Work(s) in Progress

A Little Lasik

I had Lasik done this morning at Spivack Lasik. The doctor and clinic were recommended to me by many including my assistant at work. Of course, once my assistant saw the appointment on my calendar, she asked only "what time and where am I picking you up?" Thank you BP.

I had two complete complementary pre-op visits to ensure that I'd be an OK candidate. Even this morning they retested my ability to make sufficient tears as dry eyes are not compatible with great Lasik outcomes. My eyes are still dry even though I take Flax Oil daily - I never had this issue before I started using contact lenses - and the doctor inserted collagen plugs into my tear ducts earlier this week. I'm not sure why doctors (especially my gynecologist) always want to give the play by play..."I am about to touch you now..." but really, stop already, and just do whatever, especially if a foreign object is going where it was not meant to go. Just do it; I really don't want the second by second description.

So for about 15 minutes at the clinic today I'd worried that I'd paid for the surgery and stressed over it  but would not in fact be getting the Lasik done today or ever. Ultimately I was led back to the surgery waiting area - imagine dimmed lights and a ring of lazy boy chairs with people with hair nets, sterile booties and closed eyes. Oh, and hot blankets. There is nothing like a hot blanket while waiting for an unpleasant experience. About 20 minutes prior you have the option to take an Ativan (say yes) before surgery. I had valium in a IV push when my wisdom teeth were taken out.  Ativan was not as potent as valium in dissociating the experience or memory but did help to diminish my anxiety in the moment and had the advantage that I fundamentally still felt like myself.

So Lasik takes maybe 10 minutes, tops.  I was laid flat and still had my warm blanket. I was then offered a stuffed animal. My side of the conversation conveyed that um, I didn't even like dolls as a kid. The nurse conveyed that some folks find it helps, "here" she said as she shoved a stuffed puppy under the blanket with me.  While there is an eyes held open aspect that reminded me too much of A Clockwork Orange (warning image is disturbing), it was over quickly. And the doctor used his hands to hold my head/chin as much as possible. There are two laser zapping sessions per eye: flap creation & correction. And two sessions of the doctor moving the flap - away & back. Zap zap zap OK; forceps near eye.....yiiiieeee! And yes, the dumb stuffed dog under the covers with me was held very tightly. Feel free to send stuffed animals for Christmas, apparently I have a fondness...

Slept for 4 hours post surgery as recommended. Lots of eye drops required over the next 2 weeks, steroids, antibiotics, artificial tears, and even cyclosporin (and why cyclosporin helps tear formation I have NO idea...for organ transplantation I get it, daily on my eyes because they are dry, huh? but OK I will do, for months apparently). And I can now see leaves on trees again. Less than 12 hours post-op and my vision is better, much better. I am hopeful!

And while the surgeon won't be at my 24 hour post-op appointment in the AM, he called me earlier this evening to see if I was OK, or had questions or concerns. Nice touch Dr. Spivack. And apparently, so long as I get a complete annual eye exam, my surgery has a lifetime warranty. Cool.

CPR Saves Lives

A story in my local paper caught my eye today. A two year old boy was hit by a truck. A neighbor, Jennifer Elder, heard the thud and ran to the scene. She came across a man holding his lifeless bloodied son, sobbing. Jennifer administered CPR and mouth to mouth respiration and the boy's heart began beating again. The boy is now in serious condition at Children's hospital. Another person prevented the vehicle that hit the boy from leaving. This driver is suspected of driving under the influence. Heroes all.

To find CPR and other first aid classes in your neighborhood, try the American Red Cross.

The Amazing Martha

This post was first posted to my main blog but it most certainly deserves to be posted here as well. Martha is one of my heroes. Every day she inspires me to be a better person.

---

I have written about my friend Martha before. She is always doing for others. She sent an email plea earlier this week asking for support for a young girl in her community. This is a very sad situation.  It seems that societally we have lost our ability to cope with accidents. There must always be blame. Someone must be at fault.  Someone must pay. Luckily, before the public lynching can begin there are  people like Martha to stand for peace, for compassion, for hope, and for kindness. 

Here is Martha's email.

