Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

My left eye has been bothering me for a couple of days. I assumed I got some dust in it last weekend, when we went up the teleferiquo. I checked for junk (like an eyelash) several times a day, but didn't find anything until yesterday, when I found a small eyelash. It took a while to extract, and my eye didn't feel better afterwards. In fact, during the night my eye produced a ton of goobers (technical term) and has been tearing like crazy.

So we researched ophthalmologists this morning, thanks to SAE's listings. Tamara shortened her language lesson and we went hunting for one of the doctors at about 10:30am. We didn't find the office, so we went to the second one. He was there, and was in an office with other doctors, which was nice. We explained we didn't have an appointment and asked if they could fit us in. Sure enough, it was only about 15 minutes before we saw the doctor.

The doctor was a very nice guy. His English was quite passable, which helped when we were talking about things like viruses, cornea transplants, and the like. He confirmed that my eye didn't have herpes (a big concern for me- I have herpes in my other eye), and that it was just conjunctivitis. He said it is common here because of the pollution and dry climate (which makes eyes more susceptible to getting a bacteria). He gave us a prescription for Vigamox, told us to come back early next week if it isn't better, and told us it was really contagious (which we knew).

So, hopefully things will clear up. The left side of my face is crusty from all the tearing. Sounds silly, I know.

(The flowers are some that Tamara bought yesterday. The entire bouquet was $6).

Labels: eye, health, medical

I'm really happy. I went to a GI specialist today, who told me my pain/heartburn/whatever was probably (mostly) mental, encouraged me to adjust my antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. C'mon. Really. I've tried everything from a box of Tums, Zantac, and Prilosec, all the way to Xanax and Percocet.

She said she'd run an endoscopy anyhow, mainly because of our timeline. So, in to the procedure room, a little Verced to erase the mental etch-a-sketch. After I wake up, they show me pictures from the endoscopy- there is an ulcer (or two) in my esophagus.

Now, they weren't happy, but I am! It's great to actually see a problem, rather than be told it's in your head.

They've sent off for cultures of this thing. It can happen from having a pill get stuck as you are swallowing it, but they really think this is CMV. It's considered rare in healthy adults- but what else is new for me? Just to make sure, they are running an HIV/AIDS test on me. I'm not worried, of course.

So, what's next? They'll tell me the results of the culture in a couple of days. In the meantime, I have a prescription to drink Lidocaine and take a pill that is used to coat the esophagus lining. It'll heal on its own, and it isn't something that would be a long-term worry like ecophageal spasm (which doesn't have a good solution).

We'll blog about the rest of our progress later. Things are on track for Thursday.

Labels: health, pretrip, ted

Wow. How many crazy days can I have?

Went to costco this morning. One year of antimalarial pills is a couple pennies under $30. They'll be in tomorrow. What a deal- it was going to be at least $120 everywhere else I checked.

Came home, then time with MAD: Ran up to Tamara's apartment, then back home, then lunch, then back to break down my fancy-pants dual-core Shuttle box for MAD. Also loaded my MIG welding setup in Toucan's truck, and talked to a stupid carpet installer/estimator.

Tamara ran off for her replacement drivers license (they *mail* them? hmm, didn't know that). I worked on clearing out the woodshop. Also got more paint, then came back and painted the ceiling in the woodshop (still painting, as of 11:30pm).

I spent way too much time researching my FSA reimbursement (if someone is interested, I'll post how I got nearly $2000 in free money), then several hours researching international health insurance. Thought I had it figured out a couple of times, but didn't. Feh.

Are we on schedule? I hope so. I'll know tomorrow if my Happy Trails gear is shipping now or soon, once I know it has shipped we'll schedule our going-away party. (should be the 22nd).

If things go as I expect, we'll have the house prepped for the market sometime between Friday and Monday.

Labels: health, pretrip