Friday,... woohoo!

It's a Friday of a long weekend! WooHoo! I'm also happy today because Maggie qualified for WIC this morning. That will help out a little bit with the grocery budget. It's not a fortune, but every little bit helps, right? She can get it until she turns 5 in August.

I have to work tonight at Sears, but I have all day tomorrow off, and all day Monday off. That will be nice. I am looking forward to the break. Mike and Michael Jr. have tae kwon do testing tomorrow. They will be working on new belts, towards their 2nd degree blackbelts.  Today is my hubby's last day on the job. I got him a card last night, and a gift to celebrate his new venture at home. It's a recipe box. He likes cooking, so that's a cool gift for him. He was pleased, to know I'm behind him in this decision. 

I swear, I feel like a chicken with my head cut off, since I have gone back to work!!!  Today is Mariah's 8th birthday, and I have planned a small celebration for this evening.....but I have to work, and won't be home until 7 pm!  Oh well, at least I have had the chance to get the house decorated and her big cookie made and decorated before I have to go to work this morning.   Sorry I missed chatting with everyone yesterday.  It was a messy day here, and the girls missed school.  We were slow at the casino, but I had a blast!  Everyone is doing double-takes at me when they see me now!  I have people that I know just walk by the table and tell me that I am looking great now!!! Talk about making me feel great!!!!  I am so happy that I have done this.  I couldn't have made a better choice to have my surgery!  Jimmy is still looking for a job.  He is really getting upset because he can't find anything at all.  I have been asking everyone I know as well about jobs, but since he still hasn't gotten the papers in from Arkansas about getting his liscense back, it is rough. No one wants to hire someone that can't drive.  Grrr. Gotta run. I have to get ready to go to work.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm today! Brrrr! I'd like to be able to say that Bill's eye appointment went fine yesterday, but I can't. He saw Dr. Kelly at his 10:15 appointment. He was suppose to see Dr. Price but he was in surgery. Dr. Kelly didn't like what she saw with Bill's eye (Bill only has one eye that has any vision) and wanted Dr. Price to see Bill. So she told us to come back at 12:30. To pass the time, we asked her & the nurse for a lunch place recommendation...highlight of the visit! They steered us to Paradise Cafe (96th & Meridian..next to McDonald's). Excellent choice! I had their roasted tomatoe soup and Bill had their potato soup. Yummm for both! Their sandwiches are also excellent..so much better than fired foods or those of their neighbor's! Anyway, back to Dr, Price's office. He isn't going to be in his office for a few weeks so he didn't want to make a decision as to what to do until he gets back. So...Bill has to wait until Feb. 4th. The options sounds like it's another artificial cornea (which the insurance didn't cover most of it last time because they are new and still considered 'experimental'), yet another donor cornea (usually last ~2 years...which would be one year more than the last artificial cornea), or ???? Bill asked Dr. Price to be honest and tell him if he is at the end of the rope with his vision. Dr. Price told him that he was pretty close to the end but not quite there just yet. While they were doing a scan of his eye down the hall, I talked with the nurse and asked if she'd mention it to Dr. Price that I'd appreciate him starting to talk to Bill about going through some vocational rehab so that when the time came, Bill would be able to function a little better. We'll see if he does. I've tried mentioning it, but it's not always easy to take suggestions from your spouse...especially for something like this. I think Bill views learning braille is on the same line as giving up. Right now though, I'm very concerned that if Bill lost all of his vision, he would give up...on life. So please everyone, whisper a little prayer for him. He'll never have perfect vision. He'll never be able to drive again. But if he can make things out on his pc (with huge white letters on a black background) and be able to walk around the block and be able to see which street is ours, which house is ours..he would be able to continue to be content with life. Some people pray for 20/20..Bill would be happy with 20/200...It was 20/400 and has gotten worse. Well..you all have a terrific day today! Sherri

Prayers are being offered. I have a little expierence with Zoom Text.  It is used by campus for sight impared students.   You might want to check on that software  God Bless you both and watch over you.