Dear Friends:

I am writing to ask for your support of a campaign in the community of Berthoud, CO with the goal of lending support to a very special young lady who was recently involved in a tragic accident.

Michelle Berra is a student at Berthoud High School. She is an amazing young woman who many describe as "wonderful" and "an inspiration to many". Michelle is a committed student, a good friend and a caring and loving individual. Below is Michelle's story:

On Monday, January 15, Michelle was driving home from a friend's house where she and others had gathered to watch movies. As she headed south on a dark county road, a terrible accident occurred. Michelle was driving the car that hit Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros as they were working to change a flat tire on their vehicle. As noted earlier, there is no lighting on this county road. Due to the extreme weather conditions in Berthoud, the boy's vehicle could not pull out of the traffic lane due to snow piles in the emergency lanes. And, due to the make of the boy's vehicle - with a back door that swings open and covers hazard lights on the left side of the vehicle - and the boys efforts to work on the flat tire on the right side of the vehicle, there was little if any visual warning as Michelle topped the crest of the hill on her way home that evening. This was an unimaginable accident that could have happened to any one of us who would be heading down that road that night.

As a parent, I shudder at the thought that this could have happened to me or much worse - my child. Immediately after impact, Michelle found the presence of mind and body to leave her vehicle and go to the aid of the injured students. She went first to Nikko Landeros who was lying in the roadway and calling out for help. Nikko told Michelle that he was cold and Michelle immediately removed her coat and placed it around Nikko to keep him warm. She used a phone from the next person on the scene and had the ability to call 911 and explain exactly where the accident occurred. Michelle stayed with Nikko until she was asked to help with Tyler Carron. When asked by the emergency personnel, Michelle went over to Tyler and held him still while the emergency personnel worked in loading Nikko into the ambulance. Once Nikko was secure in the ambulance and the emergency personnel were free to return to Tyler, Michelle was relieved of her caregiving duties.

As Michelle's parents arrived on the scene, Michelle was then asked to leave the accident site and proceeded home to tend to her own mental and emotional injuries. As expected, her recovery has been slow but little by little Michelle is resuming a life that is anything but normal. One cannot imagine just what Michelle and her family have been enduring for the past many weeks. Michelle credits her recovery, of sorts, to many in her circle of family and friends. "I've received nothing but kind words of support", she stated in an interview with the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor.

Two weeks ago the Larimer Country District Attorney's office announced that they had concluded their investigation on the accident and were proceeding to issue a summons to Michelle, charging her with two counts of careless driving resulting in bodily injury. If convicted, Michelle will face Class 1 misdemeanor traffic offenses that may carry the possibility of 10 days to one year in jail, a fine, points against her driver's license, probation and/or community service. As a friend to the Berra family, I am writing to you to ask for your support of this amazing young lady. I know that Michelle had no intent on harming anyone on January 15. As stated before whoever came over that hill that evening could have been in the same situation. This was a terrible accident and each of us feels for all the victims that were involved on January 15.

Support from far and wide has been overwhelming for the two boys who lost their legs in the accident. To date, close to $500,000 has been raised from community events and individual donors with the goal of helping Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros with medical, emotional and other needs that they will endure in the days and months ahead. As a resident of Berthoud, I have never been prouder to see the outpouring of love and support for these injured teens. Even the Berra family has been working behind the scenes, on each and every community event, to assist in whatever way possible. The have called on family and friends to help in the fundraising effort and have themselves raised over $6,000 for the injured teens.

The Berra family has never asked for any support from the community but the time has come for each of us to reach out to them and lend support in the days and months ahead. Although Michelle suffered no physical injuries from the accident on January 15, her mental state and emotional well being has been shaken beyond belief. She is involved in extensive counseling which is not covered by her insurance. This counseling is expensive and will continue for many months to come. I am writing to you and asking you to lend your support to the Berra family in the days ahead. Can you imagine if this was your family? Michelle and her family are in need of kind words and deeds, letters of support and funding that is necessary to continue her recuperation from this horrific experience. If you can find it in your heart to help, please send your notes of support and/or donations to a special account that has been set up for Michelle Berra at the Centennial Bank of the West in Berthoud, CO (807 Mountain Avenue, Berthoud, CO 80513). Whatever you can do will make a major impact on Michelle and her family. And, if you can send this letter on to others who may be able to support Michelle, that would be an amazing act of kindness on behalf of this young woman in need. In advance, my thanks for your time in reading this story and for your consideration of support for Michelle Berra. Your friendship means the world to me and it will mean the same to Michelle and her family.

