Eye Surgery #3

I don't actually remember this Picture, but it was on discharge and supposedly according to my driver I was pretending to be a queen.  That nurse thought I was really funny by the way.


Highlights from this this surgery:

As they wheeled me threw the waiting room on discharge I yelled to those waiting "don't let them near your eyes, I mean it!"

When Bishop Warner stopped by to visit afterwards I asked if he was going to give me a temple interview and then I assured him that I obey the law of chastity because I keep my hands to myself.

While at the Shields home being watched over, I threw up in the salad bowl I was given.  It was by far the nicest salad bowl I have ever thrown up in.

I went into a bed room that wasn't mine and then told a room mate that I was looking for Tosha's bed (one of my room mates) so that I could throw up in it. Its okay, I actually threw up in a plastic bowl - not as nice as the salad one.

I really liked the Shield's dog, and then kept insisting that Heather my room mate was going to get me a "doggy".  When Bishop Warner offered to let me have his dog, I told him I didn't want his dog because it has bad breath.

I tried to get my room mate excommunicated.

I threw up in the shower.


The un-funny part

The not so funny part was how sick I was last night.  Jessica almost took me to the emergency room because I hadn't kept anything  down and was trembling in pain.  Ice for my eyes, heat pack for my stomach, barf bowl, and one really painful night.  I think it was from the pain killer so I stopped taking it, and have done better, except now my eyes just really really hurt.

Tomorrow I go back to have more done.  This time, while I am awake.  Oh the fun.

Stacey; The Actress... errr... sort of.

This may be what I looked like when my bosses boss, Steve, asked to speak with me today. He told me that they had selected me to do some voice over work for the new hospital training video.  They had actors to do all the speaking parts, and we were told that the a couple of staff would be given non-verbal parts.  Steve explained that they needed an additional voice for voice over, and that they liked my expressive speech and tone variation. 

So off I went.  It was a bit odd. I watched a few others perform, and then received my script and the actor who would be playing opposite of me.  I was told that they were going to voice over an old movie and so I needed to be angry and erratic so it would be funny.  That is actually really hard to do, and I have never taken an acting class.  But the guy they hired as an actor, messed up a lot, and so even though I wasn't the greatest, I felt a bit reassured that at least I hadn't had to do any lines over.  I think it would have been helpful to actually see the video I was voicing over.  I have no clue what my body looks like.

The worst part was at the end when they told me they needed angry sounds of growling, screaming and muttering. 

Okay, right now give it a try. Seriously make angry growling noises.

Okay now imagine trying to do that in a microphone with a bunch of people staring at you.That I didn't do so well at.

Then they asked if I would read as another patient for a different scene.  I thought, why not?  They let you do what ever voices you want, so it is kind of fun.  In fact the weirder you are the more they seem to like you.  It pays to be weird I guess.

I went back to work and laughed about it with my co-workers.  Later, we had to evacuate our unit because they were going to use it for filming.  So I left with my patients.  While we were in the gym, one of our guys was struggling with a blood pressure issue, so I returned to the unit to get some juice for him.  They were filming, so I got what I needed and started to leave.  Then Steve saw me and stopped me. He explained that the girl that was suppose to be in one of the shots was missing and asked if I would step in.  He was with the superintendent of the hospital and bragging about my performance from earlier. I need good references so I said sure.  So I had an onstage performance as well. 

The guy who was playing opposite of me was suppose to put sun block in my hand, but improvised when he couldn't find it, and I received a hand  full of after shave instead.  I played along with it and no one else noticed.  But he messed up a bit on another part, and so we had to retake anyways.

I played three different parts, and was always a patient. I don't know what that says about me.  I always laugh really hard during training videos because they are so dumb.  I am sure when I see this one, I will laugh even harder. I will never be an actress but it sure was funny and it is a lot harder than it looks!

Our house in the middle of the street.....er..... parking lot.

The white house is where I live.  The building on the right is where I use to live.  There is a building that is blocked by a tree on the left that looks exactly like the one on the right.  Both of those are now male housing.  Oh and each side and behind the house is parking lot.

See.  We are in the middle of a parking lot.  That is my car by the way!  Oh and the washer in the back was left by the previous tenants.  but all the bikes are from the student housing.  Our side door leads to the laundry room which is a good size but messy so I wont show it to you.

