One more note about this eye surgery and how it differed from the previous ones: although the surgeon told me it would be “more serious” than the initial cataract surgery, it didn’t feel this way. Two days after the surgery, I already felt like a normal person, and when, a week later, I was allowed to go completely “back to normal,” it was surprising and exciting but totally expected. I felt like that!
Last time, I felt like my whole body was negatively affected, I felt as if I got older, and I looked older, and I do not feel like that this time!
(Not to mention that this procedure costs literally three times less than the first one, and that’s without inflation adjustment. I was able to cover it entirely from my FSA)
I had some events to attend every day of that week, plus trying to get six hours of sleep every day (hopeless), plus everything else.
Out of the six cultural events I attended last week, one was “above categorization” (the screening of the “20 Days in Mariupol), two were in the category “OK, but I won’t lose much if I didn’t attend,” and three were great.
Since I already received a couple of concerned messages, I wanted to let my friends know that everything is great, and the reason I didn’t blog much is that life happens multiple times every day :).
I had a second post-op today, and there was something going on (not with me), because the surgeon had to dash to other rooms multiple times, and I spent more than an hour just waiting.
However, the news is positive: everything is healing very well, and I can do all my regular activities, provided nothing hits my head and I am not lifting something heavy.
The vision is still fluctuating, however, as I already said, even the worst it was during this week is tons better than it was before and better than I was hoping for.
Thursday was still weird, and although I was super happy with the optical effects, I still didn’t feel myself, both physically and mentally. I still had to make some important decisions because one of my “battles” was still ongoing (I hope that at some point in the future, I will be able to tell all about that, but not yet).
Friday morning was a turning point. Boris and I walked to the Common Cup for breakfast. I could not make myself eat normally since the surgery; I had zero appetite. That breakfast was the first time I enjoyed food, and I appreciated the Common Cup more than ever.
My vision is fluctuating, and it was expected. On Thursday, it was good; on Friday and Saturday, it was terrific; today, it is a little bit worse, but the surgeon told me it would be a rollercoaster, so I am patiently waiting. The best part is that even at the lowest, I do not need any additional correction on my left eye, and when I put a contact lens in my right, my vision is as close to perfect as it can be. I am trying not to wear the reading glasses to train my eyes. One of the most difficult things in my current situation is that I am not allowed to do any physical activity, and I can’t bend down. That includes no strength training, even with body weight, elliptical or stationary bike, or yoga. And on top of it, I am not allowed to move fast! It was very cold on Wednesday, and Boris didn’t even let me walk outside (the next day, the surgeon said it was fine). However, I am still motion-deprived and barely make half of my move ring on my Apple watch. No bending blocks most of my household activities, and it’s awesome that Boris is here because he can unload a dishwasher and move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. (And to be honest, that’s the best this time – no COVID restrictions and having him here). I forgot about “no bending”, and I am thankful that this is for one week only, not for three months, like after my back surgery! I also forgot about the drops: three kinds of drops four times a day, with 5 min intervals in between 🙄
After seven days, I will continue the two non-antibiotic drops until I use the whole bottle, but just twice a day.
One of the drops stinks a lot! I do not recall any of them causing such an “ouch” after my previous surgeries.
Last time, I was struggling getting the drops in the eye – half of them ended up missing, and I was never sure whether I should repeat or it was “good enough.” The nurse said, that if I am unsure, it is beter to repeat. Boris showed me his techniques to see the drop getting out of the bottle, which increases the chances of success dramatically, so I do not worry that much about it this time.
Boris is leaving later today, so we are going to do everything which requres bending and lifting before that. And since I am oging to the office tonorrow, I woun’t need to worry about the dishwasher until me next post-op on Thursday 🙂
My eye surgery was on Wednesday, and we had to be at Rush by 6-45 AM. If you recall how my first eye surgery was five years ago, it could not have been more different!
Rush Medical Center is something amazing! The top technologies, the high-skilled staff, the overall professionalism, friendliness, and respect for patients. It was great that, unlike five years ago, Boris could be there with me. It turned out that although I was not nervous, I actually was, and I missed a lot of explanations from the surgeon regarding what exactly and why would be done (there were three separate procedures).
Right after the surgery, I couldn’t tell what the result would look like because they told me to keep the patch on. I felt OK but could not really focus on anything, and I was motion-deprived because I couldn’t do any exercises, and it was too cold to walk outside. On Thursday morning, we went for a post-op appointment, where they took my patch off, and although my vision was foggy, I realized it was almost perfect! the surgeon told me that I saw way better than he expected me to see on day one, and I was sent home with a whole bunch of eye drops and instructions “not to move fast.” That’s the most challenging thing for me to do! This “no nothing” will last for a week (two days done, five more to go), and after that, I will be able to gradually return to my normal level of activities with complete healing in a month.
Boris was supposed to fly in on Sunday, right after I would bring my mom home from our matinee CSO concert. I had Monday off, so we were planning to spend it together, and had a long list of what we were going to do.
I didn’t expect anything unusual, so I checked Boris’ flight status at midday just to make sure it departed on time. Nowadays, it’s not always easy to find the flight status online unless it’s your flight and it’s in your app. To my astonishment, a Google search showed this flight approaching Reykjavik! I thought it must be a mistake; but one of the other searches also showed Reykjavik as the destination point. Another one still said Chicago.
