The 'Eyes' have it...

Just in case there is one human who reads this, Jeff is doing okay after his surgery yesterday. As usual for Jeff, it's never as easy as it seems and this one was practically as crummy as his original evisceration eight years ago. But the hard part is done anyway, and he now has a fancy new dermal-fat graft from his tummy inside his empty eyeball. Yummy, huh? The surgery ended up being longer and more difficult than originally planned. Apparently the old implant in his eyeball (made of a material that was rough-surfaced) had not only eroded away the tissue that enclosed it, but it was stuck to the tissue in other areas. So getting the old implant out was tough and bloody. His head is sore and swollen. But the Docs thought everything went really well and he's on his way now. His eye will be sewn shut awhile and in a few weeks we'll worry about getting his prosthesis in. The old one probably won't work but it could. He also needs some work on his eyelid. He's a brave and good man, he is. He never complains or whines about it. And most of us would be tired of people staring, and never looking the same, or like ourselves. Jeff just goes with it. Deo Gratias.

Of tests and surgeries...

Okay. So I am looking into grad school, with the intent to work on my Master of Education and Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education Certificate so I can be a Developmental Interventionist for wee ones with Down Syndrome. (What a MOUTHFUL!) Therefore, I realized I would need to take the Graduate Record Exam. In short, it stinks. I took it yesterday after very little studying and scraped my way through several hours of torture including word analogies and antonyms, reading comprehension, two essays, and math problems. I did finish with above-average scores, but it is my observation that the very essence of the test is not to test actual knowledge, but how well you take a test. Basically every question is a trick question. At $140 a pop it most surely is a money making scheme. The good news is that I can take it several more times this year if I want to improve my score. Yea, right.
Now I have to figure out how to fund grad school. Or maybe I ought to go into the standardized testing business and become a millionaire. Sounds good to me.

Onto other more important issues. Jeff's fake eye has been steadily getting more irritated, goopy, droopy, and generally gross. He finally broke down and went to have it checked out. Apparently the fake "eyeball" that is back in the socket (not the cap that "looks" like an eye) has worn through the flesh that encloses it. And apparently that is because of a general defect in the material from which it is made. The Dr. said they have seen a lot of this with this brand of prosthetic,, folks coming in years later with the thing wearing through. So, Jeff will have to get a whole new prosthetic ball in there. That entails pulling the old one out, re-wrapping tissue around it, possibly getting some extra from his abdomen, then placing the new tissue-wrapped ball back in the socket. Gross. Then, he will have to possibly get a new anterior cap if the old one doesn't fit anymore (which cost $1000 back in '01) and get some work done on his eyelid that has become saggy. Of course, he loves all of that. The good news is that it's fixable and he won't have to deal with a perpetually runny, gross eye. Jeff's always very patient with that kind of stuff but I know it must get old. People stare at it and wonder why his eye is droopy and runny. I close one eye a lot when I'm doing things just to see what Jeff's world is like; it lets me not forget. Please pray for his good soul.

Oh, if you're wondering about the hand x-ray, take note of the pinky. That's Jeff's more recent mishap where he chopped the end of it off when he smashed it in a trailer hitch here in the driveway. It looks fine now, just a tad shorter! ;-)

the facebook frenzy...

This facebook thing is rather fun. In a matter of a couple of weeks I have reconnected with a dozen or more people from my ever so distant past. A few observations:
1. The majority of my classmates I am meeting on fb are liberal. It is painfully apparent that I am WAY more conservative than I ever thought I could be. What a difference 25 years makes!!
2. No one has big families. I LOVE having a big family. I guess we never take vacations and don't live in a McMansion, nor do we drive new vehicles (Jeff and I have a pact never to drive a vehicle which was manufactured in the decade in which we are living!!), and we rarely go out to eat or to movies. But the exchange is PRICELESS.
3. Everyone is everywhere. I wish we loved our hometown enough to stay in it. Greenhills was tremendous. I was way too cool to actually STAY there. That being said, I love Kentucky. It's more me than Cincy is. I'm pretty much a redneck.
4. The diversity of our GH class is so interesting. We are all rather well-educated I think. They did a fair job in that department!
5. I need to get off this computer and get to work. Laundry waits for no (wo)man. God bless anyone who actually reads this banter! ;-)