Sunday, January 25, 2026

January 25, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!
Much the same here.  Not much to tell.  Eye still about the same.  Hard to type or write.  I did really well on not watching much news at all until Saturday.  I have family and friends who live in the Twin Cities.  Leah's youngest sister and her family live in Minneapolis.  This has been a horrendous last couple months watching what is being done to my hometown.  I thought it was bad enough watching it before happening around the United States.  I am so proud of the Minnesotans out protesting every day--helping their neighbors get their kids to school or getting groceries for them...whatever they need.  We are the community of man.  We are the human family.  Why can't so many people not know that?  I am humbled by the protesters all over this country who gather to protect fellow human beings...who blow whistles...reach out to help when they can...and record it all!!  

Crying does not make it any easier to type...but I can't help it.

I do love seeing the wind sculptures in the window well.  I wish I could have the blind open like this all day...   
...but it is mostly only open a little because the light hurts my eye and makes it water and hurt even more.
Miss Allie fell on Tuesday on her last jump up on the cat tree to get to the dresser.  She didn't seem to be hurt badly, thank goodness.  But she didn't go near the cat tree for days.  I told her how much I totally understood about being leery after a fall.  
She finally got up her nerve again about three days later.
Happy girl again.  (The fall wasn't from this top bed but the step below that.)
Me.  I'm still not feeling steady.  A bit wobbly due to whole head feeling weird (eye, ear, tooth) and always having a headache and no depth perception.  Hopefully it will all get better over time.  I am beginning to think my eye may not improve much with its inflammation until I get the molar removed on the 4th.  I suppose that is possible.  

Endurance.  

Pain endurance seems to have been the name of the game for me for the last 25 years--lol!  But it is an inconsequential problem in the big picture of life. 

The wind still creates beautiful sculptures with the snow.   
It's -9F (-23C) this sunny afternoon.  Nature is doing her best to freeze ICE.   

Monday I check in with the eye doctor again to see how I am healing.  I haven't noticed much change yet.  Probably need another bottle of the steroid eye drops.

Wednesday I see my oncologist, Dr. Failing.  I already got my results online from the CTscans and know I am cancer free still--whoohoo!  Am hoping I can go a year now instead of six months between checkups.

Friday I am going with Leah to the DMV.  With the move and all I totally forgot to renew my driver's license last year.  Didn't even realize it until after I moved...and, as you know, been practically sick ever since--lol!  Says online that you have a year to renew it.  We'll see if that's true.  Will they renew a license if you fail the eye test?  Another question I will find the answer to--lol!  I haven't been driving in years anyways.  Leah needs to go in to get her real ID so she can fly, so I figured I'd get mine taken care of at the same time.  You can make appointments these days online.  If I can't get mine renewed due to the eye or whatever, I can probably just get a North Dakota non-driver's ID.  Just as long as that is a legal identification for voting and such federal and official things.  I think it is.  

Going to be a busy week.  

Well, been working on this all day so far.  I think I caught most of the mistakes...thanks to spell check--lol!  Will just post early again when I am done.  Bless you all!  Till next week.....

Sunday, January 18, 2026

January 18, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!
This will be short again.  Went to the eye specialist on Thursday.  There had been a little bit of improvement, but not that much.  She bumped me back to starting the gradual steroid withdrawal from the top again.  That means I went back to 4 times a day for a week, then 3 times a day, etc.  I see her again on Monday the 26th to see how I am progressing.

Yes, this inflammation could have been caused by my chronic inflammation (fibromyalgia) that has been set off into the unknown by my immunotherapy cancer treatments and has not settled down since it did cure me (attacked the cancer cells).  Immunotherapy works by getting your immune system (mine had been compromised for about 20 years before getting cancer) to attack the cancer cells that don't belong.  Trouble is it can also attack any cells it chooses to and there's no real way to stop the random attacks.  So, yes...my own body's immune system may be the cause of the wisdom tooth (dealing with that on Feb 4th) which is causing the nerve to my ear to be quite upset and may also be the cause of the sudden eye inflammations.

So, instead of waiting to use up foods I already have as I slowly switch over to the one ingredient natural foods diet with no processed foods...Leah really got on me about doing it right now.  Okay.  Can't hurt and might help.  I packed up everything I could find quickly and sent it upstairs this past weekend.  

