MY PRK EXPERIENCE

i'm not back. i'm not, lori! ;)

but i had laser eye corrective surgery and want to document how it all went down. i scoured the internet for blogs when i found out i was having PRK (instead of LASIK), so want to add my experience to the myriad of others.

because some of the others i've read are sort of terrifying.

but i sit here on day six, slightly blurry-eyed, but back to work (yesterday) and feeling great. so let me break it down.

i won't go into the differences between LASIK and PRK (do it yourself!), except to say that my corneal thickness and left eye crappy prescription excluded me from the (easier) LASIK route. so PRK it is.

i would also like to say that i did my research and chose my doctor accordingly, but honestly...i found a groupon. so there it is. very un-keri.

Day #1 - surgery day!

i did my PRK at the laser vision institute in st. louis. dr. charles miller was my doctor. i saw him for about 15 minutes. the rest of the (five hours) time was spent waiting. and taking a valium. i was finally brought into the operating room, had my eyes held open with patches and lots of stuff squirted in my eyes. i starred at a light while they messed with my eyes. it wasn't super pleasant, sort of gross, but manageable and just really...freaky. but quick and painless. i rested a bit afterwards, put on my sunglasses and went back to my step-mom's to rest.

two types of drops four times a day (steroid + antibiotic) and rewettening drops a lot. i made sure to use the wettening drops as much as possible to avoid dry eyes. they also gave me percoset and instructions to take a half if i felt pain. well. i just took the half (and the recommended iburophen) to keep ahead of any pain. good stuff.

i was tired, but didn't have any pain at all. they put a bandage contact over the exposed section of your eye (will be taken off on saturday!), and that was the only thing i could feel. i could see a little bit, but my vision was off-kilter and blurry. to be expected.

Day #2 - post-op appointment and pain!

i woke up feeling really good. the light sensitivity was there, but still no pain. i made sure to take the ibuprophen and did all of the drops as recommended. all good.

the post-op appointment was easy. the opthomologist checked my eyes, said it all looked good, and told me to go hole-up at home in the dark and ride it out. days two and three are the worst following surgery (and this is the major difference between LASIK and PRK. LASIK has an easy-peasy recovery. PRK, not so much). when the doctor told me that, i was all...yeah, i got this. i was expecting pain, but it was super easy so far. i totally thought i was going to dodge that bullet.

and then at almost exactly 24 hours after my surgery, it all went south. the light sensitivity was brutal. my eyes didn't even want to open..even in a darkened room. i cursed my light-filled house. i had 18 (two) pairs of sunglasses on and it still sucked. it also felt like tiny needles were in my eyes, but it wasn't as bad as the light sensitivity. i just made sure to take my percoset and iburophen and tough it out. i had moments of greatness where i would fold some lauundry, but those were few and far between. so i just slept.

Day #3 - holy light sensitivity.

brutal, brutal light sensitivity. brutal. my eyes would roll around when i tried to open them. i'm not going to lie. i was getting nervous. i kept thinking - what if my muscles have weakened in my eyes? is this what it's going to be like? i kept my two pairs of sunglasses on, but it wasn't my favorite day. i stayed in the darkest room in the house and slept the majority of the day. just me and my percoset/iburophen. the pain wasn't too bad - wasn't great - but manageable. it was the freaking lights. again, cursing my light-filled house. why all the windows? WHY ALL THE WINDOWS?

Day #4 - okay.

i woke up to light sensitivity again. was it as bad? probably not. but i made a decision that i was going to force the issue. i was due back to work the next day and there was NO WAY i could go with the light sensitivity the way it was. so. i started in a dark-ish room and held open my eyes. i would close for five seconds, open for 10. close for five, open for 15, and kept going unti i was pretty comfortable in that room. and then i moved into a slightly less-dark room. and i did this all.day.long. it was like a workout for my eyes. and it worked. the light sensitivity improved dramatically over the course of the day. but that night, when my eyes were tired, it sucked again. i sat at the table in the kitchen with two pairs of sunglasses on and just...sat there. wasn't sure how work was going to be the next day.

