone!

*

(sigh)

I was scanning the news and two stories caught my eye. In the first story, a man in Michigan has just been sentenced to 16 – 30 months in prison for attempted extortion. The man purchased a frozen mouse, like you would purchase to feed a snake, and stuffed the poor little rodent in his Taco Bell burrito. He then proceeded to say that his taco tasted funny and then threatened to go to the media.

In Illinois, a man has made the claim that he found a rodents tooth in his bag of peanuts. He refuses to let parent company Frito-Lay test the tooth to see where it comes from, stating he is reluctant to part with evidence.

Wasn’t it just last year when that woman in central California claimed to find a part of a human finger in her chili at Wendy’s? She was sentenced to 9 years in prison and her cohort/husband was sentenced to 12 years in prison this past January for this stunt.

Don’t you think that people would learn? Or is it simply that too many people want to make a quick buck without working for it? I’m no fan of corporate America but even I think that such frivolous lawsuits are ridiculous. Yes, they get our money but that doesn’t mean people should resort to crime to get it back!

I don’t know, it just caught my eye that both lawsuits involved small rodents. Poor little creatures!

HA! Forgot to add the links to the stories the first time I posted!

Take this Poll!

Here is something fun and lighthearted for a Monday morning. This is a really quick, one question poll. As many of you know, the source of my inane trivia knowledge is often the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Their website features all the books available through their company as well as some fun polls and random blogged subjects. You don’t have to sign-in or sign-up to take the poll.

While you are there, don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page for a fun fact - called “Running Feet” by the BRI (Bathroom Readers Institute).

Oh and if you have any questions for them, they respond right away. I sent them an email asking if they were going to write a follow up story to an article in the 12th book and I got a response, well written and not a form answer, in under 20 minutes!

Friday Afternoon

Is being intellectually stimulated by your job such a hard thing to ask?

I’m back to doing that stupid special project I mentioned earlier. (See link below) I am doing a little bit of catch up work since I have been slacking on the project. It’s only four weeks worth, nothing wrong with that…

And the project got a little bigger too. I am now reading ten papers instead of four. They are each thinner but still a higher count. And there is not enough soap and Lysol wipes in the world to help me feel clean

Related post
Job hazards

These Sickos…

I do not consider myself a violent person but when I read this story, it made me want to get out a set of carving knives and drive out to Florida and visit this family.

“Grandparents allegedly ordered hit on kin.”


This couple in Florida attempted to hire a hit man to have their daughter-in-law and their three grandchildren killed. Oh, and the family dog. Why you ask?

So that the daughter-in-law and the children would not testify against the couple’s son during his rape trial. The son is accused of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor. The man molested his daughter and step-daughter.

There is an age old argument among psychologists of how personality is formed, nature vs. nurture. Some monsters are born, others are bred. In this case, I’m not sure which is the stronger of the two influences. Obviously the parents have the same lack of morality and sense of right from wrong that their son has. He was probably taught this behavior from the crib.

And don’t they look crazy?

No Creo*

*I don’t believe it.

I cannot believe that June is here already. Part of me is glad June is here because it means that I am closer to going back to school and I have several fun events planned this month. The rest of me is amazed that the year is entering the half way mark and I wonder what I have been doing for the past 5 months.

The funny thing is I know I have been working but I have no idea what I was doing specifically at work. I perform the same duties every week, once a week, with a few variations here and there. Meh, I think work takes up too much of my time. I have windows in my cubicle, thank goodness, but they don’t open so I can’t tell what the day is like outside until I leave the building to go home for the day.

I have also started Christmas shopping this month. It may seem a little weird that I start this early but I don’t know if and how many hours I will be working this fall and I figure I should spend the money now while I have a steady income. I am also shopping for Birthday gifts that range from June to February. Some of my friends have seen my Excel spreadsheet that has all my gifts budgeted out and keeps a running total of how much I have spent and how much I have left to spend for each person and overall. I have some items marked down as ideas and am waiting for the right time to buy them. For example, there is a gift I want to buy from work but I have to wait until I am sent downtown to get it.

I prefer being called detail-oriented to anal retentive, thank you very much.

The downside of this is that I am so excited about the couple of gifts I have already had mailed to me that I want to hand them out. But that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

Alrighty, It’s almost time for me to head home, so this will just be a short and random entry.

TTFN.

Refreshed and Rejuvenated

Well I had an excellent Memorial three day weekend. I hope you all did as well. There is so much I want to share that I don’t know where to begin.