Most sincerely, Martha

You can read more about Michelle's story here,  here and here.

You can learn more about Nikko and Tyler here and here.

The Kindness of Strangers

On Wednesday a blizzard blew in a buried us in about 30 inches of snow. We were able to dig the cars out but our street is not plowed. Although my work was closed on Wednesday and Thursday we are open today. We will be closed again next week through the new year. Since this is the merit (raises) time of year, I really wanted to get the merit letters into everyone's mail box just in case they happened to make it into work today.

Given that I knew I could not drive to work, I spent hours on the RTD website to find a route to get to work. Given that the buses are on a holiday schedule today, this was a bit tricky. My plan was to walk to a major bus stop that was about 2.5 miles from my house, take the bus to down town Denver & pick up a local bus to my work. Instead I walked about 1 mile before kind stranger #1 stopped and asked me where I was headed & if I needed a ride. Since he was planning to get on the highway where my bus stop was located I took the lift. The walk would not have been bad had any of the sidewalks been cleared but they were not. At the bus station I learned that the woman in front of me lived in the same neighborhood. After waiting about 20 minutes for the bus (it was late) kind stranger #2 decided to go home & offered me a ride if I wanted to give up waiting. I decided to stay. Eventually the bus did arrive but it was full. The next bus was not due to arrive for another hour. Kind stranger #3 then said, "hey I have a 4 wheel drive if anyone wants a ride to downtown". I was one of three lucky women to catch a ride. I was able to walk to my office from where he parked.

Thank you kind people.

When I arrived at work, my husband phoned to tell me that there was a small crew on our street clearing the street in front of driveways like ours which had been shoveled so he will be able to pick me up later today.

Good Neighbors

I  sometimes come across stories that fill me with hope about humanity and yet they are the types of stories that would never be written about professionally. Here are three of them.

Skwigg wrote about how she came across "the body" on her way home one evening. She wrote: "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw somebody lying halfway on the sidewalk and halfway in a yard. Of course, I'd traveled like two blocks before I fully processed what I had seen. His legs were bent kind of funny. He was wearing shorts. He was older. Glasses. Hat. And here's the kicker, it was starting to rain. There's no reason somebody would be lying there like that unless he was dead or unconscious." It was midnight, in a not great neighborhood. How easy would it be to simply drive on by? How easy would it be to forget that this was someone's son, father, or brother? Skwigg's story of going back and of rethinking how to have been an even better neighbor is here.

While she was out running, Irene saw an elderly lady across the street fall down and not get up. The woman told Irene that she was OK. How easy would it have been to simply keep running? To simply  accept the words that no help was needed? To focus on the training run and getting the time and mileage in? Irene instead crossed the street, helped the woman up and walked her home. Even now, three months later, she still checks on this woman regularly.

My 88 year old grandmother in New Jersey is currently in the hospital. She'd developed a liver cyst that is causing her a lot of pain that is being taken drained. I've been getting daily updates from my family on her prognosis. In the update last night I was told about a young man, Brian, who was visiting my grandmother and helping her to eat. I have no idea where Brian came from or how he met my grandmother. According to my mom, before she went in the hospital, Brian would come each week to take my grandmother to the hair dresser. Brian and his girlfriend also take my grandmother out to dinner regularly. Thank you Brian.

Songs of Hope and Glory

There are days when I am overwhelmed by news of the horrific: wars, pandemics, hurricanes and earthquakes. I stopped watching television in part to escape from the constant barrage of bad news. This blog is a kinder place, a gentler place, where only news of the good will be collected. I would like this blog to serve as a reminder of all of the good that exists in the world. If I have missed some good news, please send a link my way either through a comment or via email.