Day #5 - back to work, here we go.

i woke up with minimal light sensitivity! hooray! i drove to work! yay! just one pair of sunglasses and was feeling really great. my eyes felt dry and a blurry, but i could certainly see enough to feel comfortable on the road. i had our janitor take out one of the lights in my office, and that helped a lot. i looked like death warmed over (NO MAKE-UP FOR TWO WEEKS <-- almost a dealbreaker for the surgery, not gonna lie), but i made it through the entire day and out to dinner that night. my eyesight has improved dramatically, and the only thing that bothers me is the dry-eye feeling. and that will hopefully go away when they take off the bandage contact this saturday. it just feels as though i have slept in my contacts. really feeling good.

Day #6 - today!

at work and my eyes just feel dry like i slept in my contacts. zero pain and my vision is really clearing up. it will take several weeks/months for the clarity to really be there, but i am truly at a point now that i can see almost as good as with my contacts. almost. i felt a little bit emotional this morning when i looked at my alarm clock and could clearly read the numbers...and could get out of the shower and put on my make up (JUST KIDDING - no make-up...except i did put on some bb foundation and cream blush. but nothing powder and nothing on my eyes. except i did curl my eyelashes BECAUSE I AM SO SO VAIN).

but i had such a sense of relief that i seem to be just fine. it's such a nerve-wracking thing, messing with your eyes, and i'm so glad that it all turned out okay. days two and three really sucked bad. and four wasn't great. but compared to some experiences with PRK, i'm getting off pretty easy.

we'll see how saturday goes once my bandage contact is removed. i've heard that vision will decrease afterwards for a time. i'm not looking forward to that.

will update again soon!

POTTY TRAINING: DAY ONE.

NOT GOOD.

MOVING BLOGS....

a new year, a new blog.


www.hairykeri.blogspot.com

that's right, hairy keri. you read that right.

so, update your links.

THE GIRL WHO CALLED PUKE, AND A LOVELY WELCOME HOME.

send donuts.

 

because nothing else sounds good right now. nothing.

 

anyway.

 

dave and i took some days off to do a mini roadtrip - just the two of us. we headed south to little rock and then to kentucky.

 

it was much fun and much needed.

 

and then we came home to our delightful, germy children.

 

as soon as we picked them up, hallie complained about feeling sick. this is not unusual. at all. so we ignored it. completely. all evening. at wal-mart, home, before bed, everything.

 

and then yakked in her bed, all over her favorite, huge bear (ruined it) and the run just continued allllll night long. pretty much on the hour, every hour she was barfing. poor baby. she was so tired and disoriented and it was pretty heartbreaking.

 

so this was saturday night. sunday she was pretty puny. laid around, didn't feel great, etc. but she hadn't puked since 7am sunday morning and i didn't like that she literally hadn't had a single nibble of food since saturday night. so i forced her to eat yogurt.

 

big mistake.

 

commence the barfing.

 

so i stayed home with her yesterday from school (so long perfect attendance) and she was soooo pathetic. all day long. fell asleep on the couch, just...was puny.

 

but the rest of us were great!

 

until about 9:30pm and then i started all. night. long.

 

and now i want nothing to eat. except donuts.

 

gross.

 

the end.

PARENTING IS HARD. AND 2ND PLACE FINISH?!

i've been stressed out lately about making the right parenting choices. i feel like hallie is somewhat overscheduled, yes, but i also feel like we are overscheduled with things that aren't even her talents.

isn't that weird? i mean, talk about first-world problems.

anway.

i worry about these things. she's in dance on monday nights, tumble team on tuesday nights and horses every other wednesday. that's a lot, to me.

and she is so-so about dancing, loves tumbling and LOVES horses. but we can't do tumble team without doing dance, unless we want to do tumble team two nights a week. not fair, but thems be the rules.

so now we have hallie in one thing that she doesn't really like (dance) and another thing she isn't great at (tumbling). and we're thinking about doing away with the one thing that she truly loves (horses). so...how much sense does that make? NONE.

she is a fantastically awesomely strong swimmer. but to add swim lessons would be too much.

and we've already commited to tumble team for the year, because we're paying a ridiculous amount of money for a leotard that is still on order.

bah. we should have ditched the dance and the tumble team, and just done swim and horses. period. grow the talents, right?

too late.

there's always next year. i need to calm down.