I had plans lined up for all three days, a jam-packed weekend full of adventures and hanging out with both family and friends. While my plans did not go as I expected, I did enjoy myself.

Saturday, I took a trip out to Pasadena, by way of NoHo with Meesh and Ms. S. We headed over to the LUSH store. I actually did not purchase anything. Hard to believe, I know. We ate dinner there and also went and saw the movie, “Thank you for Smoking.” I liked it. When Ms. S and I had done our Academy nominated movie watching sprint, we saw the trailer several times. I was not disappointed. I really liked the cast. If you get the chance, check this little gem out.

Oh and that morning, I passed my weight watcher’s monthly weigh in for the first time in three months. Go me!

After dropping off Meesh, Ms. S and I hit Borders back in town before going our separate ways. I ended up missing the big family BBQ that day since I had scheduled this trip first and they switched the BBQ from Sunday to Saturday at the last moment. Hey, sometimes these things happen. I actually beat my parents home from Pasadena. The family BBQ’s tend to go on for hours.

Sunday is when my plans went majorly astray. Ms. S and I were originally going to get together, do some experimental cooking for our cocktail party in June and then head over to the Cajun-Creole Festival which was down the street from Ms. S’s place so we could walk to it. Well, these plans fell through.

I woke up not feeling well. I had a lot of pain in my right eye that kept coming and going. So when Ms. S called me and said we could cancel our plans since I was feeling under the weather and she was not in the best of moods, I took her up on it. With the exception of one short run to the market in the evening, I pretty much did not leave the couch that day. Sometimes, I just need a day of doing nothing. I didn’t call the doctor about my eye since I am seeing him today (Tuesday) and I figured I would call on Sunday of I was still in pain. Good news, I am fine. I occasionally get some pain today and I plan on asking the doc about it today. I figure that all is okay. I mean, my eye is still healing. I have stitches in my eye still and while there is less of it, part of my eye is still red.

I do regret canceling my Sunday plans a little. I actually enjoy cooking but since I get home after 6 everyday, I don’t have a lot of time to cook any more. Plus, even though I don’t listen to Cajun-Creole music on a regular basis, I enjoyed my first visit to the festival last year. It is interesting to see what food is served at these festivals. And I feel bad on flaking on Ms. S, as it turns out it was a little miscommunication between us as well. We should have hung out that night at least. Sorry chica.

Last night, Sunday, I went over to my cousin Sandra’s house for dinner. She has twin girls who just turned 7. The girls are sweethearts, with a little bit of attitude. I love them, the funniest things come out of their mouths. One of the girls asked me how boast float when we were on vacation in Venice, Italy. Let me ask you this, how do you explain physics to a seven year old when they don’t know what molecules are. I think I did a decent job explaining it but who knows. Here is a picture from the train ride to Venice.

That's Sophia on the left, Sarah in the middle and James with his pacifer. Thomas wasn't born yet.

I digress. It was a mini BBQ, with the Best family and the Staubs and me. (the twins, Sandra and her husband Malcolm are the Bests). Malcolm cooked while I played Twister with the girls. There is nothing like a game of Twister with kids who don’t know their left from their right. And as many of you know, I have a block with that as well so it was crazy. Plus, I couldn’t tell the girls apart last night most of the time. Calling the girls “Sweetie” will only get you so far.

I used the spinner and called out to the girls the next move. The girls don’t understand the rules about not lifting your hand or foot from a place and having only one appendage on a circle at a time… Every time I looked over, they were both on different sets of circles, not matching. It is really hard to have a winner when neither one is following the rules. After a while, I stopped using the spinner and would call out any combination I wanted. The girls couldn’t tell I wasn’t using the spinner and it amused me to see how the girls would twist and move around. Fantastic.

I fed my nephew Thomas so mom could actually eat with the rest of the family last night. James, who we all know I just adore to pieces, was being a PILL. He had been napping when I got there and he was whiny and cranky for the rest of the night. Ah well, All kids have off days. He still came over and gave me a hug when they left.

Earlier that day, Ms. S and I went to see “The DaVinci Code.” I hadn’t read the book and wanted to see if I could follow the story without having read the book.
I had a good time, Ms. S is always good company and we got Icees at the theatre. I liked the movie. Ms. S lent me the book after we left the theatre since she just happened to have it in her trunk, so I am interested to see how the two differ. I was glad to see Alfred Molina working. I like him as an actor. There is a French actor who played the main police inspector who I recognized but can’t remember his name. I liked him too.

