Catching Up! (Warning - some eye surgery vague description below)

Well, what have we been up to the past couple of weeks? Hm...kind of...a LOT! I had to read my last post to see where I had left off. When I left you last, Vivi was having a very hard time getting over her fear of potty-ing anywhere but at home. She did good at Chili's that one time (picture on Dropshots - Oct 17 date I think..wait...the actual potty experience was not pictured...the celebratory cake and ice cream was), but had trouble for several days after that. Anyway, we are finally over it, about 90%. She is still apprehensive about the auto flushing potties, but isn't hysterically terrified anymore. She gets pumpkin (you know, the ones that are kind of like candy corn) every time she flushes the potty while she is sitting on it - just to teach her that even if a potty does flush while she's sitting on it, it's not dangerous (a little gross, but not dangerous). It seems to have worked.

Other news? Well, our family has had 2 eye surgeries, visit from Grandma, Trick-or-Treating, visit from a great friend from Yuma (who lives in FL now), finished 2 (or 4...they are reversible) outfits for Bryton, and flu - h1n1.

Where to start? Eye surgery - one night, over the course of 3-4 hours, I went from seeing fine out of both eyes, to floaters appearing (you know...black lines that float around your visual area) and blurriness that reduced my vision on my left eye to just about nothing. I spent the next afternoon at the optometrist's office on base who thought that my retina might be detaching due to too much tugging from new (and weak) blood vessels that had formed because my eye wasn't receiving adequate oxygen. That is due to 25 years of type 1 diabetes. It really affects the vascular system and diabetic retinopathy is a side affect. Anyway, the doc on Friday made sure that my retina was still attached and talked to an opthamologist who scheduled an appt for me the following Monday. Over the weekend, she said not to do anything that would increase blood flow - no exercising or running around...hello...I have 2 kids...ANYWAY, I took it pretty easy and went to the doc on Monday who confirmed the diagnosis of the doc I saw Friday - a hemorrhage in my left eye - the newly formed blood vessel had burst leaking blood into the vitreous (vitreal?) fluid causing the floaters and the blurriness. She set up an appointment on Tuesday with a retinal surgeon - in Wilmington. At this time, she still thought my retina might be detaching, and wanted me to see the surgeon asap. After talking to the nurse at the retinal surgeon's office, she told me some post op instructions for retinal detachment surgery - no stooping, bending, lifting, exercising, possibly being face down (if they had to put an air bubble in) for 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind this is Monday after we left the opthamologist's office...the retinal surgeon still hadn't seen my eye and still hadn't done an exam. So, Kyle called his mom and I called mine - to see if anyone would be available to help with the kids during the 2-3 week 'down time' I would have post op. Kyle's mom was able to come up on Wednesday and stay for several days. (note - my mom was available too, but our cell phone call got cut before we could confirm anything b/c as we were talking, their carrier was updating her phone...). At the surgeon's office the next day, he looked and poked and prodded and took pictures and injected dye in my veins to map out blood supply, etc. He didn't see retinal detachment at all - just new blood vessel growth that he wanted to zap ....with a laser... in order to kill the growth of these new blood vessels. New blood vessels sound great when your eye isn't receiving adequate oxygen, but the new ones that form are very unstable and very leaky - and prone to hemorrhaging - which is why he wanted to cut their growth, preventing them from leaking again. So, he deadened the eye (took 2 shots to get the rights nerves deadened) and went to zapping. Of all of the millions of shots I've had in my lifetime, I will remember this one. Not really pleasant, but not unpleasant. 975 lasers later (new record for the office), surgery was all done. I was doing okay - just feeling a little uneasy...you know, kind of yucky, but very much thankful that the retinal detachment wasn't an issue. That was scary to think about. Plus, the laser surgery didn't have near the post op restrictions that the retinal detachment surgery would have had. Keep in mind though that I still had almost no vision out of my left eye due to the blurriness. The good thing is that now (2 weeks later) most of the blurriness is gone. I still have a few light floaters, but have a good percentage of my vision back. The floaters are in my central vision area, but my peripheral is pretty good. Ok, so where was I...Anyway, being that my post op period wasn't going to be as restrictive as we thought, we told Kyle's mom that we wouldn't necessarily need her at the extent that we originally thought, but she had already made her plans - we were so glad she was still coming, just didn't want to inconvenience her more that we already had. Anyway, while we were running all over eastern NC to the eye docs, a wonderful friend kept Vivi and Bryton, and another friend took her little boy over to play with Vivi and yet others offered to keep the kids, let the dog out to go potty, pick Vivi up from her preschool class...we were engulfed with support!! She says that they didn't fuss once...Vivi talked and talked about her fun filled days - she had a great time!

Anyway, Tuesday after the surgery, we had to stop for formula. The drugs they gave me for the surgery aren't proven to harm infants that are nursing, but they aren't known to not harm them either. The doc advised that I not nurse Bryt for 48 hrs post op. I had some milk in the freezer but not enough for 2 days of feeding. Note to new moms - pump any extra while you can and do it for as long as you can - you never know when you might need some. I'll have a good pump to sell in a few months. So, there Kyle and I am in Target looking at scads of formula bottles. I in my eye patch am trying to read the labels on the formula. They are a little overwhelming - there's a formula for everything - brain development, eye enhancement, soy option, etc. I just wanted one that said "This one is safe for your baby to eat." Haha. Anyway, formula was purchased and he did just fine. Had to put a level 1 nipple on the bottle - those are the newborn sized nipples. He about chokes with level 3 (the 6 month size).

