The saga continues...

If this is the first you're reading of my health saga, please see That one time half my face was paralyzed... and That one time it WASN'T Bell's Palsy... to get caught up.

If you don't have the time or interest to read through all the details, just skip to Moral of the story below.  No offense taken. :) 

Yesterday, I nearly blacked out multiple times while trying to shower.  Each time the tunnel vision and tunnel sound started, all I could think was, “Sit down.  You don’t want to pass out in the shower; someone would have to come rescue you, and that would be really awkward.”  Thankfully, I did NOT pass out, and I was able to finish my shower eventually before crawling back into bed and drinking lots of water.

Unfortunately, I was too weak to cook myself food, so I had to wait for my dear roommate, Erin, to come save me before I could eat… which was about 4PM.  I was sooo hungry.  But she saved me with bright orange cream of vegetable soup, some fresh, soft bread, my favorite tropical-flavored juice, and a chocolate treat. J  It was heavenly.

I hibernated in my bed under layers and layers of clothing and blankets for most of the day.  I’m pretty sure my problem was dehydration.  The previous day, I hadn’t had much water and one of the only liquids I did have was the broth from Ramen Noodles… which we all know is FULL of sodium.  So, lesson learned… drink more water, eat healthier food.

Today, I was not dizzy and was able to go tutor my favorite triplets before going to my doctor’s appointment.  Dr. Mata (his name still makes me laugh) said that my paralysis, on a scale of 1-7, 7 being the worst, was actually more of a 5/6 instead of the 4/5 he’d given it at my last visit.  Great, worse instead of better… just what I like to hear.

However, he also said that the shingles hadn’t spread around my ear and were mostly dried up and finished.  So, that was a glimmer of hope.

When I told him that my eye had been blurry, he was a little worried and told me to get better eye drops, do a better job taping it shut at night, and go to the ophthalmologist.  Other than that, he said that there’s no more medicine to give me to treat the palsy and there’s not much I can do but be patient and wait.  Ugh, patience.  Ok.

I scheduled a follow-up for after the holidays and he said that he hopes to see me blinking and smiling by then!  (YES!)  And if not, we’ll have to move on to CT Scans. (Noooo!)  But that’s not going to be the case.

I was able to get into the eye doctor right after Dr. Mata.  He looked at my eye and said it had “una herida” (a wound/injury/sore).  He reassured me that there aren’t bacteria in it now, but my cornea is inflamed.  Ok, that doesn’t sound great.

He re-iterated that I needed to put better eye drops in my eye and close it better at night.  He gave me a prescription for specific drops to use every hour and told me to get a certain type of tape to close my eye instead of using a patch.  He also prescribed another eye goo (besides the goo I should continue using every night) to use 3 times per day, which is an anti-biotic eye goo (official term).    I am also to see an eye doctor again in 2 weeks… in whatever country I happen to be vacationing.  It just so happens that I’ll be in Switzerland in 2 weeks, so we’ll see who I can find.  Sheesh.

Moral of the story:  I’m not better yet; it will be awhile before I am better; but, my virus is basically finished; oh, and, I need to be more careful about my eye.

Thanks to Bre for accompanying me to the doctor this time!

Oh, and if I could add one more thing to my ever-growing personal prayer requests: I am planning to embark on an AMAZING Christmas trip soon and I would really appreciate prayers for a safe and relatively uneventful journey, with no complications, health or otherwise.   -- A friend and I will be traveling through 7 countries in about 20 days.  The trip is mostly by train, but we have 2 flights… the way out to the 1^st country—Italy – and the way back home from the last country – Czech Republic.  The date we leave is supposed to be full of airline strikes.  It would be great if things went smoothly.  Thanks again!

Other thankfuls:

Exciting news from home (did I mention I’m going to have a nephew?!)

Chocolate

Erin, my roommate

Pizza (from the pizza place downstairs mmmmmmm)

Skype

What’s App (basically free texting)

Bre

Prayers of family, friends, and friends of friends

Blankets

Christmas lights

Thick socks

Hot showers

Microwave Ovens

Sight

iTunes and my church’s podcasts (CrossView with Randy Snyder)

Glitter (it’s just so magical)

Harry Potter

Scarves

Doctors who speak Spanish slowly

Christmas music  (Joy to the world, the Lord is come!)

A God who cares

Mittens

A basically functioning body

My computer

…and the list goes on and on