Home Remedy Eye Update

Nobody has told me putting hot water on my eyes is dangerous. I found hot/cold packs for eye therapy online but so far I have not found "why" I would want to do either hot or cold.

Home Remedies

I've always stayed away from home remedies but tonight my left eye was really hurting and nothing was helping, even the high priced narcotics were ineffective.

I remembered once when I had pink eye (have no idea how I got that) I would put a very hot washcloth on my eyelid - very hot - too hot to hold my finger under. I have several hot pads that have a pocket for your hand.

I stuff the pocket with ice, run the super hot water over the one side and have a nice cool other side to hold the contraption to my eyelid.

It felt great - so great I did my right eye and to my surprise when I changed back to my left key I could see objects with my right eye. I could actually see some detail, not much but more then I have for months.

But best of all the pain in my left eye is gone - completely gone. I heated my right eye several more times - it seemed to get better and better but finally stayed the same.

I think I could see well enough to shave.

The first thing I did was sort my canned goods and marked them. Remember those three by three by one inch packages I found during my cleaning? Pudding - guess what I'm having for dessert tomorrow. Then I checked out the football game on TV and sort of watched the news.

I was able to read a few emails from weeks ago using the highest magnification of the magnifier program. Slow process but it felt good to almost be independent again.

I'm going to attempt to look up heat on eye to see if I can read it and find anything on the subject. Hard to call anyone at 245 in the morning.

Been Getting Busy - Warning Long Post

If you thought dirty thoughts when you read the title, shame on you.

Not really. But the title is sort of accurate.

Wednesday I woke up and could not find my sunglasses - they don't do any good except knock down the glare.

I decided I was missing many things, like my video camera and a pack of batteries for the digital camera.

I set things down to be put away later when I 'saw' them the next time. Can't do that anymore because I can't see them later.

Anyway it had been a while (yeah right - a year?) since I had thoroughly cleaned anything so I decided I could try - it's not like the kids run over every week to do it for me – did you ever? I must be a clean neat person. Stop laughing.

I decided the bathroom was the first stop. I am pretty sure the ring around the tub is gone and the shower curtains are different colors now but I bet it's all clean. Only took 1.5 cans of comet (is that right?).

Then I did the bedroom since it is pretty sparse except for all the pictures. Why do I hang family pictures in the bedroom? Beside the obvious I can't see them. I sleep in there with the lights out.

I'll bet the lights were not on in that room for a year before I lost my sight. Years ago I hung 'good posters' on the walls and even the ceiling - but they were definitely not family nor for family. I digress.

In the bedroom I found my sunglasses – must’ve worn them to bed. I also found a remote I lost months ago and talked the cable company into replacing.

Next the living room saving the kitchen for last since I figured it would be the hardest.

In the living room I found lots of cool things that at first I could not identify. I usually eat in front of the computer. I found a hard (at one time soft) roll that I thought I had eaten but instead knocked off.

I found lots of pieces of I am sure were popcorn and maybe M&Ms or raisins or something (mice?) – I didn’t want to vacuum until I checked the whole floor because who knows what I might have dropped.

I found a syringe, and a box of alcohol wipes I must knocked off and couldn’t find. I also found a bunch of square things I could not identify. Several just out of reach of my feet under the desk.

I also found a remote that I did not know I lost and cannot figure out what the hell it is for.

After I identified everything I could and put most things out of the way I vacuumed but within the first three feet I heard metal things bouncing their way into the bag.

I decide it would be best to use my shopvac so that I could more easily shift through whatever I sucked up.

I always wondered why they sold wide carpet nozzles for shopvacs – now I know – but I never bought one.

Do you have any idea how long it takes to vacuum a 10 by 20 room with a four inch nozzle? At least I had extensions and didn’t have to crawl around on my hands and knees.

(I remember buying those – there were two choices – a bag of extensions or a bag of extensions with a floor nozzle for $2 more – dummy me).

Luckily I remembered to empty the tank before I started and when I searched through the debris I found a bunch of little metal balls. I have no idea.

I left the kitchen for Thursday. I only have two things I could not identify. Small boxes about 3” wide and tall and an inch thick. I have about six of them. They were in a cabinet I very seldom use now.

I did find my favorite coffee cup and I am glad I could not ‘see’ what was at the bottom. I also found my video camera on the shelf above the trash can. How lucky am I that it didn’t get knocked into the trash.

I found three packages of batteries in the ‘big utensil” drawer and I found another pair of what must be sunglasses because the also block the light.

The only unusual things I found on the floor were popcorn and a mouse trap I had forgot about. Luckily it was empty.

My George Foreman grill was really greasy on the bottom so I sank it in a sink full of extremely hot water. Something told me this might not have been a good move but I washed it when the water cooled down and all surfaces feel ‘squeaky clean’.

I put it in the oven at somewhere between 100 and 200 degrees and left it for four hours (I forgot to set a timer and felt the heat when I walked by). I closed my eyes (pun intended) and plugged it in.

