Monday, January 1, 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I wish you and yours all the best in the coming years, and on the chance that I'm repeating myself....

May the best of your past, be the worst of the future!!

This pretty much sums up my wish, for everyone :-)

I think life has simmered down to a dull roar. Mikes surgery on his right eye was a perfect success! He completely freaked me out on the day after surgery, when we went in to get the bandage taken off. We're sitting in a waiting hall, about 10 feet from a door with writing on it, and all of a sudden he asks me "what does "kunden hilfe" mean? After telling him that it means customer service, I'm trying to figure out where he got it from, when I spot the grey door, with white writing on it........ I'm floored! He always made fun of himself, saying that if he takes off his glasses, he might as well close his eyes, because he can't see past 10 inches, and here he is, reading at 10 ft..... When we got home is when it really hit me what he's been going thru the last couple of years....... Miepje, the neighbors calico-cat that he's been feeding, because its owner kicks it outside 23 hours of the day in wind, rain, snow or heat, usually comes running when he comes home, or out the door. When we got out of the car, she did what she usually does... came out of nowhere, and circled his feet, rubbing his legs and purring. He does what HE usually does, bends over and rubs her and talks to her. Only this time, he stops with his hand on her back, gets real quiet en says...... Sweetie, you're beautiful! I just about cried. Turns out he hasn't seen colors in a couple of years! He told me later, that it got gradually darker, greyer and blurrier.... No wonder he hasn't been into going places!  So I made this sneaky plan, to take him to Amsterdam, to the national museum this summer. Not entirely sure how to pull that off yet, but it's going to happen! :-)

At his pre-op we got a little bit of a shock though..... We're getting information on what time to be there, what kind of lens they're going to put in, how long the healing will be and a date for when he'll have surgery on his left eye! WHAT!? We're looking first at each other, and than at the doc like he has 2 heads and horns when he tells us that. On our initial visit, he said that his left eye has a little bit of a problem, but it will keep, and not even 6 weeks later, it needs done as well?  Turns out, that Mikes eyes need such a high corrective lens that with one eye almost perfect and one with the strength he has, will give him headaches and balance problems. And after seeing that he hasn't wore his glasses since he got home from surgery......... We're ok with it. So, January 15th is pre-op for that, and January 31st is surgery, and the start of a new look on life for him. I AM SOOOOO HAPPY FOR HIM!!

Shoulder is progressing slowly, but progressing. Work agreed to pay the bills, but there was initially no indication when, and whether they will also pay the enormous late fees. I did get an ETA after I completely freaked out because the hospital was going to send a court appointed appraiser to our house, so they can see what we own that they can take to sell and pay our bills that way.... The appointed person taking care of his account looks at it every 45 days........ so if they look at it today, and we send them a bill tomorrow, it will be 6 weeks before they do anything with it..... (i.e send it to the translators, get it back, look at the charges, decide on payment, send it to accounting and cut a check, mail it out, and hope it goes priority mail and not by boat)  but at least I have something to tell the doctors offices when they call for payment 😕

Today I'm taking the day off. We have nothing planned, no "need to do's" so I'm not even getting out of my jammy's. LOL.  Tomorrow we have a check up for Mikes eye, Wednesday Physio, Thursday Physio, Doc and base and we're back to the races.... 

My appointment in Maastricht got rescheduled to the 8th of Januari and the 12th of January I'm spending the morning at City Hall........ Appointment with my caseworker, appointment with someone that may be able to help me actually work at being a webdesigner after all, and pick up the parking permit, so we can park in front of our own house on Saturdays........ 

Castle is open one more week, and than it closes until Carnaval vacation to open up for the season day after Easter.... Other plans than this......... I don't have at the moment :-)

I hope you have an awesome year, I will keep you posted on our goings on and plan on doing it a little bit more often, but mainly a little bit more upbeat. I was reading back a bit, to see where I left off, and noticed a trend of whining, complaining and grumbling....... NOT what I want to be! So my plan for the new year is, to notice something that amazed me and makes me happy at the end of every day.

Well, there's a bacon, eggs and waffle breakfast calling my name, so I'll take my leave. Don't forget to hug a loved one?

Love and hugs,
Pauli