I have some really great friends and co-workers. Really. So here I was stuck in my apartment for a week and a half. First, I started getting get well cards from the connick.com-mers. Some filled the cards with pics of Neal Caine to "help me feel better" too funny. Then I got a gorgeous HUGE bouqet of flowers from the T-Mobile team, this was probably sent to me last Tuesday. Then last Wed, a get well dinner was sent over from my other team, Matt's team. A full Italian meal complete with yummy desserts. It was the day Lisa left so Stephen, my room mate got to eat some of it too. And still the cards kept coming...then today...I got a package here at work....from Lisa and Mike!! It was a wonderful package just filled with NOLA goodies!!! I love it and can't wait to dive into it.

It also helped that all last weekend Kristy was calling me with updates on her New York trip, filled me in on all the gossip, and of course let me listen to parts of the Bonerama shows....I would have given anything to have been there, but it just wasn't possible. Bone calls does a body good.

Lisa did say screw getting a Uhaul to help me move. She said that I should just rent the small pull trailer and she would send Scott up this summer to help me move!! That may just help me get down there a tad faster. She said that she would meet Scott and I down in NOLA when we got there. Oh the trouble we three could cause!!! YAY. I need to get a second job now.

wow. back at work. I had my surgery on the 17th and things were insanely busy right before that. I flew to Denver on the 12th for my dad's 50th birthday. we had a big party for him on the 13th, and just hung out with old friends the whole weekend. It was great. On Saturday Morning we took some family portraits, which turned out okay, but not great. I flew back on Monday Morning and then spent that evening cleaning and scrubbing the apartment. Tuesday, was the craziness of trying to get everything done that I could, mom flew in and sat here at the office for a few hours. We then headed home at 5:00. First time I left work at 5:00 in probably forever. The rest of that evening was just trying to calm my nerves. We were up and at the hospital by 6:30 AM. Around 7ish, they took me back to this room, where they were prepping about 4 people all together for various eye surgeries. One girl was having a cornea transplant. The asked a ton of questions, put in lots of drops in my eyes, had me put on the lovely backless gown, but now they give you pj bottoms too. around 740 my anaesthsialogist came in the room and asked me a bunch of the same questions again, about the time he was getting ready to put in the IV, Dr. Nyguen came in and talked to me, I didn't even really feel the IV put in!! It was super fast. Next thing I now they are putting me on a bed and rolling me down the hallway. We entered the OR room and it was FREEZING. they gave me another warm blanket. At this point I had like 4 on. There was some classical music playing and they asked me if that was okay. I said, "you got any Harry Connick Jr?" and the anaesthsialogist bust out singing an old school Harry song. He got major points for that. Within 5 mins of being wheeled into the OR I was out. I swear I had just closed my eyes when they were waking me up in recovery. I was thirsty, my throat hurt from the breathing tube, my eye/head was aching like there was no tomorrow. I don't know how long I was in recovery because I kept nodding off. when they brought my mom in, as they were wheeling me to my room, I broke down in tears. the ride to the room made me very nauseous, but luckily I never did puke. I got a dose of some morphin and then made the first of endless painful trips to the bathroom. The fluids they had me on just filled my bladder. My mom was spoon feeding me because I was told to lay flat on my back, she stayed in the room all night with me. I couldn't have asked for a better mother really. The next morning after a fitful sleep, I was awaken every hour for vital checks, we got up at 4:30 AM, the bandage was taken off my eye and the nurse had to peel my eye open to put drops in. We went to see Dr. Nyguen who was giving a talk later that morning so my appointment was at 6:45. He gave me more drops, told me to stay on bed rest for a week, I could sit up to eat, shower, and go to the bathroom. A week of this. OMG. It was aweful. I did have mom there for company until Friday. Lisa flew in on Saturday and took care of me until Wed, when I went back to the Dr. He took me off bed rest and said that everything was healing nicely. I go back on the 15th and if the left eye has healed enough, he will laser the right eye to strengthen the weak spots so I won't have to have surgery on that eye. Now if I can just stop rubbing it in my sleep!!!