IN OTHER NEWS HALLIE GOT 2ND PLACE (OUT OF 10 GIRLS!) AT HER TUMBLING MEET YESTERDAY (which was wonderfully hysterical and 100% unexpected).

HORSEBACK RIDING.

so, we're thinking of pulling the plug on horseback riding.

 

at least, until she's a little older. she does great, she has talent, but she can hardly pay attention and tends to do her own thing.

 

she has the attention span of a gnat right now and...yeah. we're not sure she's mature enough at this point. and it's not like this is a cheap activity.

 

i don't know.

 

she loves it. and she is good at it, but i don't think she is mature enough to listen or learn anymore at this pont.

 

i don't know.

 

dad, are you devastated?

 

(this piture is OLD, but so funny. and this will be her when we tell her...if we go that route)

TESTING...KELLY, ARE YOU CORRECT?

you are!

 

and also...this was a christmas card outtake last year.

 

good times.

 

thinking about not doing christmas cards this year...hmmm.

OUT OF MEMORY.

i tried to write a blog post this morning. it was just going to be pictures.

 

sadly enough, i got a message from blogger that i was out of memory for my photos.

 

what?!

 

so i can either pay to upgrade the storage space, no thank you, or i can move providers, sure, okay.

 

tbd

KILLS ME DEAD.

henry in overalls.

 

 

 

 

 

you're welcome.

 

also, dave dressed him this morning, which adds to the cuteness.

BABY BEIBER AND TUMBLING MEETS ARE AWESOME.

hallie had her very first tumbling meet this weekend.

 

i have never been so proud of my girl. i mean, it wasn't pretty. it was...humbling, for me at least.

 

as a parent, you know, you want your kid to be the NUMBER ONE MOST AWESOMELY TALENTED AND SMARTEST KID IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!

 

but kids are who they are.

 

hallie is so talented at so many things. so many. tumbling at this point...not as much.

 

and i'm so okay with that.

 

my fear was that she would be devastated when she didn't get first place. or second, or third.

 

she got 8th...out of eight. but by golly and PRAISE THE LORD they all get trophies. because i could just CRY thinking of how happy she was with trophey.

 

whew.

 

she was so confident. she wasn't nervous, shoot, she just got up there, did her thing and pranced off.

 

she smiled and had fun.

 

and that is what it's all about.

 

have you ever seen a cuter gymnast?

 

 

 

and in other news, henry woke up with justin beiber hair.

 

 

 

 

 

this kid.

 

OBLIGATORY HALLOWEEN POST. LATE.

i'm so late on this - really, really late on this.

 

work is so busy. evenings are so busy. when the kids are in bed that is my time to have peace and quiet.

 

*side note: i asked my grandma chronister one year what she wanted for christmas. she said, "peace and quiet." so i made her a bunch of coupons that said "peace and quiet." i'm pretty sure she was never able to actually cash any of them in. i was a very talkative child. with a shrill voice. much like another little blonde-haired girl i know...hmm...

 

where was i? late, busy, grandma...oh yes, halloween.

 

henry was a lumberjack. but he really just looked like a dirty construction man. the goal was to draw a cute little beard on his face, but holy moly have you ever tried to draw  on a 16 month old's face? i don't recommend it. i managed a sort-of mustach that really just looked like poor whiskers. #fail

 

so he looked like this:

  

 

yikes.

 

hallie was, of course, a cowgirl. she wanted freckles, which was adorable. she just really looked like she looks every day with the addition of some spots. love that girl.

 

and some from trick or treating:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

whew.

 

done!

