On The Road Again

It has been close to ten years since I've been on a long road trip.  Edwin liked to drive so the longer the better.  Andrea says she took after Edwin because she likes to drive.  I hope she feels that way when we get home from the trip were planning. 

Andrea takes her road test on June twentieth.  We'll spend a few days getting the van serviced and getting things squared away around here.  After that, we hit the road. 

Our trip has had many incarnations.  We put everywhere we thought we may want to go into Streets And Trips and then clicked on "Optimize Trip".  Our optimized trip was over five thousand miles lasting over three weeks.  The only thing that concerned us was boarding Sparkles for such a long time.  We'd get a room two nights; the nights before the campus visits in North and South Dakota; if we weren't staying with relatives we plan to sleep in the van in Walmart parking lots.  Hotels in Galveston are too expensive so it came off the list. Next went the University of North Dakota, tuition is up there.  Merritt announced her marriage and Holiday moved to Kansas City, so no go to KC.  Then we learned the ASB Alumni Convention will be later in the year so we can attend.  Add it to the list.  Lechelle wants us to meet up at Myrtle Beach the first part of July. 

Now for fine tuning.  If the ASB thing is the last of June the University of South Dakota (USD) thing can't be the middle of July.  If our trip is optimized I'll miss church in Pine Bluff, something I don't want to do.  Our optimized trip will also put us on the road on the fourth of July, no way.  We decided we want to spend the fourth in Pine Bluff.  To make that happen we head for USD after the ASB thing, then drive to Pine Bluff for the fourth and church.  So I call USD to reschedule our visit.  The person I need to speak with stepped out but the lady gave me her direct number.  I was told to try back in fifteen minutes.  I call back in half an hour and get the voicemail.  No return call yet.  I'll try again tomorrow.  After we've had our fill of Pine Bluff and wishing for even more Irish Maid Do-nuts we'll head for Texas to visit Edwin's family.  I'm going to set andrea on researching things to do while we're there.  Then either head home or to Myrtle Beach depending on dates. 

We plan to take it easy and enjoy the trip.  Andrea asked me to schedule a break every ninety minutes.  That sounds like a lot but if she needs them we won't fall behind schedule.  If she doesn't need them we'll have time to visit some extra places or get a few more pictures.  You know I'm taking my cameras, right? 

We may have to rely on paper maps.  The cigarette lighter doesn't work and I don't know how much it will cost to fix it.  We have no way to keep our electronics charged in the van.  If we don't get it fixed this will be our first lesson on the Life Skills course I'm going to teach next fall. 

I Don't Want to Take My Medicine

My doctor prescribed diuretic pills to go along with my eye drops to try to control the pressure in my eyes.  She said side effects included drowsiness, and frequent urination.  She also said to take them with food or they could upset my stomach.  I made sure they wouldn't make me gain wait, break out, or lose hair.

My friend, Artie told me to start taking a potassium supplement because the diuretic leaches potassium from the body.  I picked up the prescription when I got back from the wedding.  I spent the rest of that week eating a banana a day since I forgot to buy potassium tablets.

I started out bright and early Monday morning taking the pills. To me drowsy means a bit sleepy, like when you stay up later than usual.  I was not drowsy I was verging on narcolepsy.  One minute I'm sitting at the computer watching something on Hulu and the next thing I know, where my forehead meets my hair line is resting on the monitor's screen.  I sit back but am oh so sleepy.  I guess I dose off again because this time my eyes are closed but I don't know where I am.  I decide to take a nap.  I wake up with a headache.  I think I went to bed around 7:00 p.m.

I woke up the next morning feeling exausted.  My body was stiff and achy and that pesky headache was back.  I slept on and off at the computer until I decided to give up and take a nap.  My friend, Lee, calls and I thought I was talking to her for a while until she said she would let me go because my medicine had me sounding groggy or funny.  I don't remember her exact words.  Here I was think I sounded fine after my nap and all.  My plan was to go downstairs but I found myself sitting in the bed several minutes later.  When I do make it downstairs I decide I'm to tired to stay up.  I tell Andrea I'm going to bed.  She informs me that it is only 5:00 o'clock. 

"I can't live like this."  I think to myself.  "Give it a week; you'll adjust and things will get back to normal. You want to preserve the little sight you've got in your left eye.  It's already useless."  I debate with myself most of the morning.  I take my pill vowing to give it a week.  I'm getting wiped out sleepy again.  "I can't live like this." 

I pick up the phone and call the doctor.  Lo and behold I got to speak with her!  I explain the overwhelming sleepiness and headache.  I even explain how I had no diuretic effect.  She said to stop taking them and she'd call in a prescription with half the dosage.  I can't half the pills I've got because they're time released capsules.  The Grady pharmacy takes a few days to fill called in prescriptions so I'll pick it up Monday or Tuesday.  I hope I don't have those side effects on the lesser dose.  I'm feeling better as the medication leaves my system.  Last night I stayed up until 8:30.  It is already after 8:00 and I'm not sleepy.

For some reason my experience caused me to think about people in nursing homes.  There you see people who are just plain out of it and others who don't want to take their medicine.  If I had been in a nursing home could I have convinced a nurse to call my doctor?  When a person in a nursing home doesn't want to take his/her medicine is it because they want to avoid unpleasant side effects they've been unable to communicate to someone who can do something about it?  And the ones who are out of it, just sitting there not tuned it; are they ever alert enough to tell their doctor it's a medication that's causing that state? 