Our kitchen is pretty big.  The issue is its old so it has quirks.  The dishwasher doesn't work. There is not a place to hook it up.  So some one left it and we use the counter space.  There are tons of cupboards. Except we don't have a pantry so that is bad.  Oh and no garbage disposal.  Also the entrance to the parking lot is on this side of the house so we could easily open the window and literally have a drive through window if we wanted to sell food.

Not a bad size right?  Just a few quirks.

More kitchen.  Oh and that door, yep.  Not a pantry - stairs to my and Jessica's room. And the hall on the right leads to the bathroom and other rooms. And no your not on the ocean, I just cant hold my phone straight!

Family room.  Its spacious and messy.  There are five of us living here.  Three bedrooms and one bath.  You wont see the bathroom because its small and messy. Please check with your bladders and handle their issues before visiting.

More family room.  Its big. We have an entertainment center but its not in either of these.

Jessica and my room.  I am on the left.  Lots of space and tons of built ins.  The rug in the middle is nine feet wide.  For shared student room, that is big! The stairs go straight into this room.  Yes my computer is on the windowsill.  The desk was too small.

Room continued. Cool light right? And that is not just wood paneling back there.  No.  It is three closets.  The whole house smells horrible, especially upstairs.  But it is wonderful because we can't hear anything from the living room, and there is so much space that Jessica and I can both comfortably work up here.  Also this is the one room in the house you can open the blinds with out people driving past, although the third floors in the building next to us can see into our room really good if they look!  Jessica told me because when we lived on the third floor she use to spy on this room!  And yes I am still unpacking.

Well that is it.  Cheap student housing.  For $215 a month its not bad just a bit odd!

How the sister missionaries have affected me.

The increase in sister missionaries has changed my life.  Not necessarily in a spiritual way.   So last week I went to sign my housing contract for this week, and was told I couldn't because they were changing it to couples housing.  The increase of sister missionaries has drastically changed the need for female housing.  For our building there were ten girls including myself for the fall.  The housing manager knows me and my room mate very well and was able to get us a contract today for a house in our complex.  Yes there is a random house between the two buildings in the parking lot.  Weird. 

Now for the funny part, now that they have decided to turn the women's side of housing into BYU Men's housing.  We have always had two elders quorums and one full Relief Society.  This means we might need a 3rd elders quorum.  And just to make you laugh, it puts our Relief Society roll down to 5 - including the president.  As of right now, changing ward boundaries is still in question because there are several other wards with the same issue. So sisters don't worry, the men will still be waiting for you when you get home.

Eye Surgery

So on Monday July 22, 2013, I had eye surgery to fix the muscles in both my eyes.  Since it was day surgery, I rode up to Salt lake with a girl from the ward who works in Salt Lake.  She dropped me off at the Moran Eye Center, and from there the fun began.  Since Jen has moved away Bishop Warner has been my emergency contact, and he works in Salt Lake and decided this would be a fun thing to stop by and see.  I gave the Anesthesiologist a fair warning about my violent streak after surgery, and he agreed to four point restraints, and would also use some medications.  After heart monitors, compression boots, surgical gown and cap, and IV, Bishop Warner thought it was time for pictures.  I did not agree with the photo shoot.

I would like to make a point at this time.  Bishop Warner and several others kept comparing this surgery to their Lasik procedures - no.  This procedure takes four to five times longer, and is much more invasive.  Bishop Warner was just not getting it, so I made him watch the procedure on youtube on my phone.  He laughed really hard, and stopped the "when I had Lasik eye surgery...." stories.

So they carted me off to surgery and I don't remember much more after that.  Except my room mate Stephanie Noyce came to get me, and she told me some very terrible stories about afterwards.  My violent streak was much less this time, except I still had problems.

When Stephanie and Bishop Warner came to see me in post op, the nurse said "oh look, some friends to see you!" I adamantly told the nurse that neither of those people where my friends.

Stephanie and Bishop Warner had to sit on either side of me and keep me from rubbing my eyes.  Stephanie said that they were swatting my hands away constantly, so Bishop tried some reverse psychology.  "Oh Stacey loves surgery, so she is going to rub her eyes so we can come back and do this again next week"  I wouldn't rub my eyes for about a minute, before I was back at them again.

