My Dad’s Eyes

My Mom showed me a picture she got of me, my Mom, and my Dad. She warned me before she showed me. Man, did it get me?!!!

I haven’t seen my Dad’s eyes in SO LONG!!! It’s been 18 long years!!! Now, my eyes are beyond suspect now, but I zoomed in on each one of our faces. I texted Sean the picture.

I zoomed in on my Dad numerous times and then I put my phone down. I picked it up a little bit later. But, man, a saw this and it wrecked me!!!;

I can AcCTUALLY HEAR HIS VOICE just by staring into his eyes!!!

I repeat:

ABSOLUTELY WRECKED!!!

My Eyes?

I must tell you that having MS for 23 years ain’t no joke!!! Things are really starting to take its toll on me now and I’m not quite sure what to do about it…

I went to my optometrist appointment last July. After three years of seeing Dr. Harris, he increased my script to a -7.5 strength. We talked about the fact that Dr. Skarf has retired and I told him that I had to see Dr. Bansal.

I made that appointment I think six months before I was going to see her and I made it for downtown Detroit but she changed the location at the last minute so I canceled the appointment.

I am going to look to make that appointment for May 2025. God knows what my eyes will be like then?!!!! MS is different at this point. I’m not sure what to do.

I have a prism in my right eye. Dr. Skarf fit me for the prism by just having me bring in a pair of glasses with no prescription in it. I got it online for $9.99. I have since run over my glasses with my power chair and my Mom was able to peel the prism off of my broken $9.99 glasses to put them on the new pair!

At my appointment in July, Dr. Harris made up a script for glasses for me. Given my disease progression and how it is affecting my eyes, we talked about bifocals.

He brought a pair of lenses that had a 1.5 magnification? Or something like that. He had me look at my phone and then he put those two lenses in front of my phone well I had my contacts in and my glasses with the prison on them on.

The magnification greatly reduced the stress on my eyes, and I could feel it! I have been thinking about that because it is getting increasingly more difficult to put my contacts in my eyes. I can’t control my hands.

It helps that I have been putting them in my eyes for 30 years so it’s a lot of muscle memory but I am losing control of my hands at the same time. Sometimes I drop a contact and my Mom tries to find it.

I didn’t get glasses at my appointment with Dr. Harris last July, I just got more contacts. But he made them up for me and I do think about that. But here’s the thing:

Dr. Harris wants me to get bifocals to reduce the stress on my eyes but I told my Mom when we were driving away from Dr. Harris’s office. She said that she doesn’t need lines for her bifocals?!

I just calmly said to her, “You don’t have optic neuritis in both of your eyes.” She just looked ahead and agreed.

Putting my contacts in, has been difficult as of late and I do wonder about getting bifocals. Maybe then people would know that I am infirmed?! I cannot stop hearing that damn doctor telling me bout me going blind before I die when I was first diagnosed with MS… i’m just not sure what to do with my eyes?

Sax-a-Boom!!!

I saw and shared the short of this interview on Facebook. I can’t believe that it’s from 2018 and I never saw it before. But then I saw the short again, and sent the short to my friend, so I can pull it up every morning when I get up. So far, it has been three days and I love it!!! I’m going to put the full episode here just so I can watch it whenever I want to as well. It is a great way to wake up and see Jack Black jammin’!!!

Audacity

I had a really hard time falling asleep last night. My mind was full because I was thinking about going into labor 23 years ago tonight. I don’t think I ever really realized how emergent that whole situation was and it’s only now that it’s over and done with that I can finally think about it being kind of a big deal!!!

I was talking about it with my Mom and she remembers that day we went to the emergency room and I was admitted into the hospital. It was about 1 o’clock in the morning on November 1. I could not sleep that night because something was not right and I knew that probably at about 6 o’clock in the evening.

I remember calling St. Mary’s (that’s the hospital where I was supposed to have Sean; it was all set up) The woman I spoke to told me that I need to go downtown to Henry Ford because they have an NICU in case that is necessary because I was only 32 weeks.

I remember my Mom driving me downtown and taking me into the building at the emergency room entrance next to where the night security guard is. She left to park the car and I sat there in a wheelchair, super pregnant, and in pain.

After 23 years, I finally am thinking about that old security guard who looked at me and had the audacity to tell me, “You look too young to be having a baby!”

I didn’t say anything because I was in labor, back labor, but I did not know that until November 2. My Mom came in and grabbed the wheelchair and I told her about it as we got into the elevator. She told me that I should have told him, “I am 25 and my husband is deployed as if that is any of your business!” That would have been a good thing to say, but I didn’t feel well at all at the time.

Aghast

I talked to Sean today I and I reminded him that his birthday is coming up! He told me that now that he is older it doesn’t matter. I was completely aghast?!

I told him that I have crystal clear memories of that time!!! These memories are 23 years old and they get so much more vivid this close his birthday!!!

I will NEVER forget ANYTHING from that time!!! I forgot my lunch on Halloween when I worked at dfcu and the branch was SO SLOW and we were each given baskets of candy to put at our window.

We just traded candy amongst us tellers. I went into labor later tonight and I was incoherent all of November 1. Nurses kept asking me what day it was because I was so out of it. That’s where my mind is right now…

It’s about that Time

I woke up early this morning because my Mom had Physical Therapy for her finger. After my prayers were complete, I got to watch A LOT of Hallmark Christmas movies.

I’m totally bummed that I didn’t see Harvest Moon but next year I guess! I stopped watching Christmas Next Door (because I’ve seen it like ten times) to watch Hocus Pocus because the last time to see it is Friday. I’ll get one more in!!! (That was weird whiplash with the holidays though…

But then I went right back to Hallmark Christmas movies. I finally got to see all of Christmas Crashers. But, now that it’s Hallmark Christmas, it’s about that time for me to see Christmas commercials!!! I saw one and I really dig the song!!!

I don’t shop at Ultra and I don’t even wear make-up but this song is in my head!!!

Shocking

I think that my Mom took this picture two years ago. I know that she took it because I am laughing because that’s why I have smiled so big, but I don’t think I can smile that big even if I tried anymore. Additionally, my hair is so long!!!:

I never thought I would say that, because I never thought that my hair would be as short as it is now, but it is even shorter than it was in this picture. This picture popped up when we were leaving the house and going to the naturopath. After our excursion, I am still shocked at how big I was smiling and how long my hair was! it’s not that long anymore and that fact is shocking all by itself when I think about it for too long…