Just an update

My family, well, specifically my dad, got some really crappy news yesterday. It seems he has had a case of ischemic optical neuropathy, commonly called a stroke of the optic nerve. It has left him 60% blind in his left eye. There was a brief moment of severe pain, and POOF, his vision was gone. Right now the remaining vision in that eye is really fuzzy, but it hopefully will get better over the coming months. Unfortunately though, there is nothing they can do to recover what was lost. There is a slim chance that it can get worse, but not likely.

I had never heard of this happening, but after doing some research last night, I found out that it is the leading cause of blindness in people over 55. There is no way of predicting who it will hit, no way to prevent it, and no way of treating it. It is just one of those things you have to hope doesn't happen to you as you get older.

We are lucky because it could just as easily have taken 100% of his vision in the one eye, and there was the chance of it hitting both eyes within days of each other. I think he is past that concern, at least hopefully he is. I am sure that in time he will get used to it and probably not really even notice the loss. But it still sucks.

In other news, I took Baci to the vet this past week. We yet again doubled her dose of amitriptyline, so she is now on 40 mg per day. I think that is more than what the average adult human takes, so let's hope that it takes this time!

To end on a happy note, it looks very promising that Eric will be home in the next couple of weeks. YEAH!!! We have made our plans for Valentine's Day, and I so hope that we get to keep them....

I think that is it for now. For those of you who pray, please keep my dad in your prayers. Thanks.