I can make soups and such if all the ingredients are whole foods.  Basically it is eating whole foods.  I haven't investigated it thoroughly yet, so I don't know where dairy products land in this new way of eating.  But I shall search more this week.  I still can't see well to read or write or type for any length of time, so I do things like that little by little.  That's the goal for this coming week--research this diet more.  (This was what the first eye specialist recommended...with intermittent fasting as a way to try to stop inflammation in my body.)  

Also, stress has always affected my fibro.  Leah talked to me about watching even less news than I already have been.  I don't get regular TV or cable--only online stuff.  I cancelled several YouTube political channels--even though I often just read the titles to know what is going on.  I will still know the basics, but am going to try to watch much less for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.  I may decide I prefer it.  Who knows?  But I have never been one to be the ostrich with my head in the sand.  Time will tell.

I did tell her that if we are talking stress...not being unpacked is stressful to me, too.  Enough said.

We have had snow a few times.


Have had blizzard condition winds the last couple of days, but not much additional snow with them.  Whips all the loose snow around like crazy, though.  I do love wind snow sculptures!
Life has still been dim lighting, the eye patch when too sunny out, gradually reading blogs but not commenting, and doing things like laundry.  Not up to much, but getting in a lot of good shows...even if I have probably only actually watched maybe half of the episodes or movies--lol!  I get the gist by listening closely with my good ear--rofl!  So grateful there are so many good things to watch on streaming!  

Oh, and after the eye appointment I did go to a lab and get my bloodwork done for my CTscans this coming Wednesday.  :)

I am focusing on watching more art videos.  Hope to be able to manage to do something simple soon.  Found a lady doing Tiny Tuesdays this year where she does simple small (ATC size) paintings but you could do any size you want and use any medium you want.  Week one was a coffee mug and week two was a fried egg--lol!  Sounds like fun.  They look simple enough I could maybe do them with one eye--lol!  I haven't been able to participate yet, but I plan to soon.  And then I could join the show your art on Sundays on DVArtist's blog where you can show art, your art area, or talk about art/creativity each week.  :)  All that really does sound better than watching the news--lol!  

I  seem to be getting slower and slower to heal and am having such weird things happening to my body.  Maybe this will help.  Can't hurt, right?  Change of diet and focus of mind.  Wish me luck.

Until next week...thanks for hanging in there with me.  You have no idea what you all mean to me.  *love and hugs*

Sunday, January 11, 2026

January 11, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!  
This will be very short...for me--lol! Iritis plus corneal edema has remained about the same all week.  If I try to read or type too much or even watch something where I need to pay close visual attention then the headache, pain, and endless watering gets set off...often until I sleep/nap for a while and rest the eye.  A sunny day is not welcome for the first time--lol!  BUT--I bought a new neck pillow for sleeping in my chair and it came with one of those cheap, flat eye masks that are always too small for my head and have velcro on the straps that pulls my hair out.  I was about to toss it out when it occurred to me that I might be able to cut out a makeshift eye patch to slip behind my glasses.  Yes!  It does often press on my eye (hurts) but it does block out the light so the watering will slow down--tada!  I must look pretty funny, but it's something I can use to help over those eye-waterfall hours if I want to stay awake--lol!

I am kind of half watching/mostly listening to various series where I already know all the characters and it is not a fast-moving type of visual show.  I am pretty well caught up, I think, on all the new seasons of shows I am familiar with.  I will gladly rewatch Vera or some Agatha Christie movies or something like that.    :)

I have managed to do laundry, very slowly put together a crock pot of cabbage soup without cutting myself, and even changed the shower curtain finally.  
But I don't want to try climbing on the step stool again as I am still wobbly and my depth perception is poor.  Example: imagine putting the cap on a pen and missing the pen entirely.  (Hence my being quite ridiculously proud of myself for chopping up a cabbage and an onion and not cutting myself!)

