Alton, Apples, Avastin

 This post was first featured on my now defunct blog, M&J Hooray!


Ah, Alton Brown. This comic suits him to a tee.
And thanks Natalie Dee for the comic. Be careful clicking on her website if easily offended. Some of her comics are rather crass.
I bring up Alton Brown 1) because I watch a lot of Food Network and 2) by watching a lot of TV, I now know that Good Eats is having its 10th anniversary.
And I just got done making his biscuit recipe. And they are deelish.
Jarred and I had a busy day since I didn't have to go into work. Yay! These are the only times I can get stuff done. We went to Kohl's to find Jarred some more dress pants and shirts to wear to work. And I got a cable-knit sweater and some long sleeved shirts. My winter wardrobe doesn't consist of much. I don't like wearing short sleeves during fall or winter, while Jarred is fine just slipping on a coat to go outside.
At the store, I tried on a faux-fur white vest. And then promptly took it off because of how ridiculous I looked.
I might have to go get some more cords for work when I get my next paycheck. I am running on two pairs and that just won't do.
After lunch, Jarred and I took a little trip up to the orchard. I thought it was freezing outside. There were so many people there, but at the same time, it wasn't bad. We bought a good amount of stuff. We bought a bag of Granny Smith apples for my bread recipe, 2 bags of Hoppin' John mix, Dill and Chive dip mix, Apple Cinnamon pancake mix, Xtra Hot Chow Chow, Apple Cherry Cider, Apple Butter, and a beautiful basket made by a village in Africa.
The Apple Butter made Jarred think of the Alton Brown program we had seen last night on biscuits and he wanted some. We were taking our weekly trip to the grocery store and we bought all the ingredients. Thank goodness we have some country sausage in the freezer, just for an occasion like this! We are going to have a good albeit unhealthy breakfast tomorrow!

On some not so exciting news, my eye is acting up again, and I am going to have to go through with surgery again. I don't need my ophthalmologist to tell me that, just confirm it.

I don't know if I've ever written a blog about what is wrong with my eyes. But just in case I haven't, here's the rundown:

Sophomore year of high school, I was taking an Algebra class. We were working with gridded paper. I noticed that the lines seemed a bit distorted, but I didn't think much of it because I'd always had 20/20 vision. I just assumed I was tired and needed more sleep. After about a week of distorted vision, I got scared because I knew something was really wrong. Mom took me to the optometrist. I don't remember what he found, but he sent me to a specialist. The ophthalmologist confirmed that I had OHS. It is caused by a fungus in the soil and dust that is inhaled. It creates flu-like symptoms (and yes, I did have the 'flu' in elementary or middle school). Histoplasmosis irritates the eye and created scarring on the retina. A weak blood vessel will leak into the scar and cause distorted vision.

And it sucks.

I have had quite a few laser surgeries to correct the problem. It would burn out part of my vision, but my doctor said since I was so young, my right eye would over compensate for my left.

Then the wonderful medical community found a better treatment (more like barbaric): Avastin. If you are easily alarmed or grossed out, stop reading now.
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Okay all non-squeamish, Avastin is a kind of liquid/gel/I'm not sure that is injected into my eye. With a needle. While I watch. It hurts. Like a mother. Like hell. And then my eye pops, and my vision goes completely black. It is so gross feeling. And then 15 minutes later, I feel another pop and my vision is back, but blurry. And the whole car ride home, I am in pain. Avastin is injected into the 'offending' blood vessel. It is pretty simple, but of course, it hurts a lot more than the laser surgery. When I had the Avastin injection my frosh year at PU, my parents came to be there with me. I was so scared in the waiting room. I cried and cried and cried. I don't know if I've ever cried that much in public before. I am pretty certain that has got to be something most people would avoid; getting a needle stuck straight in their eyeball.
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Alright, you can start back reading here, all weak-stomached. This is something I am going to deal with my whole life. There is no cure for OHS. It just depends on how often it happens. Another weak blood vessel has burst into another retina scar, so I will need some sort of treatment. Probably Avastin. Maybe I'll let Mom and Dad photo-document to show everyone how brave I am. Because I felt so brave after the first treatment, let me tell you! I can't tell anyone to pray that there's nothing wrong, because there is, and the distortion won't magically go away. I can only ask everyone to be thinking of me and I will give updates on when I get treatment.