So that is the shortened version of my weekend. I had a good time and also rested up. I hope you all had fun adventures and restful weekends as well. Ciao!

Weird Dream

I had a weird dream last night. I dreamt that it was Tuesday and I suddenly realized that I was getting married that weekend and still needed a dress! I wanted to have a friend come with me so I could have a second opinion but it was such short notice that no one could go. I knew the exact dress I wanted, it was a strapless either princess seam or empire waisted Ivory gown made in raw silk with a full skirt that was gathered in random spots, no train. (Okay-okay, the degree in costume design kicked in, even in my dreams) I didn’t know how I was going to get the dress on such short notice as you have to order most dresses at least 8 months in advance and would have to find a place that would sell it to me off the rack.

Now there are several things that were weird about having this dream. First, the fact that I remembered this dream was a surprise since I rarely remember my dreams. Ms. S. told me that she read that vegetarians don’t dream as vividly as meat eaters. Who knows why but it came from a reputable source.

Second, I’m not even dating anyone, why am I dreaming about getting married? I was not one of those little girls who dreamed about and planned their future wedding or walked down a play aisle with a napkin pinned to my head to marry my teddy bear. I didn’t even own a wedding dress for my Barbie. Now a scarlet and black Bob Mackie designed dress for my Barbie, sure, but no wedding dress.

The thought of having to plan a wedding gives me nightmares. Most of my friends have heard me express this idea before. I mean, the guest list alone.... My mom is one of 9 siblings and my dad is one of 5. Then I have first cousins, their children, my friends - the list goes on and on and that would just be my part of the guest list, we would still have to include his! And the cost of most weddings is phenomenal. I would rather spend the money on a down payment for a new house.

I don't think my mom would ever forgive me if I eloped, since both my sibs are gay. And I have to be honest, even though I would cringe at the cost, I really would like to buy an expensive and beautiful wedding dress. That would be the only part of the experience I would enjoy, shopping for a dress and getting to try on so many gowns. The only decision that I have made about "my wedding" , is no bridesmaids. It would be too tough to select which of my friends I would ask to stand up with me and I would worry that someone would be offended if I didn't ask them...at the most, I might ask my sibs to stand up for me.

Third, I cannot believe that I was that specific about what wedding dress I needed. Partly because the afore mentioned reason, I’ve never thought about a wedding for myself and second because what a dork that my sewing training kicks in during a dream! Yeah, I’m a nerd.

And how in the world would I, of all people, forget to order a wedding dress?

Part of me thinks that I was that dress specific because one of the last things I saw before I fell asleep was my copy of Quince Girl magazine. Here is the cover

This is a new magazine created to show off trends, styles and planning tips for girls planning their Quinceaneras. It’s like a bridal magazine. I didn’t have a Quinceanera and I don’t feel like I missed anything. My dad brought the magazine home for me since I am studying the image of Chicanas in the media. It’s fascinating in a “My Super Sweet 16” train wreck sort of way. Here is the dress in the magazine that most closely resembles the dress in my dream.

Except my dream dress was not as fluffy, or pink.

I don’t think the dream necessarily means anything, although if you all want to guess, I would be trey amused. It was just so bizarre I had to share.

Have a good memorial weekend! Be safe and smart.

In other good news..

I found out this weekend that I have received a federal grant for the 2006-2007 school year. It pays my tuition in full for both semesters. I was in shock when I saw the financial aid award I had received. It had also already been accepted, which I knew I hadn’t done so I called the financial aid office.

The woman who helped me was very nice. I hadn’t recalled applying for any grants but apparently, when I filled out and submitted the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) online, it automatically entered me in the grant program. The lady told me that I barely qualified due to my income, this was the only grant I was eligible for as a Grad student and that the school automatically accepted the award for me since they figured I would want the free money.

Moral of the story, if you are in school, even if you don’t think you qualify, file your FAFSA online every year. Its free and you may get a pleasant surprise. After filling out the form the first time, they have a very cool, reapply feature for the next year which auto populates the fields for you but still allows you to update any information that has changed. Take a couple hours, and fill it out.

Here is the link if you need it.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

I’m back!

Here is what I look like after my surgery.

Just kidding! Obviously. My hair isn’t that big...

Any way, so I am finally ready to write about my surgery. Now, I have gotten a couple shudders when talking about the procedure, so if medical procedures, stuff to do with eyes or blood make you queasy, don’t read this entry. And let me apologize in advance, this is going to be a long wordy entry. Sorry, no pictures beyond the first one in this entry.

