September 2005 message from Lisa

[Lisa Salberg]

Greetings to all!

It is Sept. 6, 2005 and just about a State holiday here in NJ - the kids went back to school!! It is not that we do not love our children - but these summer schedules are a killer for working parents. Anyway my daughter has begun her 5th grade school year and that makes her top of the pecking order in her school this year (only to be followed next year by being a lowly 6th grader in middle school).

In the aftermath of the horrible events of Katrina we are all shaken by what we have witnessed. At first it appeared like many other storms but as we now know this is far worse then anything we could have dreamed. There is a great deal of frustration across this nation and many questions that need to be addressed. As people with chronic health issues it makes us all take pause and wonder is the system ready for me should there be a disaster in 'my area'. We are working on an emergency preparedness document for our membership. We hope this document will help families prepare and also provide you with core information to share with rescue workers in the event of a natural or terrorist act. HCM will not wait until things get back to normal for you to receive good health care - so we must be prepared to deal with it.

In other non urgent matters;

I have been having a difficult time posting and reading emails of late, this has been due to headaches and eye strain. WELL now I know why I went to the eye doctor this weekend and my prescription is WAY off and now I need to get progressive lenses as my distance vision has gotten worse so has my reading vision...I use to be near sighted now I guess I am near and far sighted...good news is that in the middle I see perfect :roll: ... I have ordered my glasses but due to the fact I need glare proofing (thanks to those lovely seizures post my stroke) it may be 2 weeks until they come in. In an attempt not to strain my eyes too much and to attempt to avoid some of these nasty headaches I will be posting short messages and ask that over the next 2 weeks should any of you have long questions please call do not write - it is difficult to read them. I suspect I will have my new glasses around Sept 14. Thanks for understanding.



Best wishes to all and special prayers to the people in the hurricane effect areas,

Lisa

[NoCrash]

the kids went back to school!! It is not that we do not love our children - but these summer schedules are a killer for working parents.

Yippee!! Happy Dance! I second that emotion. Lov'em, but too much of a good thing ..


I went to the eye doctor this weekend and my prescription is WAY off and now I need to get progressive lenses as my distance vision has gotten worse so has my reading vision...

We have a club for HCM'ers with this condition--welcome to the "Middle Agers!"

;)

Rob

[shirleymahoney]

Lisa

I know what you mean i get headaches too and i'm now waiting to get in to see my eye doc

Shirley

[angall]

Hi Lisa
I'm very glad that you are developing a document in case of a disaster for us that have HCMA.

I'm sure there are a lot of measures that we should take, but unfortunately, we don't think of them in time.

Sometimes I run low on medication just because I am busy and it slipped my mind.

Lisa, you are so sincere in your intents. We owe you so very much that a thank you could never express our heartfelt warmth.

Please take care and rest your eyes.

Take care

[sueb]

Lisa---Keep in mind that some of us "middle agers" cannot tolerate progressive lenses. They cause---surprise---headaches and tired eyes. So if you aren't feeling great after about a week of your new lenses, you may have to settle for bifocals or even trifocals. They are easier to adjust to. This change in eyesight is just a momentary dip in life functioning while one gets used to "middle age." Once you are over it, life sails on---at least until you hit another big change which we will leave unnamed for now.

Best wishes,

Sue

[Lisa Salberg]

Rob,
Thanks for the large type, I needed that!

RE that middle age thing..ya know I think most people think thats a bad thing - but I do hope that I have only hit the middle - cause I have too much work to do I NEED 37 more years to finish it all!!

Best to all,
Lisa

[Pam Alexson]

Lisa , rest those peepers , jeepers creepers. :lol:

Welcome to another club of " should I take my glasses off now or put them on?" We spend our early years learning one way and then .. well middle age arrives and whammo , we still need glasses but not for everything. Add occasional contacts to that picture and its like driving a car that is half standard stick shift and automatic all at the same time. No wonder I am confused! At least it happens when it is more appropriate for us to be confused! What a way for me to try and make this a positive experience. :roll:

Pam

[Laoshur]

Only 37 more Lisa? We are rooting for a lot more than that!
:)
Rhoda

[NoCrash]

Pam, your stick-shift analogy made me laugh.

[quote]We spend our early years learning one way and then .. well middle age arrives and whammo , we still need glasses but not for everything. Add occasional contacts to that picture and its like driving a car that is half standard stick shift and automatic all at the same time.[\quote]

In '00-01 I was doing a lot of traveling back and forth to England, going there for roughly 3 weeks at a time--took 7 trips, total and it wasn't much fun since the work was very stressful and it was alot of time away from the kids. Anyway, for about a year I found myself in a constant state of paranoia about driving, both at home and in the UK.

Imagine changing sides of the road in one country, with stick shift in the wrong hand and then jumping back home. I just knew any car I was driving was going to get hit, I just didn't know which direction it was going to be coming from and I was expecting it every moment behind the wheel. (I quickly developed a policy of never, ever riding as passenger with another US-based driver while in the UK--I saw one too many close calls! I'd drive myself or ride with one of the UK-based folks.)

Once I got home for good, just getting to a parking place a work became an adventure because of the little traffic circle just inside the gate to the campus where I work. I was tempted to go the wrong way around that little "round-about" for almost a year.

Back on topic--with larger font for Lisa. I've tried progressive lenses and regular bifocals and am going back to bifocals on all my glasses because I've found nothing is ever in proper focus if I have to move my head up and down to get whatever it is I'm reading "just right". Some people adapt to the progressive lenses really well, but I've given it a good multi-year try and it's not for me.

My wife's vision has been corrected by Lasix surgery with amazing results. However, as a little more time passed she started joining our club and gradually became near-sighted. Her original Lasix contract calls for free "tune-ups" so she got the Lasix solution to this problem, which is known as "mono vision". One eye focusses at a distance, the other eye focusses "close-in." Seems to work pretty well for her! I'm jealous because my eyes aren't good candidates for Lasix surgery.

I'm told that some people go with "mono vision" with glasses, thereby avoiding the "bifocal line" and issues with progressive lenses. It is an alternative!

Cheers,
Rob

[Darren1]

Oh my... You are the same age as I am! Hopefully 37 isn't (quite) the middle.. :)