It got warm so I cooked a burger – it had a funny taste – might have been I didn’t get all the soap off or I ruined the finish.

I cleaned it with wet paper towels then put veggie oil on it to cure it. The 2nd burger tasted great.

Remember those keys I lost last summer? Found them – under the kitchen table near the wall. Remember that picture frame I dropped and the glass broke? Found it under some paper bags in the corner of the counter top.

Remember the lottery tickets I bought at Christmas but lost? Found them right where I put them so I would not forget. Can’t tell you if I’ve won anything.

But at least I got back one thing – a little pride. I can go shoeless around the place once again.

Eye Update

Some days I am blind as a bat. I can see nothing out of my left eye and only light maybe a little color out of my right.

Sometimes right after a shower I can see fairly good out of my right eye. Today was a good day for my right eye.

My son-in-law took me to the grocery store and I was able to see well enough to get most things. Only needed help with a couple of items that look alike but have one word that I need to make sure of.

My biggest obstacle is identifying cans. My daughter uses a black or Red marker and writes a letter on top of the can to identify it. C for chilli beans, p for pork and beans, D for diced tomatoes etc.

I was seeing so good I decided I didn’t need my son-in-law to mark cans for me but after he left I got so overheated carrying everything up the steps that I could not see what the cans contained.

So I just left them to the side hoping my eyesight improves. I buy canned fruit – lasts longer and I don’t have to cut it up plus they have started packing it without all the sugar.

I have been hungry for peaches so I opened a can I thought was peaches. I picked the biggest around can there was because the fruit is usually packed in the biggest can.

I didn’t get peaches. For supper I am having pork and beans – that’s what I had last night.

Oh well, I can always use the fiber.

Eyes Act Crazy

Sometimes I can see out of my right eye fairly well, cataracts or not. My left eye was completely black yesterday but is showing some light today.

I was able to read some print on the monitor at max magnification but it did not last long.

I wonder why that is. Sometimes my right eye hurts and others not. It is crazy.

First Problem

My first problem may lead to readability problems and unusual text placement.

For all practical purposes I am blind. I have cataracts - my right eye can see light and color and ‘big’ objects like cars and furniture. But any bright light hurts – I see glare all the time.

I cannot read or see any details. I cannot use it to go up/down stairs and I can’t see raised concrete while walking along a sidewalk.

It will let me know something big is coming at me but usually too late. For the most part it hurts from the glare.

My left eye also has cataracts but not as bad – I could (notice I didn’t say can) read printed material and the computer screen using great magnification.

I could see just enough detail to see facial expressions although I questioned many of them.

About two months ago I had another breakout of shingles. One thing I want to quote before I go on:

Yes, it's contagious. Just like the chicken pox you had as a kid, shingles are contagious. As a result, until the blisters crust over, you need to be extremely careful around infants, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and those who have never had chicken pox. If you are going to be in contact with anyone in these groups, cover your blisters with a bandage and avoid direct contact in order to prevent spreading the virus.
Here Is The Source Page

Two years ago I woke up blind in my left eye - almost black. My right eye was just beginning to have major problems. I also had a headache that was so bad I could not concentrate on anything.

The doctor looked into my eye and asked if I had any cuts or open sores. I showed him the two places on my back that had been diagnosed as shingles in 1998. They break out about three or four times a year.

He immediately called the nurse and the attendant at the front desk. They all washed their hands for several minutes in a weird brown solution.

He made a phone call and asked if the vaccine would help if shingles had already appeared and shook his head.

He asked for treatments and wrote a few things down.

He had me get off the examination table and sit down. He told me shingles probably infected my eye.

There was no treatment since they had already appeared but most treatments were ineffective anyway. They might shorten the cure time but not by much.

He could give me prescriptions and some painkillers but otherwise the outbreak would just have to run their course – about six weeks.

He also warned me they were very contagious and to stay away from babies and people who were sick or on chemo.

He told me that I could infect other parts of my body if I touched the blisters when they broke open– I did not know.

I went to get the prescriptions filled. I do not have insurance and the topical cream alone was almost $200. The other pills he recommended were even more expensive for six weeks.

The painkillers were $50 for a month but he could only give me so many at a time to prevent overdoses and abuse.

I brought the painkillers and since the other medicine would probably not do much I skipped it.

Nine weeks later I got most of my sight back but it was hazy.

And now it is infected again. Without my left eye I have very little vision. A neighbor has setup my computer with two screens – I already had everything I needed – and found a program that reads just about everything to me.

One screen is the built-in magnifier at its highest magnification. When I hover over a link or icon, I can see different colors and have learned to recognize many icons since the computer speaks its name.

I managed other blogs at Google so I am very familiar with the process of posting but I do most of it by simply emailing the posts to the blog.

Simple. Sometimes I cannot understand what the computer is saying so I am not sure I have typed correctly.

Earlier in this post I was a key off and the computer was speaking gibberish – if you see something that makes no sense you’ll know what happened.

So that is the first problem. I’m sure glad I like challenges.