I know I asked this before, but what’s everyone’s screen resolution? Anyone out there still on 800×600? (*ahem*Melinda*ahem*) My site stats don’t report that to me, and I was thinking of doing some redesigning and I want to keep the lower resolution people in mind, but if there aren’t a lot of you out there, well, I’ll be keeping with the 1024×768. So if you’re out there, let me know! Or feel free to talk about websites and screen resolutions in general…

And to check your screen resolution, just right click on your desktop, go to properties, and then click on ‘Settings’. You’ll see something that says ‘Screen Resolution’.

Tags: Questions by Yano
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Today, I went out in public for the first time since the surgery. Since my whole family and Dave’s whole family was going out to dinner, I didn’t want to stay home alone! I admit, it was pretty scary and I was very self conscious. I debated on wearing the patch or just going bloody eye commando, and decided on the latter, which was less conspicuous. I thought we were just going to a sit down place, but we got there after it closed, so we ended up going to a Chinese buffet. Which was a little more movement and interaction than I thought.

But it was still a good time. We had a lot of good laughs at the expense of my eye. At first they were thinking of making One Eyed Estacio sit in front of a wall since no one wanted to see the evil eye. But later, Fatima said it didn’t look really bad, just like I got into a really bad fight.

But it was nice to be out. Nice to see sunlight and experience a beautiful sunset.

Dan came over with Claudine today. Didn’t think he’d be squeamish about the eye, but he was! He took a couple pictures of the eye, so I’m sure it’ll end up on his site sooner or later, so any of you who are curious about how the eye is looking, swollen tissue and all, check out his site in the next couple of days. Funny thing is, the most disturbing thing about my eye to him isn’t the blood or lumpiness, it’s the fact that they cut off my eyelashes!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Yesterday my awesomely awesome cousins came by the house to keep me company. They brought a load of DVD’s to watch, as well as Lou Malnati’s pizza, pie and boba shakes. They’re the best! We just hung out, watched a movie and made fun of my eye. It was nice to have them over, I’ve really missed all of them.

I’m a big worrier, and I was a little out of it after the surgery and during my post-op visit, so I didn’t ask too many questions. Something I’ve been noticing lately is some swelling in the tissue surrounding my eye and some bloody discharge (sorry for being gross). I’ve debated on whether or not this is normal, but finally I called the doctor today. He was really great and patiently answered all 1001 questions I had, and totally put me at ease. However, it turns out that I’m having an allergic reaction to the eyedrops, but nothing major, it happens to a lot of people. The doc wants me to keep up with the eyedrops until my appointment next Wednesday. It’s good to know that there isn’t anything freakishly wrong.

Since I’m semi-complaining, let me rant on about the trivial hardships that plague me. Yesterday I had a fitful night of sleep. I had dreams of trying on different skins on different parts of my body, but everything I tried on was itchy and irritating. It was driving me crazy. I woke up to find bug bites all over my body. There must have been a spider or something in the bed last night as I slept, which just crept along my body, chomping and biting away.

So not only am I blind in one eye, I’m also itchy all over the place!

…and a Happy Birthday to Dave’s brother Justin!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Since I can’t do much but watch TV and surf the internet at 10 minute intervals (my head will feel like it will explode) I’ve had a lot of time to think. Here’s a couple thoughts I thought I’d share:

- After this is all done, I’m making doctor appointments all over the place. I’ll get everything checked out to make sure the rest of me is in good working condition. And I will keep up with yearly exams and crap like that because there is no way I’m going through all this shit again!

- It’s a battle to not fall into a well of self pity and despair. I admit, I’ve got the blues, but I’m trying not to let the blues take over. It’s hard, though. Looking at that eye makes me cringe. It will take some time before it heals. For at least 3 months I’m going to have a droopy eyelid, and there’s a risk that I’ll have double vision for the rest of my life. If you remember, a friend of mine had an accident that disfigured his face. A lot of people speculated how he felt, what he was going through, etc. I think I have a little bit of insight, since my situation is pretty similar. It’s a little more than looks. Sure, part of me is thinking, ‘Well, I’m not going to win any beauty contests anytime soon.’ But it’s more like, ‘I just want to look like myself again, not this Quasimodo looking like thing that’s looking at me in the mirror.’ A big part of me is paranoid that I’ll never look the same again, that the eye won’t fully heal.

- There is nothing good on TV. 70+ channels and I had to watch ‘Independence Day’ two days in a row. Thankfully Law and Order is on multiple times a day or I’d go crazy!

