It can only get better. Right?

This morning, all within forty-five minutes, I had a nose bleed, Boris wretched up a toxic brew, and Liam dropped my new coffee cup from Dubai onto the floor.

It has turned out to be a good day, except for Shanna leaving on another trip. Though I imagine there are places she'd rather be than Iowa.

I'm not sure about what's new, and what's not. Where to begin?

Galen: His recognition of words, reading vocabulary, is growing. He still hasn't reached the critical mass needed for reading much, but he's trying-n-learning. Not that it matters, sometimes he'll still sit down and look though a book. Between studying the words and drinking in the pictures, a book might keep him mesmerized for minutes...

Liam: His vocabulary hasn't changed much over the past few months. He is a singer/babbler, very melodic. Lately I believe he's concentrating on growing a little more. Physically he likes to climb up and down the stairs at home, the Little Gym, and at the mall play areas. And he likes spinning, makes me dizzy just watching.

Thy adore each other. I wonder how long that will last. Mutual hugs, Galen touching his brother's hair, Liam running and bumping, all so wonderful.

Boris: Seventy-two pounds of puppy. Arrr.

Eye piercing

I was forced to step into Alex's world, my eye held open with an eyelid clamp. The horrible images though, were in my mind. As I sat there, unrestrained, imagining the worst of all possible outcomes. Beethoven's Ninth would have been a beautiful diversion. From here I shifted to the vantage point of Jean-Luc Picard as the borg drone's needle punctured his eye.

What is it with these images? My own condition. Mid-day on December 22nd my right-eye vision warped. Images were curved, and eaten by a dark, sinister hole in my vision. So, on 12/23 I visited the eye-doc and was prompted referred to a retinal specialist. With the holidays I had to wait a few days. Instead of spending the day-after Christmas shopping, sleeping, and whatnot, I was sitting in a retinal specialist's office.

The conclusion? I have histoplasmosis, a fungal infection that's normally of no concern. In a few people it causes histo-spots on the back of the eye. These are normally benign, however, when a "spot" springs up near the optical center (macula) it can distort or destroy central vision. You know the kind, what's needed to read, thread a needle, do detail work, and read street signs.

So, on December 26th I sat in a chair, eye propped open like Alex as a needle was pushed into my eye like Jean-Luc. This was repeated again today. Just a few years ago the treatment would have been laser: cauterize the offending blood vessels and hope the swelling diminishes. Me, I received a dose of Avastin, a colon cancer drug used to prevent growth of blood vessels.

Prognosis? Undetermined. The blood leakage has diminished, the swelling has lessened. The distortion isn't so pronounced as it was, though reading newsprint and doing detail work is still problematic. Doc say he can't predict the amount of improvement. And full term, there's a 30% probability it will reoccur. That means a 60% chance of stabilization and no more eye piercing needles. Guess which odds I'm for.