I moved around Allie's beds again.  Put her bigger bed up on the dresser.
So funny!  Sometimes I can only see the tips of her ears.  If she curls her head upsidedown I can't see her at all from my chair.
That has been my week.  Still reading what I can of all your blogs.  (Sorry, occasionally the print is too thin and light colored for me to read even with enlarging.)  Still not commenting on blogs or writing letters yet.  But I am so very grateful for every comment and email and letter I have received!  Especially in such a stressful shocking time in my home state of Minnesota.  The cruelty and indifference this past year shakes me to my core.  Hatred, murders, bombings, kidnappings...just seems to be increasing and spreading like a cancer.  Maybe that adds to why I can't stop the tears from flowing down my cheek... 

Had to stop for a while.  

This week I go see the eye specialist on Thursday to see how my eye is progressing.  I'm hoping she will be able to see some healing inside my eye that I can't notice that much myself--lol!  Afterwards I have to stop and get bloodwork done for my CT scans the following week.  

I am grateful to be moved--unpacked or not--settled in or not.  The boys brought down more of their pottery to show me yesterday when they got home.  They are improving every time.  Again, Ian left his in a bag here for the eventual display shelf in the studio and Liam took his back with him.  Ian hung around to chat for a while.  I like seeing them all more.  :)  

I have lots of soup to eat.  Dagan and Leah made me up some hamburger patties (do love my cheeseburgers) and some chicken (even cubed it up for me).  Allie is loving her new viewpoint of the world and her independence.  I am sooooo grateful for streaming on the internet.  (Am grateful for the internet in general--even if I can't use it as much as I had been previously for all the things--lol!)   Even grateful for cloudy days these days--LOL!  And I am soooo grateful for you!  Till next week...     

Sunday, January 04, 2026

January 4, 2026 Sunday

Greetings!  What a week.  It's getting so I almost hate to tell you about more bad luck with health issues.  My life has sometimes seemed like a bad dream!  Good grief!  I still can't see well out of that eye but it is on the mend.  Haven't been able to comment on blogs yet and for the better part of this past week I could barely see to read or type...but it is getting better now.

Monday.  Went to the eye specialist in the morning.  Eye was improving in some ways but was still quite red and watery.  The film over my vision had gone from white to light gray to more clear.  My vision had gone from basically zero to 20/200 (with struggle).  She was concerned I might possibly be getting an infection because it was still so swollen and irritated so she prescribed some antibiotic drops three times a day.  Continue with the steroid drops every two hours while awake.  Made a checkup appointment with another doctor for Friday.  Okay!  Things were looking up.

By that evening my eye was so swollen with a dark pink lid I could barely open it, the white was almost blood red, bad headache, and eye was watering constantly and dripping down my cheek.  The pain level had really increased to the point I absolutely couldn't sleep.  Somewhere around 3am--a bit dizzy from various head pains, wiping my cheek, no depth perception with only one eye, heading for the bathroom in the dark...misjudged, turned too soon, tripped on Allie's steps, did some kind of twisting fall against the end table as I felt my knees react weirdly.  Last time I fell I didn't ever cry.  This time I just sat there on the floor petting Allie (who had come to my rescue again--lol!) and cried for a couple minutes.  I felt so beaten down by pain all over, from being sick practically since I moved, and--most of all--for having to wake up Dagan and Leah in the middle of the night.

But...used my new smart watch.  (Always a silver lining!)  They helped me up.  My knees were quite painful but both working.  (Had various bruises from the end table later and swollen knees, but am okay.)  I am very lucky!

I have been a little bit wobbly and unsteady since all the head pain.  I had been so very careful outside with the snow and ice.  All the clinic visits and I had been so careful.  And then I fall at home wiping my eye in the dark.  Let's just say I have kept low light on all night and used a sleep mask since then--lol!  Glad I have adjustable dimming lights in the living room and the kitchen.  Not only for that but because my eye is super light sensitive, too.  I have the lights low and can't even open the blind very far...just enough to keep Allie happy--lol!  I did open it all the way temporarily in order to take a picture of how much snow we got after Dagan and the boys had shoveled out the window well.
Tuesday.  Eye film had gone white again.  Quit taking the antibiotic eyedrops, of course, but kept taking the steroid drops every two hours.  I called and left messages with the receptionist twice on Tuesday to tell them I had a really bad reaction to the antibiotic drops and quit taking them...and could I get a different antibiotic drop called in?  I certainly didn't want an infection, right?  No response back.

