Thursday, October 29

Despite the alarm not going off this morning, thanks to a power outage sometime in the middle of the night, Hubbie still woke up around 7:30 a.m., and he roused me around 8 a.m., because I needed to get ready to meet an appointment with my ophthalmologist at ten. Mother also had an appointment with the same doctor a few minutes after mine.

I slept soundly last night, though, after sleeping only two and a half hours Tuesday night. But I didn't have time for my exercises this morning.

Around 9:30, Hubbie drove us to our appointment. Naturally, we both had to complete a couple of pages of information before we could be seen, but we weren't kept waiting long before we were taken back to exam rooms.

Once we'd both had preliminary exams by the doctor's tech, who put drops in our eyes to dilate them, Mother's tech brought her into my exam room, where the doctor examined both of us. Mother feels more comfortable if I can be with her for any physician exams.

I was examined first, and the doctor said my eyesight hasn't changed appreciatively since he saw me about ten years ago (I've seen my optometrist a couple of times in that decade). I mentioned that I occasionally have a little flash in the corner of my left eye, which he said was where the gel within my eye has detached, but it should cause me no problem. He also said the lenses of my eyes are slightly clouded, meaning I'm in the very early stage of developing cataracts. It will likely be many years before these mature enough to bother me. The doctor said we all get cataracts, if we live long enough.

Mother, on the other hand, has cataracts that have matured to the point of needing surgery, particularly in her left eye. She has been complaining for a long time about not being able to see adequately, and that her eyeglasses are not helping. So we suspected that she was due for cataract surgery. Otherwise, her eyes are fine...she has "floaties" and stuff in them, but those are a normal part of aging. A surgery date of Tuesday, December 1, has been set for her surgery.

Our ophthalmologist stayed very busy this morning seeing patients before noon, when he was scheduled to begin a church-sponsored mission trip to a remote part of Mexico, where he will spend a week or so treating people in poverty.

It was nearly 12:30 before we got back home for lunch. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran a few errands...to the WDCS for a few groceries, but mainly to pick up a large bag of individually wrapped candies to donate to the art gallery for the director to distribute to kids during the Halloween festivities downtown Saturday night.

From there, we went to an office supply store, so I could pick up various colors of paper to use in making greeting cards. Then we went to the art gallery to drop off the bag of candy, as well as a bag of scrap fabrics to be used in an arts council craft project for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization. The director had sent e-mail messages to all the arts council board members and visual arts members this week asking for candy and fabric donations, and since we don't get any trick-or-treaters at our house, and we have lots of scrap fabric, it was no problem to oblige.

While we were gone, Mother started a pot of chili simmering for our Halloween supper Saturday night. Our chili recipe is very simple, using ground turkey sauteed with onions, bell peppers, etc., and cans of white, black, and kidney beans, canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and various spices. It only takes a few minutes to throw everything into a pot to simmer a couple of hours.

We got back home around 3 p.m. and were in no mood to do anything productive for the rest of this rainy, foggy, muggy, threat-of-tornadoes-and-floods day, so we watched "War of the Worlds," starring Tom Cruise, on DVD. Eerily, in the movie's opening scenes, when a black, swirling cloud appears in the sky, and crashing lightening strikes all around, sending the movie characters indoors to hide under a table, a loud clap of thunder outside our house startled us all. That was the only thunderclap for the afternoon, but it sure was an effective mood setter.

Later, we had a supper of leftover Spanish rice. Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I watched more TV. First, we watched a movie called, "Nightmare," from the Lifetime Movie Network. A woman, who as a girl frequently witnessed her mother's night terrors, goes to work in a sleep disorders clinic in hopes of helping to find a cure for nightmare sufferers. But then she falls prey to nightmares herself.

Note: yesterday, while we were at the store that has a sale every weekend, I saw a charcoal gray, wool and cashmere blend coat in size medium petite that I thought Mother might like. So, since I had an hour to kill before my appointment with my cardiologist, I took her to the store to try it on. It fit beautifully and was on sale at half price, plus a $15 coupon discount. We had hunted everywhere and couldn't find a coat that fit her 4' 11", pear shaped frame. So we were thrilled with this find, which is exactly the kind of coat she was looking for. As part of her Christmas, I will pay half the price of the coat. I wanted to pay the whole price, but she wouldn't hear of it.