I can't believe the care I got from my Dr, he was just awesome, everyone at Swedish was. I had no problem just putting my, well life in his hands. And of course to have my mom and sister there for me....just can't describe/express how wonderful that was. Dad was pretty upset and wanted to be here for me as well, but really there was no need for him to be here. He just would have gone nutso the days I was on bedrest.

Last week I went in for my annual eye appointment. Things were going along just fine with the contact lense technition and the assistant. Then the doctor came in. He wasn't seeing something that he liked so he did a bit more of a intense exam which included lots of bright lights, numbing of the left eye so he could add pressure to see better. He said that he was seeing some "wallpapering" in my retina. You know like when you get wall paper wet and it bubbles up? He said this could eventually led to retinal tears/detachments. He wanted me to go and see a specialist and advised me to go in the next 4 months. As I may need to get this laser surgery to make sure that my retina doesn't detatch. I had been noticing the symptoms (floaters/flashes of light) but wasn't that concerned as I have always had floaters. I decided why wait, and went ahead to see the specialist as soon as I could. Which was today. Which turns out to be a good thing. Apparently my eye was much worse then what my eye doctor had originally thought. In fact I already have a retinal detachment. As he said its from the 1:30 area to the 7:00 area and has been slowly detaching for the past few months. (as well as a small hole in another area) He said I probably had about a month before it reached the center of my eye and caused blindness. Therefore I have a surgery scheduled on the 25th of this month to have my retina reattached. There is a 90% chance of a successful reattachment the first time. If it doensn't take, then another surgery is required. He said then there is a 95% success rate. If that doesn't take, then blindness will occur. Usually this happens in a lot older people, but for some reason I get to have it done now. So please think good thoughts for me on the 25th!! I will be on bedrest for 3 days following. They told me that I will be off work for at least a week, possibly 2. EEK.
Hopefully flying won't affect this in anyway. I am suppose to go to Denver on Friday.....

Its been a trying week. Well more like just half a week. A few different things have happened to make my emotions ride a roller coaster. First work has been insanely crazy but that is a good thing. I like being busy at work. Now that Matt has taken on more accounts, I have become swamped. I now work on every account that we have here at Publicis. Now if we could just win a few of the big pitches we are working on!!

Next one of my most favorite co-workers is leaving. Tyson is one of the best people you could ever want to meet/have in your life. I am gonna miss having him around. He just has a wonderful quality about him....I couldn't bring myself to go out last night for his "farewell" drinks. Today we are taking him out to lunch. I think I can handle that. I think over all more than a co-worker, he has become a good friend and those are hard to come by. I know I will still get to see him, but now just not on a daily basis.

The most powerful blow this week happened during my regular eye exam. I have a new doc (the old one no longer uses my insurance). Dr. Kelly is young and very good looking. However...he did find a, I guess the best word to describe it, is a problem. My eyes have a abnormal amount of fluid in them. It is causing my retina to "wallpaper" such as when you wet some wallpaper and it bubbles. It will eventually lead to a retinal tear/detatchment which almost always leds to blindness. Not fun. About 5-8% of people with nearsightness experience this problem. I have had noticed a lot of "floaters" and a few flashes as of late, but for some reason didn't think much of it. Now I realize that these are symptoms of this. Everyone has floaters now and then...spiderwebs/black spots, ect. that look to be floating in front of your eyes. It is however floating in the gel like area behind the eye and in front of the retina. I have to go back in on Tuesday for a consultation with one of the surgeons. They will determine if I need a laser surgery to seal off the retina. Not something I was expecting.

Alas this has become the focus of the lovely $$ issues. Not really clear yet as to how much I will be paying and how much Blue Cross with be paying. I won't be getting to FQF this year like I had been planning. And it will definetly make my move to NOLA take a little bit longer. But none of that matters, what does is taking care of this problem so I can continue to see.