Well, that was interesting...

 

I had an 'interesting' week. Most of the week felt like it was a half a bubble off. Ever have one of those weeks?

Some good things happened and so did some very bizarre things. 

We all understand about CareGiver Stress, well, perhaps everyone doesn't. However last week during a meeting with our CareGiver social worker via the VA's version of Zoom, the social worker referred me to a counselor to help deal with some of the things I've been dealing with this winter.

The VA now offers counseling to CareGivers one on one in their own homes. Before this, I would have to seek out counseling in my home town. There is the stigma of admitting that you have stress while caring for someone along with trying to find one place that would actually take the insurance offered by Medicare and ChampVA is an incredible challenge in itself.

I said YES, please! This winter has been difficult.

I try not to share my 'difficulties' here. So I really won't go into it. However I recognize the symptoms of it all. I want to be Snarky every time I'm asked to help him, is not a good feeling. I get riled at the least little thing and want to yell and immediately feel guilty because it really is NOT his fault!

Wednesday was awesome. I went with a friend on a nice easy hike along the paved section of old hwy 131 on the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.
 

I was surprised that the ponds were still frozen. We just walked and she talked, I listened. Her mom is in Hospice and has been for 2 months now. It weighs on my friend's mind. She is trying to balance her feelings about quality of life and also has a new grand child which makes her full of joy. Balancing Joy and Sadness is hard.

Part of the way through the hike I started to have dark brown floaters in my one eye. The 'good' eye. I've had this before in 2021 in the opposite eye. It is freaky. Think about dropping food coloring into a glass and watching the dye float about in the water. Then think about that being what you see in your vision. 

When I looked at the sky around me, I could clearly see the floaters and knew it was from a Vitreous Hemorrhage. That sounds terrifying. However, I was told that sometimes the Vitreous has a little pull on it in older eyes and there is a tiny bleed. The eye doctor told me NOT to go to the ER, but to call they eye clinic and get in. ER's don't call in eye doctors or have the equipment to look into your retina.

Thankfully, I did get an appointment for the next morning.

I had the exam and this eye doctor was hilarious. He looked deep into the eye to check to see if I had a tear in my retina or a detachment. 

His commentary was hilarious. "Ohhhhh Ahhhh Nice! You did a great job! This tiny tear is in the Best Spot! Right next to the Optic Nerve! I think we need to take a picture of that so you can see it!"

What causes it? It can be age. It can be because I've had eye surgeries before, it can be possible that I sneezed and did it...or it just happened on its own. 

What does it look like? I tried looking all over the internet and no good examples came up. So I went into a program and created what I see right now. Speckles and floaters that never stay still and sometimes interfere with what I am trying to read. They wiggle around every single time you look at something.

This is perhaps like just a few molecules of seepage from the little tiny blood vessel in my eye. The molecules will reabsorb like they did in 2021. It takes time but is very annoying.

The big scientific words for what happened sound very scary: Posterior Vitreous Detachment. I will be seen in two weeks to have another look at it to see if it is healing up.

So this week, photography hasn't really been much fun nor has reading. However, I've gone about my daily business and am continuing to keep busy.

Typing this was a bit of a challenge, but now I am used to patterns floating through my vision. My brain says it is no big deal and so I am treating it that way.

Walking in the forest is nice because of all the brown colors the floaters are not bothersome and I can ignore them.

Onward to new adventures despite the coffee thingies in my vision!

Who turned the calendar page?

 ...and other funny things.

First, the weather Sunday was incredible.

And then the miracle things began to happen. I pulled everything off the bed for fresh sheets [you know, the usual things I do]. I stepped outside to toss the light blanket on a ladder on the porch for it to air out in the nice fresh air.

When I got back inside, Rich was putting the sheets on the bed.
Wait. Stop. 
I was stunned and shocked but didn't faint or fall over. 
He fed Charlie ... because feeding him would require me to bend over even though I showed him how excellent I am at squatting [Thank you CrossFit!]  

I spent part of the day messing around with crafty stuff and I even made a handmade card that I cut out of cardstock and designed. 
I'm not very good at it. However it feels nice to 'make' something while I am supposedly behaving myself. The dried flower is Fleabane and I dried it using the microwave 'method'. I sprayed it with fixative and glued it to the card.
Not the prettiest. But it was a good experiment. 

My mess. I really just got stuff out and messed around with no real plan in mind.

Drying a green dyed Queen Anne's Lace with stem intact!

The photo below is of microwaved flowers with 90% of the moisture removed.  I'll press them for another week before I figure out what I might do with them. I like Aurora's suggestion of putting them on a skull! 

These would look cool inside a clear Christmas ornament?

August 1st. Time for the Orb Weaver Spiders to appear!

And this morning Charlie and I snuck out with the super duper long lens in hopes of seeing deer or some sort of cool things right at dawn.

Doing the happy dance!

This is a non typical buck, he has 5 points. The lens is soft at 300mm, but I am not a pro, I'm just happy to be able to 'get' these shots.
I actually stood for a long time and watched him graze here and there. He looked up a few times but never spooked.

We waited until he went back into the woods to leave. Charlie was very quiet and stayed with me. He was more interested in digging a hole for some reason. 

In case you are wondering, I still have those funky brown spots floating about. Looks like someone tossed coffee grounds in my peripheral vision and a brown bubble in the center of my eye. 

I spent most of the rest of Sunday resting with my eyes closed and listening to music.

I will not be a good patient if I can't at least take walks.

One last piece of advice. Don't google a diagnosis. It could scare the shit out of you. But you know I did it.

Hopefully I will not be banned from taking photos. 

Update later, tators!