You’re not allowed to drive after this surgery, so my dad picked me up from work around 1 and drove us down to Wilshire and Gayley. We got down there with plenty of time to spare. My appointment was scheduled for 4:30 but they wanted me there at 2, “to fill out forms.”

Yeah, as to that, after being ignored for about an hour, it probably took me about 20 minutes to fill out these forms. And this was after the receptionist/office personnel person misspelled my first name and had to reprint the forms. I refused to sign two forms initially because, A) I was not given the opportunity to ask questions of the anesthesiologist as stated and B) The office person forgot to give me the form outlining my aftercare that the form was asking me to acknowledge receipt of.

Perhaps you might ask why I am so caught up on these small details. When this is my first experience with the surgery center, which is two floor above the doctor’s offices where I had my initial appointments, it does not inspire confidence in the place. This is my health and these are all legally binding documents. And I am not going to sign anything that is untrue because of the possible side affects that were listed for this procedure.

In truth, the doctor’s have to list every single possible side affect, even if there is no reported case and they have never seen the side affect themselves. For this procedure, I could have lost my vision completely and/or required corneal replacement surgery if anything had gone wrong. That is of course, the worst case scenario. But this was the first operation besides having permanent teeth removed that I have ever had done. I have my tonsils, my appendix and all other various body parts that can be removed without dying. The last hospital stay of any kind that I had was for my birth and I don’t remember that.. Needless to say, I was a little anxious.

So moving right along. After a couple hours of hanging out in the reception room, watching other people go in and watching other’s coming in to pick up their loved ones, the nurse finally called me in. Her name was Marlowe and I could not have asked for a sweeter or nicer nurse to look after me. But I get ahead of myself.

She took me into a changing room and asked me to remove any jewelry that might get in the doctor’s way – my necklace and three earrings. She also had me place my sweater and purse in one of those patient personal belongs bags and gave me a medical robe to put on over my clothes and a huge shower cap/medical hair cover thingy to put on over my hair. After that, she took me back to a recovery/prep area with about four gurneys. She had me lay down on one and then got me a blanket since it was chilly in the room. She even gave me an extra blanket since my feet were cold – as usual.

The doctor came back to check on me and they marked my forehead with a asterisk in marker above my right eye so they would know which one to work on. Marlowe then put the IV connecting tube into the back of my right hand. She tape me up and was beginning to walk away, when I suddenly felt something wet and cold run on my hand. I had blood from the IV connection tube running across the back of my hand and down my wrist. Lots of blood.

“Umm, excuse me, I’m having a problem, I’m bleeding.”

Marlowe was startled and came back immediately. She came back so quickly, she didn’t even put gloves back on or bring anything with her to stop the bleeding. At this point, I’ve gotten blood on the sheets I’m lying on. But it was okay, since Marlowe grabbed the blanket I was lying under and used it to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. She told me not to look so I don’t pass out. To which I replied that it was okay, I donate blood regularly so this was nothing. We kept chatting as she worked on my hand. Marlowe use to work in the emergency room and she said that most people, especially guys, faint at the sight of their own blood or start thrashing around. She was impressed on how calm I stayed. I told her that I knew that they (meaning the nurses on duty) would take care of me and that my panicking and thrashing around would only make her job harder.

It wasn’t that much blood but it was not a pretty sight. Marlowe switched out the tube to attach the IV to, she told me that in the 7 years she has been doing IV’s, this is the first time she has seen anything like this. She guessed that the little tube thing was defective, which is why it allowed the blood to come out the end. She cleaned up my skin and re-taped the tube. She checked it before she walked away to throw all the sterile wrappings away, then came back and attached my IV and then switched the sheets and blankets out for me.

Everything else was calm after that, the nurse who would actually be in surgery with me, Kathy, came out and introduced herself and Marlowe came over and put a couple different drops in my right eye. Thinking back on it, I think one was a numbing drop and the other was to dilate my pupil since my vision was a little wanky after that. The Doc wrote up my prescriptions and Marlowe took them out to my dad so he could call them in or go downstairs to the pharmacy in the building to get them filled while they were working on me. Before I knew it, Kathy came to walk me to the operating room.

“It’s just down the hall here, first door to your left,” as she trailed behind me carrying my IV.
Uh, did I forget to mention that I don’t tell my left from my right very well?