 

LET FREEDOM RING.

i am staying away from facebook today. i jumped on this morning and immediately shut it down. because as soon as i saw status updates saying "god help us all," i'm out.

 

seriously people.

 

we are a democracy. which means we have the right to choose our president.

 

the majority chose barack obmama (myself included), so he will be our president for the next four years. and there it is.

 

i hope that we can see past our differences, because our nation is pretty screwed up.

 

but it's been screwed up. this is not a recent thing. so can we please work together to get it sorted out? because the divide is killing us. it's scary and it's sad.

 

i am a democrat because i that's what i believe.

 

i am not down on republicans because that is what they believe. how can i be down on someone for their beliefs? that's not cool.

 

that's like saying i don't like someone because they don't like dogs. (but who doesn't like dogs??)

 

i vote based on issues that are most important to me, so please don't tell me that i'm wrong.

 

because that is lame.

 

***

 

hallie said she was voting for mitt romney. good for her! you go girl.

 

IT'S HER CHOICE. IT'S HER RIGHT (or will be, in 12 years). if he is the president that is passionate about the same issues that she is...great. i'm all for it.

 

***

 

a scattered post, i know. but i'm so disturbed by what i am seeing on social media. i read a tweet last night from someone that i really respect that basically said that my vote was ruining our nation.

 

sigh.

 

i don't know.

 

i like a facebook thing that i saw that said, "it doesn't matter who is elected, jesus is king"

 

true story.

 

 

 

 

 

HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE YOU'VE KNOWN SOMEONE FOREVER?

because that's what it felt like. all weekend long.

 

 

those flw people, i tell you what. they are like family to dave. and now, they are like family to all of us.

 

 

 

 

my kids absolutely loved everyone that we met. kim and elmo especially.

 

 

 

it was a wonderful weekend. i came home feeling so happy. my kids were wonderfully miraculously well-behaved, although hallie never once shut up (charlie! you bit me - that really hurt!) and henry was oh-so loud.

 

 

 

but those are my kids. and kim, elmo, spanky and the gang loved them even more because of their craziness.

 

it was a really, really awesome weekend.

REMEMBER THAT TIME I CRIED OVER CARPET?

well, i got home and i love it.

 

say whaaaa?!

 

yeah.

 

i ran downstairs to see the finished product and almost cried HAPPY tears. it looks so nice! it looks a lot lighter and you can see a hint of gray and it just looks...perfect. maybe it was the fact that you can see the trim now? who knows.

 

but, praise god.

 

seriously, praise him. do it. because he pours out his blessings on even the most trivial, ridiculous things. like carpet.

 

the kids ran from one end of the basement to the other, just having a blast in the wide open space. hallie did cartwheels and forward rolls and henry just ran around in circles. we didn't want to come upstairs, it was so fun.

 

 

 

awesome.

DON'T CRY OVER CARPET. SERIOUSLY. (BUT DON'T FEEL BAD IF YOU DO)

so, we are still working to fnish our basement.

 

we are soooo close.  i just wanted the flooring to be done. when the floorings done, we can use it. i don't care about the decorating or furnishings yet - we can make due with what we have as long as the flooring is done.

 

so after much, much debate, i ordered carpet.much, much debate. i ordered a light grey/beige color that was inexpensive and looked pretty basic. no biggie, not much thought otherwise. the basement is over 1,000 usable square feet, so i couldn't do anything super amazing or awesome. and that's fine. it's a basement. who really cares?

 

i certainly didn't. right up until they started installation yesterday.

 

AND IT IS POOP BROWN.

 

there isn't a single hue of gray, it's a dark brown. it looks like the carpet i grew up with in the 1990s. it certainly does matches the sample i used to make sure it wouldn't be too dark....but unfortunately when you spread it over the entire room it apparently turns poop brown.

 

so i stewed (and prayed) over it last night and woke up just totally bummed out about it. i called to see if there was anything that could be done and sure...if i wanted to spend a bunch of money, something could be done.