Stephanie said I was like a defiant four year old and getting pretty angry that I wasn't allowed to rub my eyes.  So in attempt to make me feel better, Bishop Warner offered to let me hit his hand.  Bad idea.  I hit him really good.  I don't remember this action, but from the sounds of it, I may need to go talk with the Stake President to repent.

Besides that I tried the normal escape from the hospital, tried to hit a few nurses, and when the surgeon came to see me afterwards I was very rude to him and told him how much I did not like him.  It actually went a lot better than any of my previous surgeries, so they wrote down the medications they gave me so we can prevent major violence in the future.

The cool part about this surgery is that I cry blood.

And one last close up.  This was taken this morning.

Stephanie was worried once she got me in the car because she didn't know how she was going to drive and keep me from rubbing my eyes.  The Anesthesiologist gave me about 12 times the amount of anxiety medication I use at home, so I fell asleep in the car.  Stephanie said I would randomly wake up and insist that she drop me off at front runner because I could get home by myself.  But I would fall back to sleep and make such a claim twenty minutes later before falling back to sleep again.

I went straight to bed once home, and that was that.  I am trying to get use to my new vision.  It is a bit different than before, and so reading and watching television is difficult.  The stitches are driving me CRAZY.  They have decided to leave them for a month!  Originally they considered just a few days.  So I am trying very hard to not rub my eyes, but sometimes I fail because they feel better when I rub.  There is a chance I will need to do this again, but it went well, so hopefully not.  It is amazing I made it this long with my eyes the way they were!

I hop you all enjoyed this, because crossed eyes are genetic and so you may be needing this for your kids.  I hope not, because it hurts!

The Eye Doctor

So I just got off the phone with Shawna, and told her about my eye doctor experience, and thought I would share the fun with everyone.

So in February my eyes crossed, and so I was able to go back to my old glasses and they uncrossed.  I saw one very bad doctor, and wanted to see a good doctor and waited for ever for my appointment today to see a specialist.

The problem?  Real specialists (not the ones who occasionally fix crossed eyes) but real specialists are pediatric ophthalmologists.  Generally adults don't have issues with this.  So I get to my appointment and the oldest "patient" looks at the most 11 or 12.  There is a play house, with blocks, and they are playing "Beauty and the Beast".  So the lady gives me my paper work.  Mind you it is all for children.  So it asks questions about my birth and other odd things.  As I am filling this out I keep wishing I could borrow some ones kid so I don't look so odd.

Well on the medical form I reach a question. 
"Does the patient live with Mom, Dad, or both?" 
Then it leaves a line to explain.  So I respond:
"I am a big girl.  I live by myself"

I hand my paper work in and wait.  Then comes the assistant.  She uses one of those kid voices and calls "Stacey?".  She tried not to laugh when I stood up.  She takes my glasses from me and I wait in a room.  Yup.  All the office people where laughing at my paper work.  I admit I laughed a bit too.  So they run me through the really odd tests they always do, and put me back into the waiting room. 

Then another assistant comes out and calls my name.  She didn't cover her laugh as well.  The doctor was good.  He explained the problem and then gave me my choices.

Choice number one.  He said I could wear weak prescription glasses and squint.  This of course would lead to me loosing my driving license, headaches, and probably wrinkles.

Choice number two.  I can get special glasses for my eyes to redirect the light.  Except my eyes have such problems that the lenses would be 2 - 2.5 inches thick.  He showed me a lens and said he put money I wouldn't' last more than five minutes in them. 

And choice number three.  Surgery. 

Loose my license, monstrous glasses, or surgery.  Great options.  Of course in a professional manner, he discussed my unusual height for one of his surgical patients.  No worries, they can accommodate he assured me.

By the time I got to the desk to check out, the receptionists were all very friendly to me, and we all had a bunch of laughs.  I am not their first adult patient, but apparently the only one who was okay to laugh about it.

I must be a child at heart because yesterday another doctor told me I need a tube in my right ear.  I am such a grown up.

My Vehicle and the bus

Car shopping was educational.  Brother Craig Shields, (first councilor in the bishopric) helped me out with this adventure.  He would send me e-mails about cars, and I would send him emails about cars.  Once, I received an e-mail about a car from him, but I was finishing an email to him about a car, so I sent it, before looking at his email.  He was emailing me about the same car.  We never looked at cars together because we both work a lot and it was hard to coordinate my schedule, his schedule, his wife's schedule and the owner of the car schedule.  So he looked at some and I and my room mate Stephanie Noyce or my home teacher Jonathan Spencer would look at some.