I think I cracked a job about not realizing I would be expected to tell my right from my left before the surgery, not a very good joke to be truthful. But I think they could tell I was a little anxious.

They had me lay down with a pillow under my knees and my head in this molded head rest. Kathy came and took my glasses and I hung out while they got everything set up in the room. I think the introduced me to the anesthesiologist but I was kind of not taking much in at that point, being mostly blind. I was okay, until they put the restraint strap over my legs. That is when I started crying.

They asked me how I was and I told them I was anxious and Kathy rubbed my shoulder and told me that was pretty common. Dr. Maloney was very nice about it too. I am sure they see a lot of that. They had the anesthesiologist drug me up through the IV and they began.

Now, from here on in, things are a little foggy, I know that they inserted a frame to keep my eye open and at one point, I could feel the doctor working on my eye and they had to give me more anesthetic. That really sucked but at least I know to speak up sooner and what to say for next time.

From looking at my eye later, they made a small incision at the top of my Iris, inserted the lens, attached it to my cornea somehow and then stitched the incision up. Yeah, I could feel him pulling the stitches closed – in my eye. I don’t know if I could have gone through it if I had know all that it entailed. Sometimes, I think it is better to just go into things blindly, at least for me. I feel the same way about childbirth – Don’t show me those miracle of birth videos or I will never be able to go through it. Just let me get pregnant, gestate the baby and not have an option when it comes time to pop the kid out. There are not a lot of options once you start giving birth, you can’t return the kid at that point.

But I digress. They taped a clear eye shield over my eye and wheeled me out to the recovery area. I think I was the last patient for the day. They talked to me and asked me to respond to them and keep telling me to take deep breathes. I have never felt so out of it in my life. Or so relieved to be done with anything. I just wanted to go home and rest but I couldn’t imagine getting up. It took me a while to come around, I remember closing my eyes because it was easier than keeping the right one open and I couldn’t see out of the left one. I don’t think I had the coordination to put my contact in at that point. I don’t think I slept but anything is possible. My eye felt funny and not too good, so when Marlowe offered me painkillers, I said yes. My stomach didn’t feel great so Marlowe gave me Tylenol instead of Vicoden. She also gave me apple juice and peanut butter crackers! Yay – treats!

Skipping ahead, on Tuesday, I had a follow up appointment. My vision was 20/50 at that point, they liked the placement of the lens and there was no change in the pressure in my eye and there was no inflammation for them to worry about. My eye was bright red from all the blood trapped in it, but that is suppose to go away after a while. I still have some of the red in my eye this week but it does look better, according to mi familia. Of course, the red part that is left is the part in view, the rest of the eye is clearing up nicely.

There were a couple of cool things about the surgery. When I looked really closely at my eye, I could see where they made the incision and stitched up the cut. There was a small line/ indentation on my Iris. Cool. And one day at work, I was looking out the reflective windows and with the sun shining in, I could actually see the lens in my eye in my reflected image.

So currently, I have one contact in and one “Bionic” eye, as my brother calls. It’s nice to wake up in the middle of the night and be able to see my clock and not walk into my furniture as I stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The last couple days, my eye has been feeling itchy and dry in the evenings, but I guess that is normal and can continue for a while as I heal.

So tomorrow, I have a second check up appointment. I am very excited to find out how my vision checks out now and to find out when we are going to do the next eye.

And I promise not to write as long an entry for a while. For all three of my regular readers. Well, make that four.

If you give a Mouse a Cookie

Okay, I DO NOT feel like writing about my surgery yesterday, let it suffice to say right now that I will live and came through alright. So I wanted to write something a little light hearted instead of my usual ranting and raving.

For some reason, this book was running through my head. If you are not around children much, you may have missed it. The book is called, “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laurie Joffe Numeroff. Basically, the story follows the series of request that a mouse might make if you give him a cookie. For example, the next thing he asks for is a glass of milk, followed by a special mug and so on and so forth.

It is such a cute picture book and one that kids love. If you are around any new moms, this is a great book to give as a gift for baby showers, christening, Christmas or Birthdays. I think that the company who publishes this book might even make a stuft animal version of the main mouse character. I know my baby cousin James use to love this story. Of course, he is crazy about animals to begin with but it really is a great book.

Out of here!

I’m off! Today is surgery number 1 – the Right eye. I have no idea how I will be feeling after this procedure, so I may not post for a while, even though I plan on returning to work tomorrow. I am sure that everything will go smoothly. I’ll let you all know.

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Scary Larry
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