 

so i stewed on that a bit more and cried (ridiculous, i know - but it's a lot of money no matter which way you dice it )....got some advice from my usual source (barb) and then turned to my friend (traci) and asked her to talk me off the ledge. i honestly figured she would tell me to buck up and spend the money now, etc.

 

 

 

instead, her words:

 

"It's a basement.  Lesson learned but again...it's a basement!  No worries.  People don't stare at carpet.  Just accent with colors that don't make it look so "poopy"  :)  You will be fine and even more fine when someone spills on it...b/c you won't care....Life's short right?  It all happens how it should, so don't let this little thing bog you down."

 

and with that...i felt better.

 

because she's right.

 

life is too, too short. big deal. i can handle this.

 

i can consider it a challege to decorate on poop brown.

 

sigh. poop. brown.

 

the end.

COOKIE MONSTER.

we call henry the cookie monster. at least, irma and i do. it's his best word. he is speaking more and his vocabulary is expanding, but cookie is his #1 word at this point.

 

he says it like this, "c-c-c-COOKIE?!" with the added empahsis. like he can't say it any more excitedly.

 

(see the cookie above? also, please note that this box has nothing in it. it housed his train table until we put it together - a month ago. but hen loves to go in and perch on his box and look out the window. so i can't bear to trash it.)

 

anyway.

 

he LOVES cookies. lucille freezes that vanilla sandwich cookies and gives him one as soon as he walks in the door. it got to the point where he would say, "c-c-c-COOKIE?!" as soon as he saw her. maybe he thinks that is his name?

 

(sharing his cookie with zoey. he's so generous)

 

irma says that as soon as she walks in to get him up from nap, he's saying, "c-c-c-COOKIE?!"

 

oh that henry. luckily, he needs some fattening up, so he gets as many cookies as he wants! which means i have little crumbs all through my house. and he usually has cookie slobber on some part of his face and clothing.

 

but that's  okay. he can have as many c-c-c-COOKIES?! as he wants.

 

 

GOD'S PROMISE.

 

 

with hallie, you never know what is sinking in. it appears that she doesn't hear us or listen to us roughly half of the time. actually, probably more than that. it drives me nuts.

 

or i'll tell her to do something (brush her teeth, for example) and she'll run off to do it...and then find about thirty things to mess with between me and the bathroom. grrr.

 

but then there are the times thath she pulls random facts out of her butt from YEARS ago that she remembers. it's remarkable.

 

anway. i do have a point.

 

this morning there was a rainbow when we got out of the car in the school parking lot. i pointed it out as we were walking in and she was SO EXCITED.

 

mom! mom! that's god's promise!!!!!!!!! god showed noah a rainbow and said that was his promise that he will never flood the earth again!

 

so, lori, she was listening yesterday in sunday school. which is way cool.

 

***

 

on another note, i found out today that a local homeless/scamp man named whirly (whoorley?) died. he was only 55 years old. dave knew him from high school - he used to hang out under the triopia sign where the boys would meet for rides and such.

 

he rode his bike everywhere. i would see him in arenzville outside of our church. he would hang out at llcc in jacksonville and ask for change. he hung out at the corner of walnut and main street and i would see him so many mornings.

 

i wasn't always nice. he annoyed me. he sometimes harrassed our students and that wasn't cool. but it was obvious he had mental issues and was obviously homeless.

 

i had asked him only once to come to church. it was either a cold or hot day and he was sitting outside of our church. i either asked him to come and and warm up or cool down. i can't remember (hallie probably does!).

 

i forget that jesus wants us to care for even the least of these. it's a good lesson. sometimes the ones that make us want to turn our heads are the ones that needs jesus the most.

SPIC AND SPAN.

no horseback riding pictures today! the lesson had to be re-scheduled for today due to some serious rain/thunder/lightning last night. our cowgirl was devastated. fits were thrown. man, she really loves these lessons. this is the one extra curricular activity that she actually loooooves.

