December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve and A Different Doctor

December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve.  What activities do you think about doing on Christmas Eve?  Hurrying through the stores for last minute shopping.  Visiting friends?  Baking?  Thawing the turkey?  Wrapping gifts?  Sitting in the doctor's office?

In years past, I have done most of those things, but Christmas Eve morning this year, found me sitting in the eye doctor's office.  Monday early evening as I was working in the kitchen, I kept thinking I would see a fly out of the corner of my right eye.  I asked Ron and Bob who were in the kitchen at the time if they would get that fly.  They said there wasn't one.  Then I began to notice flashes of light on that side.  Several years ago, Ron had a partially detached retina and the way it first showed up was him seeing flashing lights out of the corner of that eye.  So I suspected that was what was going on with me.

First thing this morning (Christmas Eve), I had Ron call the doctor who had diagnosed his problem and then referred him to a very good specialist.  They said for me to hurry over to their office.  This was just a few minutes after 9:00.  The only other time I had been to this doctor was about a year ago, again on an emergency basis.  It was after 11:00 when I was called into the office today.  (Same thing happened last year - "hurry on over" to sit and wait for 2 hours.

He did a thorough examination of the inner workings of the eye and said both eyes were very healthy - no problems at all.  Yea.  Praise the Lord!  He said the flashes of light were probably just "mis-fires" in the retina.  I am wondering if it could be migraine related.  Several in the family have migraines and have the flashing light sensation.  Vickey (not blood related) has had some problems with the flashing lights without a headache, and the doctor said it was still a migraine.  I have never had migraines, but did have a very bad headache this morning and all day.  I was not having one when I experienced the lights last night.  The doctor had of course dilated my eyes so it made driving home at 12:15 a little uncomfortable.  The lights have come and gone this afternoon and evening.

The only other time I have left the house today was to go get ice this afternoon.  When I left for the doctor's office this morning, Stephen was out on an errand and Bob was up but the others were sleeping.  I did mention my Cochlear Implant to the doctor and he had a lot of questions about it.  He said he is suffering from some hearing loss and really struggles with hearing very young patients.

Later this afternoon, a generous friend came by to bring some fresh fruit just picked from his orchard.  He and his grand daughter come every year bearing this wonderful gift to us.  We talked for a while with him about the Cochlear Implant.  He has also suffered for many years with hearing loss and would consider the surgery if he qualifies.  I gave him the address to this blog and suggested he and his wife start reading it to see what all is involved.

 The rest of my day has mostly been spent in the kitchen.  I baked 3 kinds of cookies and made a couple of pies.  Most everyone ate leftovers, except Stephen and Kristina made mini pizzas for some of the group.  The ladies mostly spent the afternoon working on craft projects and the guys were either still doing their shopping or helping my husband do his.  Diana's niece and nephew spent the day with their cousins and joined us in time for supper.  Mom came after she went to church (the rest of  us didn't make it there).

After supper, Dee and I baked cookies.  Then she and Vickey selected decorations for Dee's and Anthony's stockings.

Vickey did a great job on the stockings after raiding my stash of unused items.  It was time for them to be used!

It has been a wonderful time together for all of us.  Some of us discussed this evening that we felt as though we had already had Christmas.  We feel so blessed and happy.  Christmas Day just can't get any better as far as family is concerned.  The best thing about Christmas Day will be that it is the time to remember the birth of Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas to each of you!