Tropical Storm Olga

A few days back I recall telling someone that we need a tropical storm to make up for the lack of rain for well over a month.  Ancient trees, lawns and ornamental plants alike were showing the stress of a prolonged drought.  Only a lot of water could help.  A summer shower was not enough.

Well, yesterday, 10-26-19, we got 'a lot of water' in the form of Olga.

            Tropical Storm Olga Damages Northshore Area

"Tropical Storm" she's called, and maybe "Hurricane Olga."  She definitely hit with the personality of a hurricane and the rage of a tornado.  And 72 mph winds were reported in Abita Springs, just a few miles from us.

Olga dropped 2” of rain on us and 5” or more on areas west of us. 

I slept through it but Judy was up and could hear it blow through.  We got to see the damage when it got light enough.  After a few minutes of looking around we were surprised that it wasn’t worse than it was.

The first thing I noticed was the back porch wireless phone lying in the middle of the sidewalk about 25’ away from its perch well under the porch.  Rain was still falling and it got soaked, but it still lit up.  That’s an odd object to go flying that far when there was a lamp right next to it that barely moved.

Winds had to be close to 70 mph here and probably more in other areas.  Trees were down everywhere in the Northshore area.  Some trees near our house were stripped of about half their leaves or pine-needles.  Roads were closed, some areas flooded, and the power went out, of course, about 5:00 am.  It came back on at 7:10 pm last night.  A long day without power and without any news and no TV to watch the LSU - Auburn game.  (we won - barely)

There was some damage to some our planted and potted plants, a picture-holder molly-bolt was actually pulled out of the porch's brick wall.  Another painting was down but understandably so.  It was just hung on a small nail.  Yet another picture near it was unmoved, 

A five-foot tall Hibiscus plant just off the Coop was knocked over. It may be salvageable.  The Coop itself was undamaged but it was full of pine needles and water.  We cleaned it up and cooked breakfast and dinner there.

Four doors down, the wind knocked down a brick-wall gate entrance.  As more and more neighbors come forward, we expect to hear of lots of damage to awnings and plants here in our neighborhood.  

Given the extent and type of damage we had, we think it may have been a small tornado or wind-burst because it seems to have made very narrow path between our house and the Coop.  Some things that should have been knocked over or at least moved were still in place only inches from where something else, even some heavy stuff, was moved anywhere from a foot to 25’ away.  It even knocked over a heavy concrete angel behind the Coop.

Our neighbors with whole-house generators had power all day, of course.  But we lived without it. I sure would have liked having a whole-house generator that started up automatically within 30 seconds of the power outage and runs forever on natural gas. (Added to the list of how to spend my lottery winnings.)

I now believe that weather is worse here than at was in Texas.

At least we don't have earthquakes or snow blizzards to deal with.

Eye Problem Update

We just returned home from the ninth visit to my ophthalmologist in three weeks.  Good news!  The 'debris' from the pulverized cataract that caused the problem is still there but "the edges are getting smoother" suggesting that my body's own defenses are slowly wearing it down.

It could take months to completely dissolve it but it no longer bothers me as much as it did the first two weeks.  At least I can see my computer screen without having to blow everything up ten times normal size.

And I can even drive and make sawdust and cook and do yard-work without a problem.  But I sometimes have to stop everything and put some drops in to lubricate my eye, or if my vision is affected too much, take a nap.

Meanwhile, my three types of eye drops (one a steroid), has been reduced.  The reduced drops will gradually signal my body to begin 'attacking' the debris as it normally would.  The steroid drops actually tell my body to ignore the debris until the inflammation and swelling go down.  Otherwise, my body would create a problem by attacking it as it would any other 'foreign object.' 

My doctor is very good about explaining everything, and stresses caution when discussing surgery options.  He is well aware of my concerns for surgery risks, since cataract surgery is how I lost vision in my right eye years ago.

He said the good news is that it is now under control and hopefully one day soon it will be completely resolved.

We also learned that he owns a Big Green Egg.  What a coincidence.
 

We'll See About That

Back in January of this year I finally had the cataract taken care of in my good eye (left one).  My vision was slowly getting worse, and although I could see to drive and get around, even build some things, it needing fixing. 

The risks of a problem developing during surgery was high, but so was losing my vision due to an accident because I had difficulty seeing or doing something dangerous. 

The surgery was a success and within days I was able to see 20/20 out of the eye.  I could also read or watch TV or drive without glasses.  I was both relieved and thrilled.

But three weeks ago I woke up at 2:00 am and could hardly see anything with the good eye.  And I had a really bad pain under the eyelid up high.  I could even feel a small lump under the skin.  Artificial tears didn't help so I went back to bed.

The next day it kept getting worse so we just went to my ophthalmologist's office and waited for an opening.  He was busy, as usual, but he saw me. He gave me some drops to try and come back the following day.  Then on the third trip he finally figured out that when he pulverized (that's what they do now) the cataract lens, some of it apparently didn't get sucked out.  Instead, it lodged behind something inside the eye and remained there all this time.  I apparently did something to dislodge it and it was causing the vision loss and pain because of the inflammation.  Plus, my glaucoma (pressure inside the eye) was higher than he would have liked. 

He said we have two choices: surgery to suck out the debris (takes less than a minute but has the higher risks) or let my body absorb the debris naturally (the lesser risk).  He wanted to try seeing if the body could absorb it.  So I started using some drops that would help move the process along.  That was three weeks ago and I'm currently using three types of drops, including one which is sort of a super-powered steroid based drop that I take four times daily.

Tomorrow I will go take yet another test that measures the swelling in retinal area of the eye.  It should be down even more since Monday, and a lot since this first started.

Meanwhile, I feel like I've got something in my eye all the time.  And small print drives me nuts.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be well.

As they say, we'll see...

Cardio Rehab completed

It took 144 days from my quintuple heart bypass surgery on May 14, 2019 until Friday morning, October 4,2019 when I finished my three months of rehab. Except for a week off to travel, and one day due to illness, I was there every day I was scheduled.

I feel better for it.

My thanks go out to the Cardio Rehab staff at Lakeview Regional Medical Center in Covington, Louisiana: Joann West, Staff Nurse, Renee Messenger, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, and Caleigh Dolese, Intern. Not only were they 'professionals' in every sense of the word, they made sure that I was doing what was needed to rebuild my muscles, my resolve and my understanding of my role in taking better care of myself. Plus, they were a joy to be involved in my life for the entire rehab period.

And they presented me with a 'Certificate of Completion' that will be added to my list of accomplishments in my lifetime, along with my 'Discharge Instructions.' It may sound odd, but they hope to never see me again. I took that to mean 'in the rehab center as a patient.'

That being said, I took the liberty to make it a special day.

First, I talked about the Big Green Egg so much that I just had to cook something for them. I decided on White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. I realize they are not exactly into eating cookies, but I thought they may appreciate the fact that the Big Green Egg can also bake cookies.

I also wore my "I Survived Open Heart Surgery" shirt, but I added a sticker saying "And now I survived Cardiac Rehab."

Here are a few photos, including me cooking bacon and eggs for my graduation breakfast. I know... I know... And there was a huge Muddy Blary involved in both the cooking and eating of the breakfast.

Life is good after Cardio Rehab.