Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

GREAT NEWS...L is balanced...at least vision-wise. L's 2nd surgery is another success. Yesterday, at his post-op appointment, the surgeon released some fluid from L's eyeball as his eye pressure was too high. Other than that, the situation is looking up! L's distance vision is amazing, AND after 17 days he's now able to read again with the aid of dollar store reading glasses. He still needs to wait another 4 weeks before he can order new glasses, but he should be able to return to work on Monday....WHEW.

Here are the pictures of our new project...
The top picture shows our new porch compared to the old porch in the background. It also shows the lovely 3 inch overhang we gained with the new roofing. Wednesday, we all ran out in the rain to watch the water running off the roof WITHOUT hitting our siding or windows....YAY!! Next summer we'll be able to re-side the house without worrying about the siding getting ruined by roof runoff.


This picture shows our project for this weekend...moving the sidewalk and leveling the steps. With the new porch roof slant, there wasn't enough room to install the door on the front. The new door faces the garage and driveway. We don't have a problem with that.


Here's a picture of the new roof doo-dads that were installed. Our bathroom fans now have flappers that will prevent our heated air from escaping. In addition, all the vent pipes now have leakproof rubber boots around them.


Here's what we were working on while the contractor was doing our roof...a new, larger, birdfeeder mounted on squirrel-proof(hopefully) pvc sewer pipe. We built this whole project with scraps from other projects. The only thing we bought was 2 pvc connectors for $5 total.

I realize that most people would've tackled the sidewalk project before building a new birdfeeder. Our birds, especially the hummingbirds, were having such a fit from the moment the contractor took down the old feeder to make room for his scaffolding, that this became our top priority.

Gotta run to Menards for Quikrete and caulk. See ya later!

No More Blurry Food

Just a quick update before we take off for L's 2nd surgery tomorrow morning. We'll be leaving at 6 a.m., so we can get there for L's 9 a.m. surgery. We need to spend the night so that L can go to his post-op appointment on Friday morning. Since this is the closest thing we'll get to a vacation this year, we plan on enjoying our trip with a little shopping and dinner out.

We now have a magnificent new roof and front porch. I'll try to find time to take some pictures this weekend.

L is sick to death of eating blurry food! Hopefully dollar store glasses will cure this problem after the 2nd surgery.

Yesterday was a KILLER!! Work was a zoo, Boss was a bitch, I had to work over an hour late. Then I tracked down a package at the post office that was mis-labeled as undeliverable. Then, I had to take the truck to our sweetheart of a mechanic to have a nail removed from the tire and a plug installed. He didn't even charge me for it! One of life's blessings is having a trustworthy mechanic. I ADORE ours! Then I had to stand in line to get L's second round of overpriced antibiotic eye drops. I didn't get home and out of my work clothes until 5 p.m.!

For some reason, L didn't want me to cut his hair yesterday, after the day I'd had. I wonder why?

Now I need to pack a few things for our trip and try to switch myself out of hyperdrive. Right now a 4-day weekend sounds heavenly, even if we have to spend some of it in a hospital!

Update

L's first cataract surgery went off without a hitch! During his post-op appointment, the surgeon said that his vision had improved MORE than she had hoped.

L actually cried with joy when his "new" eye stopped fluctuating long enough for him to see clearly. When he covers his left eye, L can actually see the branches on the trees in our back yard... without glasses! For the past 50 yrs, all he has been able to see without his glasses were colored swirls. Anything further than 5 ft away is crystal clear with his new eye! His close-up vision will be corrected when he is able to get his new glasses. Unfortunately, that won't happen for another 6 weeks.

Wednesday afternoon we experimented with every combination possible that would help L see enough to function until his 2nd surgery. The first thing we tried was taking the right lens out of his glasses. This resulted in double vision. Then I covered the right side of his glasses with black electrical tape. This eliminated the double vision, but he got woozy from the lack of depth perception. The taped-up glasses enable L to read, but only for a couple of minutes at a time as his left eye quickly blurs from the strain that's been put on it.

L returned to work on Thursday, armed with his taped-up glasses hung around his neck for close-up work. He never realized how much close-up work he does with all the prep work involved with cooking, and reading the waitresses tickets. Working with the grill and fryer was a whole other problem. L said he would do just fine, IF he had 5 ft long grill tools. He wound up cooking burgers and steaks purely by feel. Thursday was a slow day so L managed to finish his shift.

Friday was another story...
The restaurant was busy and L's left eye quickly blurred from the strain. This meant that the only things he could see, had to be farther than 5 ft away from him. L had to return home, in defeat, within 2 hrs of starting his shift.

L's 2nd surgery is scheduled for August 26th, which is the next time his surgeon will be here. The surgeon told L that if he couldn't function, she would do his left eye on August 14th, if we could travel to her location. Soooo....it looks like we'll be making the 2 hr trip to the surgeon on August 14-15.

We have been telling our Boss, since May, that both L's optometrist AND his surgeon didn't think he'd be able to function between his surgeries. Did she listen? Nope. She gave her son this coming week off, to travel to Missouri on vacation! Her son is the only other person who is trained to cook the afternoon/evening shift. Will she cancel her son's vacation? Probably not. She'll probably decide to work the double shift herself. This will make her a total bitch to work with during my morning shift with her. Will the fun never end?

The hard part will be keeping L from going stir-crazy for the next 12 days. He can't see well enough to do yard work, housework, read, or run the computer. The only thing he CAN do is watch movies, IF he sits about 6 ft from the TV so he can read the subtitles. (He can't hear well enough to hear the TV.)

The ONLY other thing L can do is have conversations with Z and I. This could be a good thing....but not THIS weekend! Our contractor will be starting our roof and porch construction on Monday. This means that Z and I have to empty out our porches before Monday AND get the lawn mowed before the lawn is occupied by scaffolding and construction equipment.

We'll make it, with our sanity intact, if we ALL keep looking at the big picture. 2 weeks from now L's vision should be good enough for him to function(with the aid of dollar store reading glasses), and we'll have a new roof and porches on our house. Surviving the next 2 weeks will be the KILLER!