 

anyway, she gets to do it tonight and gets to ride hank, not magic this time. this is very exciting because this is sarah's horse! magic will have already had a lesson and they only let their horses do one lesson a day to keep them healthy and fresh. love that.

 

***

 

so on the way to school this morning, hallie was looking super serious and sort of sad. i asked her what she was thinking about and she asked if she would ever, ever get to met jesus. i told her that we would meet jesus in heaven for sure.

 

but she then asked - but will he ever be in "our world?" i want him to come to our house.

 

which made me laugh, but it also opened the door to a conversation about the fact that jesus said he will come back down from heaven and that we'd better be living the way jesus would want us to when that time comes.

 

i'm sure i turned into a big ole nag at that point, but i tried to drive home the importance of being a good example, being a good friend to everyone, being kiiiiiind. welcoming. loving.

 

i'm sure i went on and on and on (teaching moment!), because she finally interrupted and said, "mom, if jesus comes to our house, we'd better make sure it's spic and span!"

 

um, yes. that would be good. i'd better get on that :)

 

happy thursday! my favorite days are thursdays. my least favorite are tuesdays. yuck. tuesdays are lame.

 

mondays = a fresh start to the week! yippee!

tuesdays = settled in, whole week ahead. lame.

wednesdays = are randomly productive, happy days.

thursday = almost fridays - super productive - happy, happy!

fridays = hooray!

and the weekends = always awesome.

 

and now you know.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

this is hallie's favorite day! wednesdays are her horseback riding days. she gets to ride magic and live out her fantasy of one day becoming a real cowgirl on a ranch in wyoming.

 

i will post pictures tomorrow, because it is really cute to see. she is getting really good! she knows how to saddle him (mostly, and with help) and can walk, trot and weave magic around cones. she has zero fear, which i think is amazing. i think she is amazing!

 

and i think her bedhead is amazing. yowzers.

 

 

and here's some jesus for you today:

 

i know i will sit and complain and moan about my crappy somethings...but have i prayed about it? usually the answer is no. and usually prayer helps tremendously. even the act of praying is straight up comforting.

 

try it.

 

seriously. do you have a situation that just makes you sick to think about? just try saying a simple prayer asking for god's guidance and comfort. and see where it takes you.

 

or even if you have something silly and small - try it. you will be amazed at the power of prayer.

 

happy wednesday!  

MY KIDS ARE AWESOME. AND WEIRD.

 

henry prefers to eat food off of the floor.

 

and uses his middle finger for everything. everything.

 

he loves the vacuum cleaner and broom so very much.

 

he reaches for knives in the dishwasher while saying "no no no" to himself.

 

he loves to have things balance on his head while he's taking a bath.

 

he prefers to be without bottoms and plays with himself non-stop.

 

 

 

hallie prefers animals to people.

 

she makes up her own songs that are heartfelt and hysterical.

 

she talks about god a lot. i was explaining "god in three parts" and she interrupted and said "who cares mom - god is everything"

 

is a straight-up cowgirl. loves wearing her cowgirl hat and boots with real spurs.

 

sleeps with a giant bear that is literally bigger than she is.

 

demands to have her back, feet, legs, arms, head tickled if you sit down next to her.

 

if you don't sit down next to her she will move to sit by you and then demand that you tickle her back.

 

 

 

 

they are both just at a really funny, really exhausting stage. someone gave hallie caffeine on a school night last night (i'm looking at you, barb) and the girl was bouncing off the walls. but she was so funny and was cracking me up. i sorta didn't mind that she stayed up way past her bedtime. sorta.

 

and henry, geesh, he throws all of his food/sippy cups on the floor. it drives me bananas. he also is a very picky eater and will basically eat three things: hotdogs, mac n cheese and pizza. so different from his sister.

 

i don't know. there's not too much of a point to this story. i think just the act of writing down little memories like this is helpful to appreciate the blessings that god has given us.

 

"every good and perfect gift is from above" james 1:17

 

and it also reminds me how much i love being a mother. so here's a shout out to my lovely mother on her birthday today!

 

happy birthday, mom! love you!!!!