I'm so glad I decided to go ahead and call my doctor.  Hopefully changing the dosage will do the trick.  I guess it all comes down to what you can live with.  When I first started using the eye drops I'd feel dizzy for about ten seconds after I put them in.  Then I was fine until the next time.  After about a week the dizziness lessened in duration and happens infrequently.  I could live with that; it didn't impair my ability to function. 

 

Getting Together

We were all together the weekend of May seventeenth for Merritt's wedding.  I was both good to see everybody again and to have a mini vacation.  We went to Kansas City Missouri for the wedding. 

Andrea and I flew in from Atlanta.  Merritt, Holiday, and Merritt's fiance Gabriel met us at the airport.  Merritt and Gabriel dropped us off at Holiday's while they went to meet Beazle at the hotel where the Collins were staying.  Holiday took us to our hotel, to grab a bite to eat, to Walmart, and on to the stake center. 

Andrea and I spent our time at the Stake Center next door at the Temple.  We were scouting out places to shoot good pictures the next day and getting shots of the grounds. 

After that we go to Merritt's to pick up Beazle and head for Merritt's favorite restaurant, Jazz.  Here I met Gabriel's family for the first time.  We were seated next to the band so we could only really talk when the band took a break. 

the whirlwind continued the next day.  Farmers market, hair dresser/makeup artist, family luncheon.  Constance and Maria arrive in time for that.  Andrea and I go with Beazle, Constance and Maria to get settled into their hotel. 

Maria used OnStar to navigate us to the temple.  The computer says we've reached our destination but we're in the middle of nowhere.  She calls OnStar back and asks for the Stake Center and is given another address but Constance called Holiday or somebody for the address.  Turns out the invitations had the wrong address.  Ggggrrrrrr.

We got there before the newlyweds came out of the temple.  For the next few minutes was a picture taking frenzy.  I went on about that in a Blind as Eye Look blog post. http://blindaseyelook.blogspot.com/2014/05/weddings.html

Now everything starts happening in reverse.  We say goodbye to Beazle, Constance, and Maria after the reception.  Andrea and I slept in Sunday.  Later Andrea went swimming while I watched TV.  We had the bright idea we'd go find something to eat.  I get out my phone and learn there's a subway almost a mile away.  We head out.  When we get there we discover it is closed; so was pizza hut and KFC.  Merritt said downtown is dead on Sundays so nothing is open.  I said downtown is dead in Pine Bluff all the time but Subway is open. 

I hope Holiday isn't planning a wedding anytime soon. I'll need at least two years to recooperate from this wedding and trip. 

Is Spring Here?

It's April tenth and my heat still comes on in the morning.  We've had some warm days put too few for this time of year.  the windows have even been open a few days.  Usually by now the heat is off and the windows are open all the time.  All the rain would say Spring has sprung.

We've got pollen and more pollen.  The van is covered in it.  The sidewalks are yellow with it.  The radio announcer says the pollen count is way above normal.  This is one of those allergic reaction years for me.

First I started sneezing.  I can live with that.  Next my nose stuffed and post nasal drip set in.  I began to feel bad.  As night approached, the worse I felt.  I went to bed around 6:30 two or three nights.  Next came dizziness and I lost my voice.  All I could do was croak.  My friend Tammy thought she had the wrong number when I answered the phone.

Some allergy medicines say not to take if you have glaucoma, others don't.  I wish they'd all use the formulation that would allow me to take them.

Beazle thinks I should go to the doctor.  She tries to send us to the doctor even though she doesn't like to go herself.  I figure it will run it's course with or without seeing a doctor.  

I don't know if it's allergies or a virus.  Andrea says I gave it to her.  

Beazle The Best

I woke up this morning with so much gratitude for Beazle, my mother.  She has done so much for us that we can never repay.  I also know I have fallen short in my accomplishments compared to her.  You can read about her drive and accomplishments on one of the stationary posts on this blog.

Beazle thrived before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement and she has always had pride.  She was no stranger to hard work.  She didn't make excuses for why something couldn't be done; she just did it.  In retrospect, she made it too easy for us.  I have not and probably will never achieve half as much as she did.

"If I was just twenty years younger there's no telling what I would do," is something Mom said quite often when she was in her late seventies.  I thought of this when I got up this morning.  I am at that twenty years younger age range she was referring to.  I pledged to do a lot more with my life than I have been doing.

First I will stop bemoaning the fact that Getty dumped millions of stock photographs on the internet for free.  They didn't deluge the free market with footage so I should concentrate on that.  Photo opertunities are endless so get out there and shoot.  I can't control Getty or those who will snap up free photos.  I do know buyers will pay for the right image and I need to concentrate on producing varied, quality, photographs and footage.  Beazle didn't give me this gift of everyday photography to let stagnate.

I've adopted the phrase, "What would Beazle do?"  Beazle would be doing; doing something around the house or yard, not wasting time all day.  I'm going to get this house in order, the yard too.  I hate yard work so I need to suck it up until I can earn enough through photos and footage to hire someone to do it.

Now is the time to work on becoming a well-known legally blind photographer.  I don't want to look back when I'm in my late seventies and say, "If I were twenty years younger."