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Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory!

February 16, 2010 in Personal by Mardé | 3 comments

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the floaters coming right!
Coming right from my right eye in every day and night!
But why should I now panic with 20-25 good sight?
The light keeps shining bright!

Glory, glory, all my cataracts are gone!
Glory, glory, mine eyes still sing this song!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

A week ago I had my eyes tested my the nice Christine Newell, OD, in Bridgton, Maine. While my left eye had 20-20 vision, my right eye had only 20-25 vision and saw floaters, not real bad floaters but floaters nonetheless. These and the 20-25 vision are caused by the macular pucker I described in a previous post. But I can live with this, and I was told that the brain (if I only had a brain!) can eventually accommodate itself to these floaters so that I’ll hardly notice them. Moreover, I’m told that macular pucker usually doesn’t get worse, and if it does, there are ways of correcting it. So, what me worry? I now have 20-20 vision using both eyes! Glory, glory Hallelujah!

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Feb. 4th

February 4, 2010 in Personal by Mardé | 5 comments

This is the day back in 1965 that my father died. He had his heart attack while bowling , 3rd ball thrown I think. That was 45 years ago. Kate was about minus one month at the time.

The stock market tanked today. About time for a correction. But it was a surprise. I didn’t find out until I got home around 2pm. Went out snow shoeing anyway. Not much I can do about market, and I’m not ready to sell yet. I checked the corner of Kate’s barn where I thought the grey fox might have climbed, but couldn’t see claw marks.

I had my fasting lipid panel blood tests this morning. Fasted from last evening except for black coffee. All done by 8:30am. Had nice breakfast at cafeteria in the Stephens Memorial Hospital. Then I worked at church office. Got a lot done, various things. Then went back to that cafeteria. Saw Jan Cardoza there sitting with others. Had good chat.

Dropped off copy of Board minutes at bank for Jessica LeConte. She was out so I didn’t get the forms. Then left Norway and stopped at Hannaford in Bridgton. Surprised Cynthia with scallops and thin sliced chicken plus more salad materials.

Watched Jon Stewart and part of Stephen Colbert tonight. Both good. Had watched Nightly Business Report first. Oh, btw, I got results back from lipid tests and my cholesterals are great! High on the good, low on the bad. And my INR is between 2 and 3 so I don’t need another “pro-time” test for a month.

Over and out.

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New set of eyes with a little pucker?

January 29, 2010 in Personal by Mardé | 4 comments

“Enjoy your new eyes.”, said Dr. Bruce Cassidy on my left eye post-op visit on Wednesday. Both eyes feel quite good, minus their cataracts and plus their new lenses, for now. But last eve I got a little worried that my right eye may be faintly showing double images, and when I was out snow shoeing yesterday afternoon I noticed a cobweb-like floater in my right eye vision. Is the “macular pucker” that Dr. Cassidy pointed out to me in a test on my first visit rearing it’s puckered head? Macular pucker may or may not affect vision and I don’t really think the vision in my right eye is suffering much, but when I have my visit with Dr. Christine Newell on Feb. 10, I can find out if there is any loss or distortion of vision in my right eye. Otherwise, it’s fun having this new set of eyes and not having to wear glasses, except for reading and computer viewing. The nurse at my last visit handed me a pair of drugstore glasses which work fine for reading and computer viewing.

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A Lot To Say

January 26, 2010 in Personal, Politics by Mardé | No comments

and no time to say it. I’m off at 8:45am to the Eyecare Medical Group in Portland for my left cataract removal. I sit here with no breakfast rather grumpily. And I read about Obama’s three year freeze in discretionary spending (I guess John McCain agrees — how nice) and note his lack of leadership on health care. I’ve about given up on Obama. His plans for solving the job problems in America are piddling, in addition to the budget freeze not helping jobs at all. The Republicans will take over. But I’m looking forward to getting this cataract removed and doing without glasses, although they say I’ll need them for reading. OK, now I gotta go and start taking eye drops. Kate will be over soon and the three of us, Kate, me, Cynthia will head out for Portland at 8:45am.

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Cataract Removal

January 6, 2010 in Medication, Operations, Personal by Mardé | 10 comments

OK, today is the day Dr. Cassidy removes the cataract from my right eye. We’ll be heading down to Portland to the Eyecare Medical Group around Noon.

Kate is gonna drive and zMommy will be coming along. I’m told the whole procedure will take an hour and a half. But this is the whole time I’ll be there; the actual “procedure” or removal will take about ten minutes.

