It never hurts to ask

Speaking of my dentist (see previous post), I went to see him this morning for a filling.

I asked him if he would be willing to go with me to my eye surgery and gas me before they stuck me with the IV.

He told me that his nitrous unit was not portable.

He looked a little sad so I think he would have done it for me if he could.

My dentist is the best.

If you live in the Colorado Springs area and need a great dentist, contact Park Dental Associates.

Tell them Terry sent you.

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Usual Suspects" from "Bloodshot Indie-Pendants Sampler" by Ha Ha Tonka

Blogger Labels: surgery,dentist

Anxiety….with more to come.

I went to the Wright Eye Center yesterday to fill out more paperwork, surgery consent forms, etc. I also received prescriptions for antibiotic eye drops and a list of pre-surgery procedures, dos and don’ts.

Routine and painless, right?

You wouldn’t think so by looking at me, I was scared out of my mind. “Are you ok?” Evelyn asked. “Not really” I answered.

It finally started to dawn on me that they will be sticking a scalpel in my eyes. I have no idea how big the scalpel is but in my mind, it is a VERY LARGE diamond tipped scalpel that will most likely require 2 people to hoist up.

I know the surgery is necessary. My only other option is to live out my life with uncorrectable vision clouded by cataracts but lately everything about this procedure is making me one big ball of nerves.

Ok, I will be sedated. They will use Versed administered via an IV.

Wait…an IV?

Did I mention that needles scare the crap out of me. What are they going to sedate me with in order to get that thing stuck in my arm?

When I first met my dentist, years ago, I told him he would have to gas me before he ever pulled a needle out of the drawer or he would have a fight on his hands. It’s been about 10 years and I have learned to sit through a routine cleaning and he has learned to gas me before he starts on a filling. 

I wonder if he will come with me and gas me before the surgeon inserts the IV?

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Breakin' at the Cracks" from "Breakthrough" by Colbie Caillat

Blogger Labels: dentist,Wright Eye Center,surgery,vision,cataracts

Half a Life: A Memoir by Darin Strauss

2 people involved in an accident. He lives. She dies. Most will assume there is only one victim but what about the survivor.

Darin Strauss takes us on his life journey from the age of 18 when the accident occurred to the present. Between those 2 points in time is a difficult and winding road through survivor’s guilt and a never ending battle to reconcile what society expects of him with how he feels.

Can he ever forgive himself and move on or will he continue to live only “half a life” struggling with thoughts of what her life would have been if she had survived?

This is a tragic yet inspiring story that will make you stop and take an inventory of your own life.

 

Blogger Labels: books,memoir

Goodbye Ads

What!, you say. Why? Well…

A long long time ago when I first started this blog on Webs.com, I added a widget for Amazon.com. I then incorporated it into Blogger. I had hopes of making a little money here and there but never thought it would bring in any significant profits. Well….I was right. Not long after I started writing, the state of Colorado decided to collect sales tax from companies that sold items via the web and Amazon decided to not sell anything via their associates in Colorado. So Colorado associates have been frozen out due to this still ongoing standoff.

Then Blogger (via Google) offered AdSense which places random ads at the bottom of your posts. You get paid if someone clicks an ad. Since April of this year I have managed to rack up .81 cents. Wow. They won’t send me a check until I reach $10 (after all clicks have been verified and approved). So at this rate it might be a couple of years before I see a check.

So the money was not there and I really never thought it would be. I would have to get millions of hits on this blog to generate any inkling of revenue. And let’s face it, I don’t live the kind of wild and risk filled life to make my blog that interesting.

I have also been reading other bloggers as they debated this issue themselves. Several feel that having ads makes it look like they are endorsing a product or that their posts have been influenced by a company whose ads appear on their page. All good points but I really don’t have an issue with that.

My main reason is that I really don’t like going to websites and being assaulted by ads. Pop ups. Scrolling ads. Floating ads. They are everywhere. The ones that really annoy me are the pop up surveys. How can I rate my experience on your website? Your survey popped up 2 seconds after I logged on and blocked me! I didn’t even get a chance to see your site. So, if I feel this way about ads on websites, why would I subject you to them? Exactly!

So as soon as I can get everything cancelled with AdSense, the ads will be gone.

I‘ll still link to websites and products that I mention because that is the right thing to do. I’ll still link to the musical artist in the “now playing” line at the bottom of each posts because you need to support these people. Go see them live, buy their stuff, support your local artists, etc.

As for Amazon, I will still link book titles, etc. to them because even though I have never ordered anything from them, they are an awesome resource. I will also leave the Amazon MP3 widget on the site as well. (See the previous paragraph for the reasoning behind this.)

So, here we go.

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" from "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked - Single of the Week" by Cage the Elephant

Blogger Labels: Amazon,Blogger,Colorado,Google,AdSense

I’m a medical oddity, part 2

I went to see the optometrist at the Wright Eye Center yesterday for a second opinion. All was confirmed. Cataracts in both eyes and possible glaucoma.

Dr. G said that my eyesight without glasses was barely good enough to drive legally. You should have seen the look on Evelyn’s face when he said that. Now, I’ll have to argue with her for the next couple of months when I want to drive. She’ll probably put a GPS tracker on the car before I drive off. Keep an eye out for an ABP coming to your inbox soon.

Due to my insurance provider’s restrictions, I won’t be getting each eye done a week apart per usual procedure, I’ll have to wait a month between each one. It seems that they are ok with Dr. Wright performing the surgery, just not at his own facility. Sooo I have to go to the Colorado Springs Eye Surgery Center for the procedure and Dr. Wright only operates there once a month.

Swell. So I’m not sure what I’ll be wearing for a month since one eye will have good vision and the other will still require a Coke bottle lens. Dr. H had originally said that he could remove one lens of my glasses until both eyes are corrected. That would mean a month of geek\nerddom. I’m already having flashbacks to junior high school. My brother Ronnie suggested I do it up right and put some white tape on the earpieces and nose piece.

 

                                                                                                                                Thanks Bro.

 

Maybe I can go without glasses and wear an eye patch over the bad eye. That would be cool.

                                                                                                                                     AYE MATEYS!

 

Anyway, time will tell and I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, if you’re interested go to this link for some educational information from The Wright Eye Center.

 

  

 

While writing this, I was listening to "More Than You Can Feel" from "Secretly Canadian Summer Sampler 2011" by David Vandervelde

Blogger Labels: Wright Eye Center,glasses,surgery,Colorado,vision,Cataracts

Happy 4th!

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4th – Happy 235th Independence Day America!

Chill out, I was only a week late

 

 

For those of you who have a home mortgage with Bank of America be warned. They have connections and aren’t afraid to use them.

Does this prove they really have more money than God?  I mean even Jesus is on their payroll.

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Beauty of Uncertainty" from "Drastic Fantastic" by KT Tunstall

 

 

Blogger Labels: mortgage,Bank of America,Jesus