Just Breathe

I need to remember to keep breathing right now. Just breathe.

Remember that song titled "Just Breathe"? I feel that it's my mantra right now. If I just keep breathing everything will work out.

Where to start? The beginning, I guess and since I don't have a lot of energy tonight to rewrite it all, I'll take what I sent to my siblings and alter it a bit for here. Yes, I'm that lazy. :)

I went to the eye doctor in January and got new glasses. Since then, my eyes have been giving me nothing but trouble, Recently things have gotten worse, or maybe I just lost my ability to deal with it any longer, so I got a referral from a friend to her highly recommend eye doctor and went in today for an appointment.

My prescription was incorrect - it was ok (not great) for reading but distance was awful. I have officially entered the world of bifocals - though now they are nice enough to rename them progressive lenses. :) Hopefully the new glasses will do the trick for my vision stuff.

But here is the kicker; I am in the beginning stages of glaucoma. Normally there is a family history but I have never heard of anything in our family. The pressure in my eyes is unequal and high. The new doc had the old place fax over my records from January. The pressure was high then (though higher today by a point which is significant in a 9 month time span) but I was never told. I am now awaiting an appointment with an eye specialist to determine the treatment/management plan. Though it can't be "fixed" it can be controlled so that hopefully my vision will not be further impacted by the disease. Medications (drops or pills) and/or surgical procedures do wonders in stopping the progression of the disease and saving eye sight, or so I learned today.

So here's what I want to pass along: If you haven't had an eye exam lately, get one. Make sure they TELL you what your eye pressure is. If you have had an exam in the last year, call and ask what the pressure reading was. It should be equal in both eyes and under the magic number of 20. I failed in both areas so I have two big red flags.

So there you have it. Get it checked because damage cannot be undone - only prevented.

I'm telling you, the fun never stops with me these days. Yes, I still have side pain. I had the ultrasound and besides polyps in my gall bladder (which they assure me do not cause pain) my gall bladder, liver and kidney are perfectly fine. I am being sent to a specialist to determine if I might be experience "nerve entrapment" or some such thing. I guess it could be since I do have a titanium rod in my spine from when I broke my back 10 years ago.

Add to all this that I assumed (incorrectly, as it turns out) that my periodic dizziness is related to my vision/glasses and it is actually probably linked to ear problems that started in July and well.....I now have to add in seeing an ENT to my ever growing list of appointments. I saw someone for the ear stuff (mostly just really itchy and bothersome with nighttime wetness) the end of July when it started but was advised it was most likely linked to TMJ and was told there was nothing wrong with the ears themselves. That is the appointment that started this slippery slide. My sister actually said something tonight that I hadn't put together - several of these things might be linked and once the original underlying issue is solved, other things may resolve on their own. But here's the thing - with so many doctors getting into the mix, how can I be sure all the pieces are being put together? I guess I better start a laundry list of things and take it to every appointment.

And what *really* gets me here is that I haven't been to the doctor for anything other than pregnancy or routine visits in at least six years! SIX YEARS! And now I feel like my calendar is filling up with appointments that I don't have to the time nor desire to go to. I don't want this. It's just too much for one 12 month time span. Seriously.

All this makes me want to crawl under my animal print bedding and sleep for a month. Can you blame me?