I just locked the door of my apartment and started to walk down when I got a call from Boris: We just landed. I asked: in Reykjavik? And the answer was yes.
Nothing was clear for the next twenty-four hours, but now I know the complete sequence of events. Shortly after the departure, one of the four power generators located at the engines died, and they could not start the backup generator in the tail. (As they say in my world, “if you do not test backups regularly, you do not have backups”). This posed no problem for the flight itself but was not enough to support all the sensors, so they had to land in Reykjavik, which, BTW, has no American Airlines presence, so they could receive only limited equipment help.
Boris said that everything was very well organized, and throughout the ordeal, they were kept informed about what was going on, the options and possible outcomes, and all the moving parts behind the scenes. First, they tried to repair the generator, but since no parts were available, the AA decided to bring in another aircraft. All the passengers were transferred to hotels and transferred back to the airport in the morning. It took way longer than expected to reregister all passengers because this airport is not equipped to service aircraft of that size.
Fortunately, I found a website that showed all the “flight notes,” so I knew about all the expected delays and new estimated times. After the aircraft finally landed in ORD, I tried to take several screenshots to capture all the changes.
My passport application was received a week ago, as I could tell by the tracking, and the expedited processing was indeed expedited! My new passport is here, and it has fifty pages!
I didn’t realize that the passport now looks different (and feels different – the electronic page is even thicker than it used to be), and basically nothing except for the cover remained the same.
Interestingly, I like my new passport picture a lot – better than the previous two! I am glad I left it to professionals 🙂
There was a snowstorm, and I had a meetup after work with sixty RSVPs. I reminded people to change their RSVP if they decide not to come, but only five people canceled. After some hesitation, I ordered pizza (not for all sixty, but for forty :)), and then I was wondering whether anybody would show up.
In the end, at least twenty people, if not more, showed up, and we had a great presentation and a great discussion, but one thing really touched me.
I know a person who has delivered our pizza for many years – he delivered it to six different addresses :). We are practically friends. Yesterday, when he rolled the cart in, he told me: I brought something just for you! Here is some warm soup and some cookies! Perfect for the weather!
It was the sweetest thing, and I thanked him many times and started to eat the soup right away!
This week was relatively low in activities because work was insane and because I had a lot of conferences-related things (yes, multiple conferences, and me being there in multiple capacities, do not autocorrect me, Grammarly!) However:
pre-op medical appointment on Monday
Talked to the organizers of one more Chicago Fintech conference, and we mutually agreed that I am not speaking there (a win, actually!) – also on Monday.
Got my RealID (the temp for now, but the actual one coming in the mail) – Tuesday
CSO concert plus a dinner in the Thomas club to celebrate my neighbor’s birthday—also on Tuesday (a side note—I love Salonen as a conductor, but his own music does not touch me, and I wish he wouldn’t include his pieces in each program he conducts!).
ODS dinner on Wednesday. We made meatballs (on the residents’ request), which we hadn’t made for a while, and there was great engagement and very good conversations.
Thursday – as described. To answer the passport questions – I couldn’t renew online because my passport is not expiring within the next year, I just ran out of pages. And taking and editing my own photo would take longer than using professional services.
Friday – finally, a quiet day, things started to wind down at work.
On top of everything else this week, I had an ear infection, and I had to apply for RealID and for a new passport. An ear infection just happened at the most inconvenient moment; with the RealID was a real thing. I thought about it “eventually, and i have a passport, so what’s the big deal,” but then I realized that I need to renew my passport because I am running out of pages, and now is the longest interval between my travels. And while my passport will be on renewal, I can’t use it for domest travel either.
My Thursday looked like this: a usual early start, two meetings, telemedicine appointment to get antibiotics (yes, I know it’s a horrible practice, and I always try to avoid it, but I didn’t have time even for Minute Clinic, yet alone a proper doctor appointment, and I although I didn’t have fever, I felt sick, and that affected my productivity in all areas of life.
The teledoctor (who saw me for the first time) tols me that it can’t be ear infection because I didn’t have fever, and we should try to unclogg the ear, but still gave me an antibiotic prescription “if nothing else would work.” I asked to sent the prescription to the CVS Target, because this location would work well with all other errands I had. After lunch, I found a USPS envelope in our supply room, taped on the label I printed at home and put inside all my passport documentation. Then, I went to pick up prescription and then crossed the State Street to take a passport picture at Walgreens. There, I had a bad luck – their passport pictures machine was broken, so I Googled the next closest place, which happened to be some scatchy-looking facility in front of the Post Office, which was my next stop anyway. There, I took a passport picture, asked them for a stapler, stapled the photo to my passport form and sealed the envelope. Crossed the street one more time, and dropped the envelope at the post office, and now the package is on the way to it’s destination. I requested a large passport book and expedited service, so I hope the it will be processed on time, and I won’t need to get a new passport three years before the expiration date (that’s what I had to do now).
I have to say, that antibiotics was the right choice – I felt that I am moving into right direction by yesterday’s evening, and this morning I didn’t feel sick (although not completely fine either, but on track to recovery). I was able to close a couple of service tickets during the last hour and a half of my workday, and then stopped by my mom, and then attended an online yoga class in the evening, and managed to go to bed at normal time. The latter one is a huge achievement of mine – so far, I have six hours of sleep almost every night since I returned from Helsinki.
Hettie's Reflections 