It’s a gorgeous afternoon here in Minneapolis. Sun is coming out, birds are chirping away, Donald and Drucilla (itinerant mallards) are dozing in the front yard, and the high today is supposed to hit 70f.
Perfect day to go on a long walk after work. Get exercise, fresh air…
Except, yesterday on my walk I was too busy fiddling with Spotify that I didn’t notice a large branch in the street and rolled my damn ankle. Dammit. It’s not horrible, and heaven knows I’m used to sprained ankles, but full weight is uncomfortable.
Update - after much discussion, the husband finally stopped swiping food off my plate or just assuming that was mine was also his. Shockingly, he’s not being passive aggressive about it. I know, I know - I shouldn’t be shocked, but given past performance, it’s new.
My mom? Still an unknown. Since my husband didn’t eat off my plate last night, I didn’t feel like I needed to get more food, so no comments about intake. Not sure it’ll continue, but it was nice not to feel like I had to stab someone to eat my meal in relative peace.
The blepharitis has progressed to either conjunctivitis or ocular cellulitis or both. Not sure which choice is correct. At any rate, I woke up this morning with my upper eyelid so swollen I literally can’t keep it open. A trip to a walk-in clinic and I now have both oral and ocular antibiotics and instructions to put cold compresses on the eye, 20 minutes on and 20 off, for the rest of the day, at least. I don’t remember if I’m supposed to keep this up tomorrow, though.
Ugh. It is, of course, my right eye which is the dominant eye. Today at least I did not work (except for a couple of hours before texting with my eye doctor sent me off to the walk-in). I hope tomorrow things are improved. At least I just remembered that I have single use cotton pads that I can use to wipe the eye when it starts draining gunk (not often enough, damnit).
It was lovely here in Michigan, too. We had a quick, heavy thunderstorm late afternoon and then a lengthy evening of clear, warm weather.
I left the back door open for more fresh air, and to let my poor cooped-up kitty finally get to go outside. Nikki put up with several days driving cross country to get up here from Texas, then a couple months living in a friend’s attic while I looked for a place to live. (Friend has a couple cats, so it was in everyone’s best interest to keep the door shut.) So I decided she has earned the right to sit leisurely half in/half out an open door while she makes up her damn feline mind.
Promptly followed by me frantically clapping several mosquitoes, belatedly I guess since I already have a couple bites, including one by my elbow where it’s weird to scratch, and one in between my fucking toes which is even more awkward to scratch.
Oh, yeah, and a hearty “Fuuuuuuck Youuuuuuu” to the fact that I still don’t have my goddamn things, my STUFF man, it’s all being stored by the movers pending delivery. Having sent my destination address form to their dispatch a over week ago, my current ETA for delivery is a rock solid who-the-fuck-knows and I just miss wearing cute heels and my good bras and owning skirts and having a wide bristle brush for the shedding cat and a fucking frying pan to cook with and possibly a chair would be nice.
Oh, smushed another mosquito just now while typing all that out. Goddamn it.
I feel like an ass complaining, though; Nikki is conked out cuddled next to me and snoring quietly in that content little way after her outing, and she did immediately come back in without complaint when I summoned her. (Yes. My cat comes when called. Doesn’t yours?)
A friend of mine had an eye like yours that wasn’t responding to conventional therapy. She saw a specialist who noticed the lymph node in her armpit on the side with the eye problem was enlarged. Further testing showed she had cat scratch disease, Bartonella henselae.
Dear purplehorseshoe,
We live in a part of the world that has an absolutely absurd amount of mosquitoes. In July, if you stand by a screen and breath it will become solid with those spawns of satan in less than a minute. It’s impossible to enter or exit the house without getting some inside.
The husband discovered this little treasure; “The Executioner” a few years ago. We have one in every part of the house and a spare next to the bed. It almost makes having those little bastards in the house fun. Also cuts down on bloody shmears on the walls.
I hadn’t, but I’m not concerned. I have no fever at all, nor have I had one in the last 3 weeks, nor any of the other symptoms that can’t be attributed to my permanent case of post-nasal drip thanks to some unknown allergen(s) which are present pretty much year round.
From what I read, if it’s associated with COVID-19 it shows up well after the rest of the symptoms. Believe me, if this were a symptom of COVIDo-19 and an indicator of how bad the COVID-19 infection were, I’d have been in the hospital days ago. I’ve been told by numerous people that the way my eye looked yesterday was “the worst case of conjunctivitis they’d ever seen”, and literally every single person in the walk-in clinic took a HUGE double-take when they saw me.
The blepharitis, like the post-nasal drip, is a long-standing condition and it just got really exacerbated by early pollen. Thanks, global warming. I’m taking antibiotics now, both oral and eye drops, and the swelling is already very reduced. I still can’t keep the eye open, and the lids are still kinda glued together, but things are improving and I’m keeping in regular contact with my eye doctor.
Now if it weren’t such a strain to read and type with only one eye, I could get some work done. <grumble>
Morgyn have you seen an ophthalmologist about that? I had blepharitis for years that suddenly went swollen-eye conjunctivitis one spring from allergies. Turns out what I actually had was eczema on my eyelids, drying out my eyes. Eye doc also thinks I sleep with my eyes open. Dryness in eyes was causing conjunctivitis.
Anyway, super-hydrating lotion on eyelids every night at bedtime, Refresh PM in eyes at bedtime, and hot compresses in the morning and as needed keeps it under control. Although few years ago in Texas for the spring, a flareup gave me an ocular migraine instead of swollen eye, which was new.
I asked my eye doctor (he’s an optometrist, not an ophthalmologist) why my eyelids itched and he said that’s what it was. My current treatment is directed by the walk-in clinic. I’ll look into this once I get the swelling down and the infection cleared.
The drying out is a possibility; I have a CPAP mask that sometimes blows air across my eyes, and it was doing this a few days before the flare-up. I’ve adjusted it so that doesn’t happen now.
I actually wear an eye-mask now, but eye doc thought part of my problem was also leaving a fan on at night. The Refresh PM gel does a good job of keeping the eyes hydrated, although it makes your vision blurry if you have to read anything after putting the stuff in.
I will look into both once I am past my personal infection and the country is past its public one. And thank you. Anything to prevent this is a good thing!
Kayla made slut brownies last night (her term for them, not mine). She used more milk than the boxed brownie mix calls for, and thought that was the reason they were still kinda batter-y when the timer went off. So she put them in for another fifteen minutes, then ANOTHER, and ANOTHER, and we finally realized that the oven is broken and doesn’t ignite gas from the lower jets.
The broiler jets light up okay, but that leaves us with raw brownies with a charred crust at the top.