Category Archives: surgery

Tom’s Big LASIK Adventure

Or, “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Laser”

About 65 hours ago from when I started writing this post, my vision changed rather radically. Some backstory first:

I started wearing glasses when I was three years old. For the last 41 years I’ve always worn glasses of one kind or another, save for a stint of about a week in my mid-20’s when I attempted to wear contacts…and failed. I never mastered that whole “putting your finger in your eye” thing, unfortunately. I wouldn’t say I’m phobic about things touching my eyes, but I am certainly extremely uncomfortable about it. I don’t know what my vision was without my glasses specifically, but I was very nearsighted – anything more than 18″ away was a blur, and after six feet it was just hazy, indistinct shapes.

About five years ago, Dan and I started talking about LASIK for me, first as a 40th birthday thing, then as an ongoing possibility as we got our finances in order. This year we finally decided to pull the trigger.

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A Pretty Good Week

It’s been a pretty good week. We got a new car, and he passed a huge hurdle once we got online registration up and running for MFF. Work has been steady and shows signs of getting even busier, which is not a bad thing.

The one down note was that my dad had to go back into the hospital Wednesday night because they found he was leaking cerebrospinal fluid – about 100-150 cc’s worth. Eek! The whole idea gives me the willies. The good news is that they were able to go in and fix the problem last night (there was a small laceration in the dura, or membrane around the spinal cord) They patched the hole with a surgical cyanoacrylate adhesive. Yep, super glue. Hmm, I wonder where that came from, eh, ladyinthetower? He’ll be in the hospital until Sunday, but I think that’s more to make sure that he stays flat on his back and doesn’t push himself quite as hard as he did initially after the surgery. Your thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated!

Tomorrow afternoon we’re off to the wilds of McHenry County once again to take takaza‘s mother to lunch for her 60th birthday. Sunday we’ll be gadding about Chicago on a top-secret mission! Woo!

Finally, and this is going to come a huge surprise to everyone, I know, but it’s true: Roger Ebert hated Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo. But it sure makes for quite the entertaining review!

Good News All Around

A couple of things at random…

First off, it is with much relief that I can report that father’s surgery yesterday went well. For those who didn’t know, over the last 4-6 months he’s been having terrible pain in his lower back, to the point where he wasn’t able to walk. It was diagnosed as spinal stenosis, which means that there were bone spurs on his spine that were compressing the spinal cord. Yesterday morning he went in for a decompressive laminectomy and when I talked to him last night (!) he said he had been up walking around and it really seems to have worked. Amazingly, he’ll be out of the hospital this afternoon (barring complications) and then it’s several weeks of convalescence and physical therapy. The prognosis is pretty good, though, and I have really high hopes. I’m hoping to make a weekend visit to Mom and Dad’s in South Carolina the weekend of August 27th – it’s been far too long since I’ve been down there.

Secondly, Dan and I were looking ahead later this month and it looks like the weekend of August 20 is Milwaukee Irishfest! Woohoo! I will definitely be going on Saturday the 20th – anyone interested in joining me? This will be my third year going and if you like Celtic music at all this is THE PLACE to go. The lineup on Saturday includes some of the biggest names in Celtic music: Schooner Fare, Tommy Makem, Danu, Green Fields of America, Cherish the Ladies, Gaelic Storm, Leahy, Seven Nations, Black 47, Young Dubliners, Wolfstone, Liz Carroll, and the list goes on. The only problem is going to try to figure out who to see among the great stuff that’s all scheduled on top of each other!

Finally, I can say that in regards to the event I mentioned last week – we’re going to have some good news in the next few days, I think.