Never again please

Well ........ it is a new week, good morning everybody. I for one am extremely glad to welcome this new week and very happy to slam the door on the one just past. Since my last Blog we have been on a roller coaster ride and not necessarily a pleasant one. Last Sunday evening after having had excellent vision Hubby mentioned that his left eye was sore, we didn't think too much about it given the procedure a few days before and, I secretly wondered whether the smoke from our braai had aggravated it. Monday morning we awoke and he quickly realized he had almost no vision in that eye - no vision meaning he could not make out the fingers of his hand when held in front of his face 😢. We contacted the eye surgeon who told us to come in immediately, as you can imagine it was very scarey for Hubby, I just went into prayer mode. Off we went and from then on it was like being on a roller coaster. On testing his vision the Dr realized that Hubby could not even see the screen much less read the two biggest letters, we were asked to wait whilst he consulted with a Retinal Specialist. They made an immediate appointment and we drove off to the other side of Somerset West, what I can say is thank the Lord for excellent Doctors and a really good Medical Aid. They were all so efficient, comforting and explained everything to us clearly. Apparently a very rare complication from a cataract removal is something called TASS - Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome, no one is quite sure what causes it and because of that a swab was taken and sent off to the Lab and then began the process of trying to correct the condition and halt the damage. It involved a series of injections around the eye socket to anesthetise it, dilate the pupil as much as possible, and then several injections directly into the eye and behind the retina. YIKES. My dear Hubby was very brave, a patch was then put on the eye which had to stay in place until Wednesday when we had a follow up appointment. With the eye being completely covered there was no way of knowing what his vision was and despite people saying just take a peek, we didn't. The following morning Specialist No 1 called just after 8am to find out how Hubby was, I think he was very concerned. I spent the day catching up on the previous days housework and washing as well as everything Hubbs usually does. On Wednesday we were up and out early for his appointment, again with much trepidation because, if there was no improvement they were going to repeat Monday's procedure. Praise the Lord, there was a slight improvement - he could see the blob of his hand and light and dark, the Lab results had come back clear for virus/bacteria and they were still awaiting the results of cultures taken from the eye. Again much dilation of the pupil, which is apparently to stop the 'mucous plug' from adhering to the retina which would cause permanent damage, eventually when the Dr was satisfied that there was no adhesion we were allowed to go home, no eye patch except for when he is sleeping and, here's the fun part ...... we have to put two different types of drops in, alternately, every hour and then he must keep the eye closed for 3 mins. Do you know how quickly 57 minutes goes by ? 😂😂. I have put a timer on my phone and every hour it beeps us into action, I also figured a way of knowing which drops to use i.e. The cortisone are on the even number hours and the other are on odd number hours, such fun. On Thursday I had to go back into SW as Poppet and Co were expecting furniture deliveries at the new house, so we packed up garden chairs, a thermos, snacks, books, including Charlie and off we went around the mountain. Yaaay the deliveries were about half an hour apart and we were back home by 2.30. Through most of the week Jelly Bean was fighting a summer cold so spent a lot of the time at home alone. Friday was spent catching up on the entire weeks worth of housekeeping, washing and cooking up a big batch of my favorite Turkish Brinjal Bake. I had intended making it in Monday or Tuesday but that was not to be and I needed to cook those Brinjals before they went off. All the while Hubby has had to be fairly inactive, not his strong suite, but he really needed to take it easy and give his eye every chance of healing, he did however manage to cut the grass on Friday at the back of the house, thanks my love. Every day has brought a slight positive increase in his vision and yesterday for the first time he saw my hand coming to his eye with the drops whooo hoooo. To everyone family and friends who prayed and sent messages, thank you SO much for your love, prayers and care. God has truly been good and we are confident of full restoration of my Hubby's eyesight, today is another trip to SW to Specialist No 1 for a check up and I pray that will be the only one for the week. I will confess, over the weekend I did as little as possible in an effort to try and rest myself out of a nasty flare, not quite successful but we do life day by day. I have told the family that the next time I say I have no plans for the week, to throw something at me 😂, Hubby in his wisdom says in future I must say "currently there are no plans etc". Jelly Bean is also looking better and seems to have shaken the worst of it. Poor little Charlie is still struggling with his tummy, in fact since putting him onto the Hypoallergenic food, in my option he has been worse aaarrgghhhh. Yesterday I decided I am going to follow my gut instinct and boiled up some chicken for him and I intend to keep him on that until I see some improvement, one would think he has an entire orchestra in his tummy with all the noise it makes when he feels unwell. It has been so crazy that two weeks ago when Charlie was at the Vet, I bought tablets for him for motion sickness, despite emptying every drawer, handbag, packet etc and could not find them. So, on the way between Dr's appointments I literally phoned ahead and asked the wonderful Nurse if she could get a box ready for me as I was pushing time limits. As I walked in she held up her hand, passed the tablets over the people she was talking to and said "EFT me when you get home." Now that is service. Two days later, in the middle of the night I woke up and knew exactly where the first lot of tablets were - in Charlie's backpack 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣 In amidst all the turmoil and driving back and forth last week, yesterday I eventually managed to finish the only quilt square that I started last Sunday, so yay for that hahaha. The positive highlight was when Big Guy sent through confirmation of his flight to Cape Town in December for Christmas, I am so excited I could explode. Can't wait to have everybody all together at once, I just wish Miss Muffett and her crew could join us. Well folks, as quick as this was to read, that's how last week feels in retrospect - it was a flash of traveling, sitting in Dr's rooms, complete exhaustion and being reminded of every hour as it passes. I wish YOU all a wonderful week, may it bring blessings and good health. Thank you for being part of my life and for your words of encouragement to each weeks Blog, you have no idea how precious they are to me. Be safe and stay well Ciao Ciao

Charlie helping with the housework.