- You never realize how much pressure is put on your eyeballs when you sneeze or yawn. Ouch.

- Dave isn’t squeamish about my eye at all. I was trying to gross him out and make him kiss my eye, and he didn’t have a problem with it. (never made him do it) You’d think the guy would be like ‘Eew!’ or something, but I guess doctors are used to that.

- When my aunts and uncles heard through the grapevine yesterday about my surgery, they all called at different times. It was really nice, because I think that’s the only time they’ve ever called me, and they were all really concerned.

- Thanks, once again, to everyone who’s called, commented, or sent emails. To those of you who’ve sent emails, it’ll take a little time for me to reply, but thank you so much for them…

- It’s really hard to shower and wash your hair without wetting your eyes. Try it sometime.

- Dennis Leary’s new show, ‘Rescue Me’ is pretty damn good. Make sure to check it out on FX. I know he’s dabbled in drama before, but he really does an awesome job this time around. This is a show I’ll be juggling me schedule over. “Sorry, can’t go out tonight, ‘Rescue Me’ is on.”

- I’d like to give props to my face, who has been a big trouper through all of this. With all the stress and not washing of my face regularly, you’d think that I’d break out or something, but my skin has been exceptionally clear and radiant. Making the monstrosity that is my eyeball that much more noticeable, but that’s ok.

- OK, this 15 minutes of internet funtime is over!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Well, the surgery went well, I guess. I was going to write a whole play by play of the whole thing, but it’s hard to see the screen with just one nearsighted eye to see it. I have to wear my glasses, and unfortunately, the prescription is about 8 years old and the patch I’m wearing is pushing my glasses too far from my face to do any good. Did I say patch? Yes, I did! Unfortunately, it wasn’t the black pirate patch that I had dreamed of. It it’s more of a metal patch with gauze around it.

My best pirate impression. It’s hard to do without that black patch. Kinda looks like I’m wearing a mini colandar on my eye, right? I did a pretty shoddy job at putting on the patch by myself. When Dr. Dave gets home I’ll have him do a better job at it.

Anyway, I was really nervous before surgery, though I managed to keep a calm and cool front. My father and in-laws came with me, and I think they were more nervous than I was. I felt really bad to put my dad through this. I’m sure seeing me in a room with an IV hooked up to me didn’t bring back good memories.

Oh! And I had to wear one of those hospital gowns - the ones that tied in the back. Kinda scary, but luckily it had a flap so I wasn’t showing my ass to everyone.

The anesthesiologist was really nice. I wanted to tell him that my husband is one, too, but I didn’t really feel like talking. Most of what I remember from yesterday are just flashes of things happening, people coming in and out of my pre-op room, and about the last thing I remember before surgery is the anesthesiologist saying, ‘I’m going to put some happy juice in your IV now.’

Next thing I remember is them calling out my name and feeling very woozy. I was thinking that surgery hadn’t started yet, but when I felt my eye, there was already a patch there.

So I headed back home, feeling pretty nauseous and sleepy, and got home and took a nap. Dave got home from work, and he had a little present for me, a tiny hippo. I was pretty out of it, so I wasn’t too responsive.

Then my sisters and dad, and the whole Mendez clan came over for a visit. Poor little Jillian, I think I scared her with my patch! It was so great to have them come visit, though…if I could have gotten teary eyed I would have! So they ate a lot of good food and ice cream pie and about all I could stomach was a couple spoonfuls of chicken soup.

So today I went back to the doctors office, feeling like a one eyed mutant. They took off the patch, checked my vision and said it was really good for someone who just had surgery. I was instructed on how to use my medical eyedrops and I’ll be going back in next week for another checkup.

So I put in the eyedrops today, and one of them feels like I’m putting acid in my eye. I almost felt like screaming! But the pain went away after a bit, but it sucks to know I have to do it 3 times a day. I finally sae my eye without the patch and ugh, it doesn’t look good. When my mother in law saw it, she instinctively had to turn away. She couldn’t take it, and asked when I was going to put the patch back on. Yeah, not good! But it’ll take time to heal, I know it’s not going to look beautiful the first day after surgery. And don’t worry, I won’t torture you with pictures of it!

Still feeling a bit woozy. Feels like there’s a band in my eyeball. Oh wait! There is! It just feels weird, and it’ll take some time to get used to it.

So I’m off, it’s hard to write with just one eye and it’s giving me a headache! Sorry if there’s mispellings, but I’m too lazy to go back and check for spelling errors!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. Y’all are great, I love you guys!