I’ve been taking eye drops the last couple days, three times a day. That’s Vigamox and Nevanac. The former is an antibiotic, the latter for pain reduction. Of course, I’m not sure how well I got the drops into my eye. Guess it doesn’t matter as long as some of it goes in.

It’s now approaching 11am. Pretty soon I’ll put on a short sleeved shirt with open collar, as they request, and take the Cyclopentolate. One drop of that. I think that’s to widen the pupil. It’s the reason I can’t drive to the surgery. Also I take the Nevanac again, three times, and will have to stop on the way down so I can insert a drop.

Alright, I guess that covers it. Perhaps I can update this post when I come back, assuming I at least have one eye (the left one) to look out of.
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Yup, I’ve got one good eye now, the left one. Here it is 5:25pm and my right eye is blurry as hell. But that’s to be expected I’m told. I’ll be seeing Dr. Cassidy again in the morning (9:30am) for his further inspection and instructions for the future.

The whole procedure today was fairly painless. The only pesty thing was the inserting of the needle for the I-V in my hand. But whatever medication he gave me was definitely appreciated by me. I was quite relaxed during the whole time that Dr. Cassidy was operating, about ten minutes I guess.

Kate drove well all the way down and back. She said her pinched nerve in her neck was better. We stopped at Gorham on the way back and picked up some groceries, including Hake for supper. Over and out.

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Time Marches On

December 25, 2009 in Personal by Mardé | 5 comments

Yes, that’s the old saw. Everyone agrees with that. But here it is Christmas morn and I’m free for a bit to write a note or two here for posterity.

We had a great Xmas eve service last eve at the Norway UU church. Big attendance. Lots of enthusiasm. Well led by Richard. Coherent and non-stressed candle light service at the end. And I had fun belting out the carols. Heather had me do a little jazzy ah men after it was over. Gad, do I love her!

Got to thinking, as perhaps I do every Xmas time, about the years past, about the people who brought me up. My mother, father, and the aunts and uncles, cousins. During the 1930’s and 40’s we had those great old Christmas get togethers at Aunt Marjorie’s or Bernice’s place. There was the long motor ride in to one of them on Xmas day. My mother liked to count the Xmas trees in windows on the way. I was the hero to my girl cousins. The adults would chatter away and laugh. They’re all gone now, except for three of the cousins.

Where are we going? I’ll be 81 next month and how many years will there be? But I’ll enjoy every last bit of it, even though I’m concerned at the moment about my upcoming cataract operations, my necessary pause on the Coumadin, and Cynthia’s cognitive problems re numbers and planning.

Today around 1pm, Kate and Don, Clarissa, Sean and Nick will all arrive for our opening of presents and our consuming of mammoth fish chowdah! Kate is doing the chowdah. We’ll open the presents from 1 to 2pm, then have the chowdah. We did a modified Yankee swap this year, thanks to a suggestion by Eryn, who with Nat can’t be here because this year they’re at Eryn’s parents. I drew Clarissa in the swap and got her a coffee maker. Also, I’ve purchased a bunch of small items, stocking stuffers, which will satisfy the needs of people to open presents. We’ll see how it goes. Should be fun.

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That Christmas Song + Snow Shoes

December 12, 2009 in Personal, Snow, Song by Mardé | 6 comments

OK, I finally cut loose after lunch today on that Christmas Song and feel better about it. I think it’s getting under my skin, as it were, meaning it’s becoming part of me like “When the Night Wind Howls” is part of me. But still, I’m not quite there yet with it. Have another week to go before our Dec. 20th concert so, hopefully, that should give me time to really nail it down.

Thought I would put my snow shoes on this afternoon and go for a hike down back. But when I faced the outdoors with its wicked wind and icy coldness, I said the hell with it and came back inside. No use of torturing myself. I’ll wait for a better day. (Maybe we’ll have rain and then a freeze so I can walk on top of the snow?)

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Blog Introspection

December 12, 2009 in Personal, Religion, Song by Mardé | 8 comments

Let us introspect a bit. The purpose of this blog is? Answer in 25 words or less. OK, it’s to say whatever I please AND preserve it for posterity. I’ll provide slices out of time and thought. OK, why don’t I start doing that? Here goes.

We got some fairly substantial snow on Wednesday with a prediction of high winds which didn’t materialize until yesterday, Friday. When I went out Thursday morning to start the snow thrower, the electric start conked out on me. Panic! Kate was out on the road when it happened. She may have told Don. But I called him anyway and also called Carol Rhodes. Had a good talk with her and she said she’d get Jeff. So, a little while later there was Don, and then Jeff. Don managed to start the thing by rope pulls and Jeff with his scooper tractor cleared out the front of the driveway. So, it wasn’t much longer before our driveway was nice and clear….. Over and out. Good.