Wednesday--New Year's Eve.  Called again about the antibiotic drops.  Again they told me a nurse would call me back.  I missed a text telling me to send a picture of my eye...found almost an hour later.  Had to get Dagan to help me send a couple pictures.  Waited for a response.  Pharmacy was only open till 5pm and not open on New Year's Day.  I called back at 3pm.  No one there anymore...but she went to talk to the dr on call (who I had apparently sent the pictures to).  He said to just keep taking the steroids and see my dr at the scheduled appointment on Friday.  Eye film lightened up a bit.  Easier to keep eyes closed--less pain.  Slept off and on between eye drops.  Ten hours total.

Thursday--New Year's Day.  That morning eye film was light gray again--so was definitely improving!  I kept sleeping as much as I could.  Total of eleven hours.  Dagan's new electric car was finally delivered from Chicago.  Bad weather had delayed it for a while.
Kia EV6, 3 years old with 3,000 miles on it.  Now he can sell the Leaf.
By evening the film was getting clearer.

Friday.  Had the appointment at 2pm with the new-to-me eye doctor (Breen).  Woke up and the film over my eye was about back to where it had been when I had gone in Monday--kind of a clearer watery fog.  Swelling was down, sharp pain down, watering reduced, redness less...but still couldn't see well.

Got to ride in the new fancier electric car!  Really nice!  Dagan and the boys dropped me off and waited in the parking lot.  New lady was really nice.  I guess my eye was worse than I thought.  She had been filled in by Dr. Olbum.  Every hour and then every 2 hours with the steroids...well, the normal high dose is 4 times a day.  I will be on the steroid drops for a month.  I am still on every 2 hours while I am awake (and if I get up during the night to put a drop in, too, she said) until Tuesday.  On Tuesday I go down to 4 times a day for a week, then 3 times a day, etc.  She wants to see me on the 15th to see if I am progressing as they would like.  No infection!  Not viral or bacterial!  That was good news.  Just my poor cornea being inflamed.  I asked to her add that antibiotic drop to my list of "allergic to" meds.

Saturday.  Still sleeping as much as possible.  Seems to rest my eye and help it heal.  I have emails to answer, letters to write, and blogs to read.  Won't be commenting on blogs or writing letters for a while yet.  I occasionally write a bit in emails, but well...thank goodness for spell check!  Like right now...I am spending half my time writing this correcting my spelling--lol!  And I have been working on this for hours.  Once a week.  I can do this.  And things should get better over the next month here.

Meanwhile, Miss Allie loves her new world and her new-found independence!  She is up and down all day long.



This is still her favorite new spot way up high.
She was even playing with the white mouse on a spring up there one day!
Opening the blind yesterday I saw that one of both of the boys had been playing in the window well--lol!
I've had the blind closed a lot due to the light hurting my eye.  Only have opened it some when Allie is first up (so she can lick the condensation off the window and frame).  It's been closed so much that she's fine with me closing it while it's still light out.  She didn't even lift her head when I closed it today and she was sleeping in that bed next to the printer!  The blind has lost some of its magic, eh?

Blogger has decided I can't fix where my pictures or paragraphs are and has played with my font size.  I can't see well enough to do anything complicated to fix it.  The usual left, center, right thingie and the tyrying to change the font on the whole post aren't working.  Probably wouldn't let me fix it if I could see any better.  Has happened before.  Oh well.  Sorry.  I probably hit something I shouldn't have.  My depth perception is way off and I have been fixing things all day as I write this--lol!  Well, fixing what I caught and could fix.  Eye hurts too much now to do anything but sign off.

So, that's it for this past week.  I have one whole week to heal and rest.  Then it's back to the eye doctor and also the lab for bloodwork the next week.  Then CTscans again the following week and my oncologist the week after that  Yup!  It's that time again.  Cancer checkup time.  Of course, then there are more appointments already in February and March.  I'm just hoping for a quiet, healing week to come...and a really boring post next time--lol!  Till then...happy new year!  I hope you are all doing much better than I have been--lol!  *love and hugs*