On to grandma's visit! She arrived played with the kids from sun up to sun down. It was so helpful having her around - Vivi and Bryton loved the attention, too. The house was pretty clean and with her entertaining the kids, I was able to stay on top of everything while she was here. A couple of days before she left to go back home, she asked if I needed her to do anything or keep the kids while I did anything...and for the first time in..well..months (maybe even years), I honestly didn't have any items on my 'to-do' list. Really. It's a great feeling. Grandmas and anyone who loves to play, please come visit.

Another visitor? Yep - my good friend from Yuma came to visit...kind of. She is a photographer and was scheduled to photograph a wedding for a client within driving distance of New Bern. I had planned to go with her prior to the eye stuff..play with some great photographic equipment, get some good girl time with my friend, take some fun shots at a wedding...but only have good vision out of one eye at the time, I didn't think traipsing around at an outdoor wedding in my clumsy state would have been the most discreet way to be a 'guest' at the wedding. Well, my friend took some family photos of us...I'll post more later on dropshots. I got to play with her camera and a couple of lenses some...and I am now officially in love. With a camera. And a lens. And taking pictures. And fall colors. Her visit and tips really inspired and motivated me one step closer to having a photography business. I just love taking good photos...and even love taking bad ones - that I learn from. (Another good part of having Kyle's mom here was the assistance with taking pics...I played and played with my camera downtown one day...she played with the kids, I took pics. I wasn't going for expressions in the photos as I was just trying new things with my camera (even though I'm in love with a new camera and lens, I do pretty good with the one I have...it's a good one). Photos are just great - I mean, you only get one chance to capture a certain place in time....one chance to remember your little ones as they are little...spend as much time with them as you can (while still maintaining your sanity...)...there's just so much to remember...and capturing those times with photos makes it so much easier to remember the good, funny, inspiring, bad, and growing times.

So, it was great seeing an old friend again, even though it was brief. Maybe I'll be able to head out of town for a few days and schedule a time to see her. :-) Although that's not too likely anytime soon...this current weekend is the only weekend in several that Kyle hasn't had to work...either mandated by his squadron leaders, or just catching up on 'paperwork.'

That brings us to...Halloween? Vivi wore a Gingerbread girl costume that my brother wore long long ago...and Bryton had a lobster costume...He didn't wear it on Halloween b/c it was 80 degrees here Halloween afternoon - he would have been a cooked lobster had he worn it! Where's the drawn butter? Anyway, we spent the afternoon with friends (thanks for the great Halloween party!) and evening Trick-or-Treating. Vivi had a 'big girl' time!

On the Wednesday after Halloween, I had eye surgery on my right eye. The doc saw some blood vessels growing that needed to be killed off before they had a chance to hemorrhage. So, we went in to have the same procedure done on the right eye. This time, the doc wasn't able to fully deaden the nerves that service the eye...but they did the procedure anyway. No more details about that unless you request them...but it wasn't pleasant. I'm seeing like normal out of that eye...just waiting on hemorrhage from left eye (first one) to clear up...they say it could take months. But, its getting better. I have to sleep on three pillows to keep my head elevated to let gravity do its work to clear out the blood particles from that eye. If I turn upside down, it can have the 'snowglobe' effect and let everything that had settled come into my central vision area again.

Now - more outfits for Bryton. I was able to finish 2 outfits for Bryton that I had started pre-eye drama. They are finished - pictures will be on dropshots soon. They are from a size 18 month pattern, piped around the top, reversible, and embroidered with his name. Oh yeah - and thanks to Kyle's mom, I can successfully use the button holer attachment on my sewing machine. (on previous outfits I hand stitched the button holes. Trust me - much easier with the attachment).

Yep, Vivi has the flu. She's been coughing/sneezing for a couple of days, but that was it...until this morning. She was burning up - fever was 101.2 -not that high, but we still called the pediatrician and they got her in this morning. Pediatrician said that it was flu, and probably h1n1. The only way to tell for sure would be to send a blood sample (from a 3 year old...not easy to get) to the CDC and then hear back from them 2 weeks later. Vivi and Bryton have had the seasonal flu vaccine, but not the h1n1. It's only recently been available, but I have some apprehension about getting it for them. I can't really explain why...I mean new vaccine, came out in huge quantities relatively quickly...just makes me wonder if enough research was done. Oh well...a little late now. Vivi's been a little trooper today - just more tired than normal. Doc said to give her motrin every 6 hrs for 2-3 days and she'd start feeling better soon. She did well today - just real sluggish and decreased appetite...but really well for having this. B might be getting it too = he's been congested the past few days, but no fever and appetite is..er...very much hearty...mr. chunks.

Ok, ok..while I'm typing this very lengthy blog, I'm watching the LSU/Bama game....we're 2/3 in our household today...Navy won, beating Notre Dame in a good game; Auburn won (well, it was homecoming) and LSU/Bama is proving to be a good game. Not sure how it will end!!

Anyway, hope everyone reading this is doing well! I'm going to try to post more often so the next post isn't as long. Sheesh!

Oh one more thing - Kyle's going to Yuma this week and will be gone until around Dec 20 :-(. Any nanny or maid services very much welcomed! ha! I'm very glad that this eye stuff happened while he was still here.

And, I'll be in Birmingham for Christmas - not sure exact dates yet. I'll bring my camera and would love to have some beautiful subjects to 'expose.'

Have a great day! (oh - no time to proof read this one...sorry for typos/incomplete sentences/thoughts!)