E...thank you. I'm going to google Zoom Text and see what I can find out. I appreciate the suggestion! Sherir

Sherri, Sending prayers and hugs to you and Bill for his eyesight. I can relate with his vision... mine uncorrected is 20/400 in both eyes with added astygatizm (misspelled) :o) I can get around the house but can't really see much so I can only imagine if that is the best he sees how frustrating it can be. Hang in there and we will pray that God will provide a miracle and keep him sighted as long as possible. I think you are right about being proactive on the braille....honestly I think it would be good if more people were taught the simple basics of it and knew more of it. Hopefully he will take it on as a challenge and get a head start for if he ever needs it. I saw Dr. B this week and she said it was no biggie...I must have lifted too heavy...I was moving tubs in my garage around and they were HEAVY...lol I moved my implant out of the pocket and was feeling it more than normal and it felt odd. She said no reason to panic it is normal and I am Just fine. I have slot of my own tissue and so far I haven't been able to even find my implants...lol and they aren't small at 380 and 425 cc's. :o) So I feel much better and have finally slept the past couple of nights...lol I have been worrying myself silly thinking I would wake up with a "flat" some morning and be devestated...lol it hasn't helped that on 2 of our cars we have had 5 flat tires in the past 3 weeks...lol I was beginning to think that God was trying to tell me something. :o) Dr. B is so wonderful and I love the way they really care about their patients. I have been so thrileld with my results that I still am kinda afraid thatsomething will happen and take it away from me. :o) I will keep you in my prayers for a smooth and uneventfull surgery and soon you will be out flaunting that new tummy! Take care and be extra good to Bill! He sounds like such a sweetie! Hugs! Marianne

Marianne, Thanks for a VERY good laugh! I couldn't help myself when I got down to your cars having 5 flats! In a year or so, IF I decide to go ahead with the implants, I hope to heaven that they stay the way they are suppose to and where they are suppose to! I take it that Dr. B moved them/it back to it's little slot? No more heavy lifting! Your girls are to be your heavy lifting now! I had no idea that your vision was bad. You're able to drive...right? Bill was able to until ~2000. Your contact lens must do a terrific job! I've never seen you run into a single thing...lol! Bill was born with anaritia. At the time, he was the only person in Indiana with it...Shellie, his daughter, was the 2nd one. It still remains to be very rare so there isn't a lot of research done for it. Most of the medical breakthroughs so far has been because of breakthroughs for shared symptoms with other eye conditions. People with anaritia are always born with it..it doesn't come on later in life. They ar born without iris.  Without iris, the eye can't filter the light and therefore, grows cataracts. When the cataracts are removed, then the cornea is attacked & pressure builds (and mimics glaucoma). Shellie was fortunate in that by the time that she needed her cataracts removed, artificial iris were discovered and were put into place during the same surgery. Shellie has yet to develop any glaucoma or cornea issues. By the time the artificial iris was developed though, was too late for Bill's eyes. The tissue had degraded to the point that anything extra in his eye increases the risk of total failure. He's already had to have several corenea transplants in both eyes as well as shunts put into place to release the pressure. The last shunt put in his right eye reduced the pressure too much...to zero. There are several options to try to reduce the pressure, none to regain it once it is gone though. When the pressue left, it also destroyed his retina...and vision. That was his 'good' eye at the time. One reason the corneas fail isn't really because of the cornea. Anaritia also causes blood vessels to go nuts. When they do the transplant, his eye tries to heal itself by spreading the blood vessels accross the new cornea...and they block his vision. The only way to remove this blockage is to remove/replace the cornea. The tissue is very weak from all the transplants so we know there is going to come a time when there isn't going to be anything there to sew a new cornea in to. Which was why we were hoping the artfical one was the answer. huggs! Sherri

Poor bill...I am thankful that my eyesite is corrected well with contacts and then I wear reading glasses to get my closeup site back. I am at the end of  the spectrum for correction so I know that at some point my vision will not not be able to be corrected as good as it is now but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. I am now about a 20/20 ~ 20/40 corrected and am so thankful for that.  On the girls...Doc says it is normal for the implants to move around in their pockets for a "natural" feel and look. I guess I just really strained mine to where I thought I was damamged. She said with the saline If there is a leak it goes really fast and it is not dangerous so I feel safe about that. I was too scared to even consider the silicone :o) Wimpy me! :o)  It is hard to believe with a large water baloon in your chest that it is hard to find! LOL and then here I was feeling like the perverted neighbor in the movie Summer Rental asking everyone if they looked ok...lol talk about an at home flasher! Sheesh! LOL Hugs! Marianne

Good morning!  I am just now getting around to posting and it is 11am.  Been busy at work.  I am feeling good today.  I got on the scale this morning and I have lost a total of 60 lbs since 10/10.  I am half way there.  Just wanted to pop in and say hi. Hope everyone has a great weekend and try to stay warm. It is suppose to be a cold one. Jenny

Hello everyone TGIF i can finally breathe my fever is gone and its payday..yipeee im still so excited over getting my surgery date that im still calling family and friends. Linda i thank god for wic it helped us alot when the boyswere little. LaChelle glad your back to work and its slow here at our casino to. my 24 yr old son just got his dr license he has been afraid of driving. Sherri good luck on your surgery monday and give bill extra huggs. gayle spoil that grandbaby everyone else have a great day and stay well