At one point I missed out on what I thought was the perfect car for me.  Then it was magically available again the next week and I missed it again.  I was not to happy.  Then there was the car that I looked at that I am pretty sure was stolen, and the car I would have bought had a strange string of events not occurred.  Over all I am happy to have wheels again, and am grateful to all involved.  Believe it or not, I found car shopping to be a very spiritual learning experience. 

 

 

I bought this 99 Corolla with  86,550 miles on it. It is basic with nothing fancy, but it has a few things I love.  No kid goo in the back seat! Many of the cars I looked at had car seat stains and scary stuff.  It was only owned by one person, and should last me a good ten years.  While finishing the sale of this car, four other people called for it, and some one else made an offer before me, but was offering 1,000 below asking price.  I still got it below asking price, and I love it!

 

Because I bought it late on a Wednesday night, I still had to walk to work the next morning because I didn't have it registered.  On Thursdays I work 16 hours, and so Brother Shields and his daughter picked me up on my lunch break and took me to get it registered.  It was wonderful when I got off at 11 p.m. that night to be able to drive 7 minutes instead of walking 35 minutes home. 

 

 

So here are a few memories of the bus...........

 

• I use to text Janaye while riding the bus.  One day while texting I told her I was on a bus.  She responded that she too was on a bus.  We were on the same bus.  She was in the back and I was in the front.
• Express busses are fast, but I have had the unpleasant issue of really really needing the bathroom, and then knowing that the bus will not stop for an hour and half.  Not fun.
• I once watched a kid wash the bus window with his tongue while his mother texted on her phone.  Don't worry after ten minutes of washing the window, the mother finally noticed.
• There was the drunk man that was losing his pants and didn't notice.  
• The Weber State busses that were so full that you were literally shoved against people for a half an hour.  Even Toronto did not compare to that type of congestion.
• The time I rode the bus home, and was very blessed that as sick as I was, I didn't throw up until after I got off.
• I have been on two busses that have been involved in accidents, and survived with no injury.
• The time I got on a bus and found out the previous driver had gone home because earlier that day a man pulled a gun on her.

 

 



 

And to end this post I thought I would close with a spiritual bus story.  Yes such a thing exists.

 

Sometime during the summer of  2012 (I think)  I was riding a bus from Salt Lake City to Kayla's house in Bountiful.  I was tired of listening to my music and so I was listening to conversations around me.  It was sometime after ten at night and I was tired.  There was a guy and girl who had just met and they were talking.  I listened to their conversation, and as I listened for some reason my work brain turned on.  I couldn't figure out exactly what I didn't like about the conversation, but the information seeking questions this guy was asking, and his types of compliments made me nervous.  Still there was nothing unusual about two people getting to know each other on a bus, and there was nothing scary about the mans appearance, and nothing obviously wrong with the conversation at all. 

 

The woman got off the bus, and the mans attention turned to me.  Once again, what he was asking and saying was nothing different then hundreds of conversations I have had with others on the bus.  But my work brain was turned on, and not liking the conversation.  So I lied.  I altered my last name, gave a fake home town, and fake family.  I was very anxious to get of the bus and luckily was close to Kayla's and so the conversation was no more than five minutes before I made my escape.

 

I thanked Heavenly Father for getting me off the bus so soon, and with in a week or two completely forgot about the situation.  About three months later, I was at work.  I took my patients out to the court yard.  Another Forensic unit was there.  One of their patients approached me. 

 

He said "I know you". 

I didn't recognize the man, and out right told him "well I don't know you",

He then said "Yes I do.  Your Stacey Strebbson"  

 

He started to give me information that I had given him on the bus.  I quickly ended the conversation, and requested a restriction from this mans unit.  This man was from the highest security unit in the entire hospital.  Most individuals on this unit are rapists and/or murders.  The fact that he could recall with such accuracy a five minute conversation from three months prior, makes me very grateful that I was protected that night.  I am glad that I don't have to ride the bus any more, but even more grateful that Heavenly Father watches over us. I now wonder how many other horrible situations He has prevented that I will never in this life know about.