I'm baaaa-aaaaack!

Well, I'm back, and I'm hoping to start posting somewhat regularly again. It occurred to me as I logged in that I created this blog because of an email that I sent in 2008 to update the family on the highs and lows in our life here, and right now, I'd settle for just a mediocre month. Seriously, I want a noneventful, boring-ass, mediocre month in which things all go as planned (and in which I can drive). Is that so much to ask?

Anyway, my eyes have recovered enough that I can now work again. I'm up to my old speed, but not quite up to my old stamina. Some days, I can work for 9 hours; other days, I'm lucky to get in 4. It seems my eyes get strained far more easily now, and just when I think they're back to...well, the old strength, I'm proved wrong.

Quick summary for anyone who isn't up to date: The neurologist says as long as my headaches don't come back and I don't have any other problems, he doesn't have to see me anymore. (This is great, but when the pregnancy Medicaid stops in, oh, any day now, we have to find a way to pay for the two medicines he prescribed, which cost about $350 a month combined.) My visual acuity continues to get better. The last visit was a couple of weeks ago, and my left eye was nearly 20/20, and the right eye was 20/70. Since then, I think, the right eye has improved further, though I have no way to prove that. Still, I have the visual-field disturbances and the narrowed field of vision. They have improved a little. The docs say they won't clear up. (The docs also said my vision would likely not get any better from the surgery, however, so I'm counting on the miracle of prayer to keep working on me.)

I have an appointment this coming Tuesday to check my visual field and something else. We think this appointment will be to see how much "corrective lenses" will be able to help me. We hope it will also be to set me up with some corrective lenses. I think that would help me work better, because some days, my eyes just get tired as hell, and me along with them. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving, I have another appointment with the opthalmologist (the one who did the surgery). I'm hoping that will be the last follow-up I have with any doctor for quite some time. Making a trip to Indy about every other week to sit and wait in doctors' offices is getting a bit tiresome.

Anyway, that's the haps for now. I have work to keep me busy, and only my stamina is occasionally getting in the way there, and I'm hoping the stamina problem will be helped with glasses. Again, keep praying and/or sending your positive thoughts this way. It's possible I may never regain my peripheral vision or any more vision in my right eye, and I may never be able to drive again. But miracles still happen in this world, and I know I've already experienced at least a couple dozen, so keep praying, and we'll make more of my vision come back.

And to all of you who have called and sent letters and cards and prayers and money and any other emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual support, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU from the bottoms of our hearts!

* Stringham high: FREE large-screen computer monitor from AWESOME friends!
* Stringham low: Duh!
* Stringham super-high: My vision continues to improve (in very small ways).