Prayer Request
Hey folks ~ My mom just called. Apparently she's been seeing (or not quite seeing!) a retinologist since June because she has a "Macular Pucker" (she called it a wrinkle -- I commented that, for all the lectures she gives me about ironing my clothes, and she can't even iron out her retina!). There was some surgery they could do, but it only had a 30% success rate, and my mom said there was no way she'd do something with that much risk of losing her vision. However, she hasn't been able to read with her left eye for a while now (but she can still see), and apparently now there's a hole(?) that will be problematic as scar tissue forms over it (?) [question marks because I can't remember the specifics]. There's a different surgery that they do for this, something about putting a gas bubble (I can see my brothers having loads of fun with the idea of a "gas bubble") in her eye, which has a 90-something percent success rate; the doctor seemed pretty sure that she needs it and that it can't wait until after Christmas (Mom wants a second opinion, obviously).
The biggest issue with this bubble insertion is that she will have two weeks recovery time .... lying on her stomach .... the whole time. Apparently she can get up for 10-minute spurts for eating and the bathroom (she forgot to ask about showers), but other than that .... it's gonna be one heck of a holiday season for her (and, by extension, for my dad and the rest of the family). My immediate thought was "She needs a massage table," but even still -- what do you do for two or three weeks on your stomach? Sure, if you put a TV or computer on the floor, but I'm thinking that would get real old real fast. My dad went batty on couch-duty after his leg surgery, and he could at least roll over once in a while!
So, prayers for her ..... it's not scheduled yet, but even for all the build-up time – especially as she tries all-the-more-frantically to get the gazillions of Christmas gifts purchased and put together before all this happens.
And, adjunct prayers too, for all the tornadoes going through this southern Indiana/Kentucky area, and everywhere else too. Severe storms haven't hit here ... yet ... but there was a tornado spotted in Dubois County; it didn't help that the one town name they kept mentioning was Ferdinand – the nowheresville home of the Monastery, that of course sits at the top of a big ol' hill and therefore is in a great location for some storm stuff. I think it was actually a little north of the monastery, but still .... for all the folks still recovering from the previous ones, and all the folks getting hit now.
Stay safe.
Update: There's a new tornado watch for Dubois County until 9:00 tonight, severe winds; I forgot that there are two bands of storms following one right after the other.
The biggest issue with this bubble insertion is that she will have two weeks recovery time .... lying on her stomach .... the whole time. Apparently she can get up for 10-minute spurts for eating and the bathroom (she forgot to ask about showers), but other than that .... it's gonna be one heck of a holiday season for her (and, by extension, for my dad and the rest of the family). My immediate thought was "She needs a massage table," but even still -- what do you do for two or three weeks on your stomach? Sure, if you put a TV or computer on the floor, but I'm thinking that would get real old real fast. My dad went batty on couch-duty after his leg surgery, and he could at least roll over once in a while!
So, prayers for her ..... it's not scheduled yet, but even for all the build-up time – especially as she tries all-the-more-frantically to get the gazillions of Christmas gifts purchased and put together before all this happens.
And, adjunct prayers too, for all the tornadoes going through this southern Indiana/Kentucky area, and everywhere else too. Severe storms haven't hit here ... yet ... but there was a tornado spotted in Dubois County; it didn't help that the one town name they kept mentioning was Ferdinand – the nowheresville home of the Monastery, that of course sits at the top of a big ol' hill and therefore is in a great location for some storm stuff. I think it was actually a little north of the monastery, but still .... for all the folks still recovering from the previous ones, and all the folks getting hit now.
Stay safe.
Update: There's a new tornado watch for Dubois County until 9:00 tonight, severe winds; I forgot that there are two bands of storms following one right after the other.
posted by Steph Youstra at 7:51 PM
5 Comments:
My grandmother had macular degeneration and she wound up totally blind. So I hope that this surgery does the trick. Things have advanced so much in a few years. (My dad takes vitamins - perhaps you might consider that in a few years, especially as it seems to be hereditary.)
I also thought of a massage table. Maybe she can rent one from a massage school. She can put her face in there and see out the other side - like if she wants to prop up a book to read. She can still reach around and turn the pages. But then, I don't know how much she'll feel like reading with one good eye. Is she allowed to read at all, or is that too strenuous? How about books on tape?
My husband was sent home early today because of the storms. Fortunately it seems to have eluded us.
Elizabeth ... you crack me up, girl! That's awesome. Of course, it's awesome until I realize that this is my MOM you're talking about here ..... ewwwwww!
Lorem ~ from my understanding, this is a different type of thing from macular degeneration; they're two totally unrelated diseases, and this one is supposed not hereditary.
Elizabeth ~ forgot till I re-read your comment .... my thought was about drooling while asleep, or a runny nose. Hadn't quite taken it to the puke stage, but that would be rather stinky, wouldn't it ....
One of the candidates with the Adrian Dominicans had this procedure this fall. I don't know what the condition was that she had (perhaps a detached retina, or both of them detached--it was some kind of, "gotta do the surgery NOW" kind of situation), but at any rate she had that gas-bubble surgery and was, indeed, face-down on a massage table for quite some time (again, I don't know the specifics to say how long the face-down recovery time was). When I visited a couple of months ago, she was just recently vertical and getting around again. The other candidates and Sisters she lives with were talking about how they'd lie down on the floor under her face to talk with her and all the things they did to try to keep her entertained. If you want, Steph, email me and I can pass along this candidate's email address.
Now I don't feel so bad about having to be off my feet these last few days!
Stock up on movies to watch!
I will definitely remember her in my prayers.
Mark
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