Hi y'all.
Fred, sorry about Teddy.
ION, today I had my final Dr. visit for the eye study thing. Lots of exam, pictures, measuring of retinal swelling with a laser, injection of pink dye into a vein, etc. The upshot is the swelling is way-down, but there is still some swelling and some scaring, so while I'm no longer legally blind in that eye, the vision still is not the greatest. I think it's about 20/200, but I might be misremembering.
So now that the study part is over, we had to decide on what other treatment options to use, depending on how aggressive we want to treat it and everything. So we started out with laser treatment (a different laser from the laser diagnostic thing) which entailed burning hundreds of tiny holes in the retina to try to further reduce the swelling. Some of them kinda' hurt. Plus I've discovered that having bright light and lasers shot into my eye while I try to not move my eyes is anxiety-producing. Part of it is anxiety that I'll have anxiety, which leads to anxiety, which leads to making it harder to sit still and not move my eyes. The Dr. told me it would take about 20 minutes, which led me to thinking, "Is it 20 minutes yet? I hope he wasn't understating how long it would take, because more than 20 minutes would suck. Gee, it'll be great to go home and nap. I just have to wait for them to finish lasering my eye. When the 20 minutes are up."
Anyway, I ended up being at the clinic for 6 1/2 hours. Then I went home (cursing the sun, because bright = bad), and there was gumi bears and napping. But the ice cream I bought turned out to have been thawed and refrozen at some point, ruining the texture. Bastards!
Anyway, I go back in 4-6 weeks to see how effective the lasering was.
Teppy, you're just the cutest thing.
Did anyone here watch the reality show "Work Out"? Linksurfing from LJ took me to an afterellen.com discussion of it and its avoidance of stereotypes. From their text, I'm not convinced of their point, and wonder if watching the series makes it more obvious:
Jackie's ambition and single-minded focus on entrepreneurial success land her squarely in the realm of power-hungry businesswomen in the mold of Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly of The Devil Wears Prada, but she is saved from complete stereotype by her sexual orientation. The typical power-hungry businesswoman is so aggressive in her career that she becomes too masculine to be a "normal" heterosexual woman.
But Jackie, of course, isn't heterosexual — a simple but key difference.
Jackie rarely expresses any need to be feminine, and she is never interested in attracting a man. Because she has little or no interest in fitting into those traditional female roles, her ambition is not tragic, which is the way a heterosexual career woman might be perceived if she prioritizes work over marriage. But Jackie's self-absorbed ambition is simply a character flaw. She becomes, essentially, like any businessman: blunt, direct and sometimes self-aggrandizing.
Emphasis is mine...
Doesn't her character being gay risk highlighting and underlining the stereotype? So manly that she does women? Is it in the execution then, that it's avoided? Because on paper it seems textbook.
Part of it is anxiety that I'll have anxiety, which leads to anxiety, which leads to making it harder to sit still and not move my eyes. The Dr. told me it would take about 20 minutes, which led me to thinking, "Is it 20 minutes yet? I hope he wasn't understating how long it would take, because more than 20 minutes would suck. Gee, it'll be great to go home and nap. I just have to wait for them to finish lasering my eye. When the 20 minutes are up."
I have so been there. But thankfully not with needles or lasers in my eye.
Fie on your ice cream malfeasants.
And did I mention that he made me a metal Mobius strip?
That is quite possibly the most awesome thing EVER.
Damn, Tom. I hope the lasering was very effective. It is so Wrong to have that kind of eye abuse and get inadequate ice cream in the end. Not right.
Sorry to hear the Teddy report, Fred. It is so difficult. He is blessed to have such great parents. And congrats to Hubs!
I got Jessica on the mind. I hope she is getting some rest.
I have so been there. But thankfully not with needles or lasers in my eye.
Oh, I just realized I should have been reciting the "Fear is the mind killer" thing from
Dune
to myself. Except that might have led to picturing the movie, which would lead to giggling....
From Allyson's link:
You blog about how it's effecting you, what you might witness, rumours or news that you hear, and so on.
Affecting! (right?!?!)
Yikes, Tommyrot! Although, I think my worse eye is like 20/200, and I do OK.
Doesn't her character being gay risk highlighting and underlining the stereotype? So manly that she does women?
Yeah, I don't know -- she's pretty much a bad-ass dyke. But pretty!
I just realized I should have been reciting the "Fear is the mind killer" thing from Dune to myself. Except that might have led to picturing the movie, which would lead to giggling....
Made me think of
Clockwork Orange.
Although the better movie, not necessarily the better thought. Sounds like a travail, but hopefully one for the better.
Jesse--totally affecting.
I'm not going to the ER this week. Which means, if I do go to the ER, it obviously didn't happen.
I may need better coping mechanisms.