Before I go, I’ll show you the guys that are keeping me company during my recovery.

One is the hippo that Dave gave me, the other is one that Fata gave me. They shall now go by the names ‘Blackbeard’ and ‘Captain Hook’. I added the patches on them so we could have a little pirate gang. “Patch and her Pirate Hippos”.

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Today has been a crazy day. Really crazy. And tomorrow should be even crazier by a mile.

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve had some problems with my eyes. A little fuzziness, and little bright floaters in the bottom corner of my eye. Didn’t really think much of it. Then I realized that I had switched my contacts - my left was in my right and vice versa.

But that didn’t change anything. Actually, over the last couple days, the bright spots got even bigger. I’d be just about to go to sleep, in a dark room, and I’d see bright spots in eye…and just the left one.

So yesterday, I was thinking to myself, ‘You know what? This isn’t going to get better, it’s just going to get worse. I should really see a doctor’. I haven’t seen an eye doctor in about 6 years. I should be seeing one regularly, but I’ve just been lazy. That, and I hate going there, almost more than the dentist. Since my eyes are pretty bad, I go through a lot more testing and torture than the average person. Last time I went to a doctor, they had told me that I was so nearsighted that my retinas were getting strained. Your eye is a ball, right? When you’re nearsighted, your eye gets a little oblong, more oval. The more nearsighted you are, the more oblong your eye is. And lets say I’m close to legally blind. Which means my retinas are really stretched out.

So of course I thought it had something to do with my retinas.

So finally I pulled out my insurance card and tried to figure out how to go about finding an ophthalmologist to check out my eye. Finally I found one that was close to where I’m staying, and I called to make an appointment. And it went a little like this.

Her: Hello?
Me: Hi, I’m not a current patient, but I want to make an appointment.
Her: Are you currently having a problem or is this a checkup.
Me: Actually, I’ve been seeing little floating lights in my eyes for a while.
Her: How long?
Me: About three weeks.
**she asks a couple more questions**
Her: Let me see if we have anything available.
**listening to hold music**
Her: Are these little blinking dots, or big flowing spots?
Me: Flowing spots.
Her: Can you hold on?
Me: Sure.
**more hold music**
Her: Do these spots move around in your field of vision, or do they stay in one place?
Me: One place. Lower corner of my eye.
Her: Please hold…

By this time, I was thinking that something was up. I’m in support, and we only do that ‘please hold’ deal when we don’t know what to do or if a problem is really bad.

Her: Can you come in at 5pm today? We have an opening.
Me: Do you have anything tomorrow?
Her: Well, you should come in today.
Me: I’m at work, you see, and…
Her: You should come in today.

Something in the tone of her voice told me, ‘This isn’t a request, get your ass in here TODAY, girlie!’ So I agreed.

So I stuck my head in my bosses office, and quickly explained the situation and said I had to leave early. He seemed pretty cool with it.

Got home and Dave took me to the doctor.

The assistant ran a couple tests, which verified to me that I am blind. (she asked me what letters were up there, and I was like ‘WHERE?!?!?’ and I could only see a light shining, and when I put on my glasses it was a fat ass ‘E’ on the wall)

Then they dilated my eyes, and the doctor checked me out. He shone a REALLY bright light into my eyes as he examined my retina. He then asked me to bring Dave in the room and explained that my retina had detached. Essentially, it had stretched out so much that it was no longer attached to my eyeball, and there was fluid in the space where it detached. That, my friends, is not a good thing.

He told us that he was going to page an eye surgeon to see if he could do surgery that night. But he was unavailable. My doctor said that I had to have surgery done immediately, because if I waited any longer, it could detach further and my central eyesight would be affected. Currently, it’s only my peripheral eyesight that’s is affected by the detachment, but the tear could go down to the rest of my retina.

After paging several surgeons, there was one that was currently in surgery that said he could see me once it was done. So then we were told to go to the ER of a nearby hospital so the doctor could see me. After waiting an hour or so, we were able to see the doctor, who explained the retinal damage to us, and then the surgery. It’s too much to go into right now, so click on this link to see what’s going on.

Detached and Torn Retina

It’s pretty scary. I was under the impression that it would be laser surgery, in and out of the hospital and back to work the next day. However, they’ll be using a general anesthetic on me, which means I’ll be asleep, and the surgery will last at least 50 minutes as the repair the damage to my eye. In total, I’ll be in the hospital for half the day, counting all the pre-surgery stuff and post surgery stuff. I’ve never been in a hospital before - not for treatment on myself. Never been in surgery. There’s always a first time.