What else?

I’ll need to sing “The Christmas Song” at our Dec. 20th choir concert. I have the words memorized but there are a couple places where I’m having difficulties with the tune. Not too serious, but still. Also, the song is a bit on the high side for me, so, I’ll need lots of good breath. I should be practicing the thing here at home but it tends to bother Cynthia, or I think it does. Today I really should sing it out a few times in any case.

The world?

Was reading Charles Blow’s Op-Ed in the NYT this morning. Here’s the first sentence:

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a report on Wednesday that is bound to stir conversation about the increasingly complicated cacophony of spirituality in America — a mash-up of traditional faiths, fantasy and mythology.

Yup, the New Agers are on a tear. Here’s his last sentence:

Cue the harps, and the sitars, and the tablas, and the whale music.

Pretty good, huh? I hope I’m not leaving the impression that I approve of this New Age crap because I don’t. I think the New Agers are nuts.

And here I am reading Karen Armstrong’s “The Case for God”, and listening to her being interviewed by Bill Moyers and Terry Gross. I even put a comment into somebody’s comment on her book in Amazon. Why don’t I reproduce that thing I wrote here? OK.

I haven’t finished the book but have been listening to Armstrong being interviewed by Bil Moyers and Terry Gross. But what I have gathered so far is that God is not a “thing” at all but a wonderment, a mystery, and a need. Ha Ha Ha How stupid, huh? Well, of course, I’m stupid and naive, but I believe it gets back to the Why are we here? question in the sense that nothing might have been here. Get that? The connection between this and the mere “Golden Rule” which she espouses as the most important thing anyone of us can practice is what I’m interested in understanding. I do favor the empathy and the attempt to put oneself in the others’ place, i.e., the “Golden Rule”, and I’ve affirmed her Charter of Compassion. But I’m further intrigued by her concepts of the ultimate mysteries. God?

I probably shouldn’t have included Ha Ha Ha How stupid, huh? Well, of course, I’m stupid and naive, but oh well, it’s there now.

Obama?

More later on him. That’s it for now.

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Another Week Starts

August 24, 2009 in Personal by Mardé | 3 comments

OK, what am I gonna do today? I’m supposed to keep pursuing my idea of a cell phone antenna in our church steeple as a fund raiser. I found a website http://www.steeplecom.com/ which helps churches do this. Unfortunately the site seems to be down this morning. I think I’ve found another one now, http://www.steelintheair.com/Church-Steeples-and-Cell-Towers.html. Not sure what chance we’ll have with the church located in Norway, Maine, below Pikes Hill but who knows?

I sent a funding request for our church belfry repair to Bob Sallies last Wednesday. Wonder if I’ll hear from him this week? (Or ever.)

Tomorrow we get a chord of wood delivered. This will be for next year. I think we’ve got enough already for this coming winter. How’s that for planning?

On Thursday I go down to Portland to the nice hearing aid place, Maxwell, Kluger & Makaretz, ENT Associates, on Baxter Blvd., and my nice audiologist, Kelly Lynch, for a free hearing test and servicing of my nice hearing aids.

Let’s see. What have I forgotten? Well, I hope to Hell this new batch of rainy and electrical weather finally ends today. I’m still not ready for fall — I prefer to hold time back — and would like to have more summer before September starts. Go Sun Go! Or rather COME!

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Feeling Better for Now

August 5, 2009 in Health Care, Personal by Mardé | 4 comments

Yes, I seem to be feeling better for now after I stopped that metronidazole antibiotic and started on Imodium. The metronidazole antibiotic had almost run its 7-day course but I didn’t take the last two pills. My almost constant diarrhea urges seemed to stop when I stopped the antibiotic, although on Tuesday starting right away on the Imodium — four pills a day I was told to take by the Doc — has brought a complete stop to the diarrhea. Now will my problem be constipation? I’ll be going back to Stephens hospital tomorrow for my blood test to check on my INR level. The INR was high on Tuesday because of the antibiotic — I didn’t get the number — so I was told to stop the Coumadin until I get my next blood test tomorrow. This morning I had my normal pre-diarrhea breakfast of one egg on toast, juice and coffee with half a banana. Isn’t this all fascinating?

But what is really bothering me at the moment are the fascists in this country shouting down health care reform at the Democratic town hall meetings. I won’t say any more on this because I’m too pissed off.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention: I probably have a touch of Irritable Bowell Syndrome (IBS). Maybe that’s why I’ve become irritable? Ha ha?

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