Greetings and Salutations!
Not sure if I mentioned it a while back, but Gretchen had a minor/major issue going on with her vision a ways back. A fully detached retina. This A.M. was her surgery.
It went well. LOOOOONG AF though.
3 Hours Long.
We didn’t get a debrief from the doc after as her coming out of the general anesthesia took a while longer than expected. In truth I’m just as wasted as she is. No blog last night as we went to bed for the 0500 wakeup. Most of my best writing is at night as y’all have noticed. The surgery was also alllll the way over in St. Petersburg, which is about an hour from the Casa without the morning commuter traffic. We SP’d and crossed the phaseline at 0600 for the 0800 pre-op physical.
THAT took seemingly forever.
Her potassium was bit low, so they added a mini-bag to her I.V. to get it up to snuff, and then she was cleared. It was looooong morning/afternoon, made worse for me because of the shitty furniture in the “Family Waiting Room”
It was so bad I went out to the car to sit there as it at least had lower back support and better air conditioning. Plus I could charge my phone. THAT surprised me as almost every other hospital I’ve been in in the past 4-5 years has had places to plug your charging cable into. Some even provide charging cables permanently affixed to the wall…
I know, I know… First World Problems.
It’s just living in the First World in these times, I’m surprised when things AREN’T “modernized” Call me spoiled I guess.
So after, we got orders that she’s to be on her belly for the next two weeks at least. I had to shell out $200 for a massage table so she can be comfortable, and I set up a tablet (Red’s Fire Tablet) with Youtube and all the other TV show channels so she can put that on the little ‘table/stand’ below the open faced ring/pillow.
I figure in two weeks I’ll be a sleaze and return the table to the ‘Zon… I mean we have no need for it after she gets done right?
Worst case scenario if the $$$ gets tight per usual, I can do another raffle or direct sale of one of the many Enfields I’ve restored. Let me know if you’re interested. The last one went very well and the winner told me his wife is pissed as he’s been buying more ammo that usual due to shooting up his stocks with the Ishapore. Now for that matter, would anyone be interested in me doing another Ishapore? Sarco STILL has the barreled receivers:
I may just do one for the funsies of it.
AFTER my next paycheck of course.
Again, let me know.
So now I’m on ‘Beck and Call’ detail with Gretchen, so I’ll do what I can to keep up with the news and other things happening around here, and everywhere else.
The only interesting news out as of late is they finally released the name of the wannabe Church Shooter, and lo and behold, much to my surprise, he is a white guy and not a 3 named man. I haven’t done too much of a deep dive, but he seems to be a legit headcase… used to attend the place with his mom, and was known as a froot-loop to his family.
And the big airstrike in Iran and the subsequent ‘retaliatory strikes?’ Well it seems BOTH sides warned each other ahead of time BEFORE launching the mission(s) so I think we’re looking at Kabuki Theater.
MOAR Fake and Ghey Clownshoes baby.
Go figure.
So that’s what I got for tonight.
I’ll try to get some more stuff out in the next few, but I will be busier than usual. So More Later
Big Country
I figured since the church was close to Dearborn that this was some abortive false flag but yeah, just a kid whacked out on SSRIs probably.
Could be both…
You do a 308 ishapor I’m in. Would not need to buy ammo for it. I have some paki stuff I bought a few years back that was linked up to use in some kind of belt fed weapon.
Hope she keeps her peepers. In know those surgeries can be challenging.
That Paki/Indian. 308 is know.to.do the splodey thing, use caution!
Tom762
Best wishes for Gretchen! I hope it turns out 100%
Tom762
I’ve had the surgery for the Detached Retina in 2020.I spent 5 weeks on my belly. Listened to a lot of Audio Books. I was allowed 10 minutes up out of every hour flat. Sometimes, after the first week, I’d cheat a little bit, and do 20 minutes up but stay down longer at least 2 hours. It gets old fast. Very Fast. Take the instructions about the eye drops very seriously. Mine were 2 different meds every 4 hours (without fail) for the whole time. You will probably have to be in charge of dosing her with them.
Depending on the skill of the surgeon, (mine was from UCLA-Moonlighting at the West Los Angeles VA on Wilshire) , When she gets better, she may notice that her vision has a Curve or Jog in it, where the retina did not line up exactly as before. It manifests in my eye as Telephone Poles, Street signs, and other vertical objects showing a distinct bowing out. Not much to do to fix it, but it is a rare side effect. Just don’t be surprised it it happens. It’s disconcerting at first, but eventually you get used to it and don’t notice it. The Healing took place for me in stages. After 5 weeks I was good to go, from the doctor, but needed eye drops for another 2 months. After that, honestly it took another year for the vision to fully stabilize. You get about 80% of it pretty quickly, but that last 20% (at least for me) took a long time.
Your Surgeon may have told you differently, if so, believe him not me.
Good Luck.
P.S. If I didn’t live in California, I’d be willing to buy Raffle Tickets.
I have a vitreous detachment in my left eye, it looked like a blob in my eye and it blocked vision. The optho doc performed laser surgery to break it up and now it is like a faint ethereal fog floating about with an occasional black floater. I also suffer from diabetic retinopathy and so I have a higher risk of a retinal detachment. So far my right eye is fine and I hope it stays that way.
I pray for Gretchen Billy, I wish her the best outcome!
Best wishes to you and your love. I dig the furniture rag. All those dimensions were standardized around 1880, when folks were much smaller. I’m not a really big guy, 6 foot 180 lbs. But everything is built for maybe 5’7″ and 135. Smaller, even because a woman might need to sit at the dining table which is too damn low already. Broom handles? Still exactly the right length, if you’re 5’2″.
So glad to hear that the damage wasn’t permanent! We’ll all be praying for her.