The chances of everything going OK are good, but I’m REALLY nervous for some reason. I know it’s only eye surgery, but these are my eyes, man! Everything is happening so fast. In a matter of hours I was normal, and now I’m someone counting down the hours until surgery (7).

The recovery is 2-4 weeks, and I can’t work during that time. Normally, I’d be ecstatic, but what am I going to do for two weeks if I can’t see? I’m sure you all will be happy to know that I’ll be wearing a patch for a couple days. At work, before we knew how bad it was, we were coming up with nicknames for me (not knowing even that these nicknames were foreshadowing the future). Names like One-Eyed Estacio, Winky or Patch. Personally, I like Winky.

So yeah. There’s butterflies in my stomach now. Who knows what will happen!

Wish me luck!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Yesterday we headed back to Summerfest, to see the fireworks. I guess Dave’s town doesn’t have 4th of July fireworks, they wait until the Summerfest to go all out. I’ve never seen the fireworks there before, but Dave has always raved about it, saying they were better than the ones at the Taste of Chicago. He asked me, ‘You’ve never heard of the Summerfest Fireworks? Are you serious?!?’ As if I’ve been living in a hole and EVERYONE has heard of the Summerfest fireworks.

So we walked on over to the park where the fest was being held, with our Dave’s lawnchair backpack (he loves the thing, feels like the coolest guy in town because his backpack converts into a lawn chair!) and blankets. There were herds and herds of people heading out there, and in the field in front of where they were showing the fireworks was packed with people. Not as nervewracking packed as the Taste but there were a lot of people.

Finally, they turned off the lights at the park and the show began. We could softly hear the music accompanying the fireworks playing on the soundstage, your average fair of patriotic songs - “Born in the USA”, “Proud to be an American” etc.

I admit, the show was really great. For a little suburb, they really went all out with their fireworks and were able to get a lot of “Ooh!”s and “Ahh!”s from the crowd. There were purple and blue fireworks, fireworks that burst in the sky, then burst again as they fell down, fireworks that rained down the sky like a shower of golden light, fireworks broke off and spun around in the sky (I called them “Spermies”, and fireworks that danced around the whole night sky in little points of light (Dave called them “Fireflies”). Wow, fireworks have really come a long way since I was a kid!

So here’s a couple pics, because I haven’t posted normal pics in a while…

Tags: Pictures, Daily by Yano
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Unconscious Mutterings

1. Nostalgia:: Remember

2. Irreplaceable:: Treasure
3. Odd:: End
4. James Spader:: Secretary
5. Flamboyant:: Gay
6. Intense:: Awesome
7. Simple:: Easy
8. Septic:: Tank
9. Ton:: Heavy
10. Turkey:: Burger

Tags: Weeklies by Yano
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The yearly Summerfest is in town, and I guess it’s a big deal in the suburb that we’re currently residing in. Dave has been talking about it for weeks, and he’s been reminiscing about times that he and Manny used to go over there as kids and hang out. We’ve been too tired during the week to go, but we finally stopped by yesterday.

It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, much bigger than my local church carnival. They actually have a big stage set up for bands, and all the crazy scary rides that give me the quesies. I mean, these rides were constructed in less than a day, and they carry them around in a truck How safe could that be?

No matter. I was there for one thing and one thing alone, the thing that brings me back to carnival after carnival. FUNNEL CAKES! Mmm…I love those circles of crunchy powdered sugar topped deep fried dough heaven! They’re the best!

So I had one yesterday and it didn’t disappoint. Usually I like an extra topping or two on mine, but they didn’t offer any toppings. However, the powdered sugar was just fine with me!

Must get another one tonight!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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I don’t know what it is, but since I’ve moved back to Chicago I’ve either been really tired at night, falling asleep before 10, or really awake, not being able to sleep until one or two in the morning. Of course, not my normal schedule of sleep (always sleeping at around one or two). It’s pretty hard to stay up at night when you’re in a house of people, you always have to worry about waking someone up.

Dave has also been feeling similar, except he hasn’t been feeling the insomnia. He’s just really tired all the time, sometimes taking a nap at around 7 and not waking til around 9 or 10, still feeling tired.

Is it something in the air? Humidity? Or perhaps some sort of sickness? Mono? The plague? Scurvy?

OK, I threw that last one in because I just like saying the word. Come on. Say it out loud. SCUUUUURVEEEEEE! I’ve got SCUUURRRRVEEEEE!

Man, I love that word.

Scurvy!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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