Hindered

One of my favorite things of the year is photographing Vacation Bible School for our church. We hold outdoor Bible schools in four locations, with three in the morning and one at night. My "job" is to go around and photograph at each of the locations.

This year I was sick in bed all day on Monday, so I already missed a whole day of moments. In spite of my recent check up, I can tell that my eyes have indeed declined this year. There are things that "fuchies" (people with fuchs) see and deal with, that aren't indicated by a certain vision number like 20/40, etc... Last year, I wore my sunglasses, but had them up on my head most of the time so I could see to take the pictures. I photographed at all the locations and didn't have the pain and migraines like I had this year from the sun and glare on my eyes. I even had to take Thursady off from photographing because my eyes hurt so much and I had to rest them. They are dryer than last year, too. This is especially troubling for me as an outdoor photographer!

As a result, I didn't get nearly the number of pictures this year and I missed so many moments. (the worker kids water balloon fight, the set ups and take downs, etc...) I went home early from our end of VBS party, too. I just couldn't do it anymore. (I was also under some emotional stress this year that added to it) I missed the goodbyes with the teams that had come to help us for the week and everything. This saddens me greatly as does the fact that I didn't get to know everyone as well as in past years.

Of course, it doesn't end there. Being a digital photographer, more time must be spent uploading, backing up, keywording and post processing the images; yet another strain on my eyes. I'm still working on them and it's taking longer than usual.

I was hindered in my ministry this year but I know God will bless what I was able to capture, for His glory! I also know that God will somehow use me and what I'm dealing with to help someone else either now or in the future. I'm excited about that!

For those of you who are prayer warriors, please pray for my friend Tanda that's having eye surgery on July 30 at 11:30am. I know she must be somewhat nervous and especially knowing someone else must lose their life in order for her to have renewed vision.

Tanda, if you are reading this, please know that when my dad died, we received notice that not one, but two people regained their vision because of his donation. It was a great comfort to us to know that because of him someone else's life was made better.

Good News!

Well, I was sick on the 24th so I rescheduled for July 1st. So, today I went in for my eye appointment. Good news! My eyes have remained pretty stable since this time last year. So the saying, "prepare for the worst, expect the best" has done me well once again.

Dr. Grigg used a cool, new machine that takes an xray type image of your eye. I think it's actually a retna machine, but you can see all sorts of things and layers of the eye, if you know what to look for. haha Mine is a slightly blurry or hazy image due to the effects of the Fuchs on my cornea. The image is in color, too, or it can be changed to black and white! Awesome. Other than the Fuchs, my eyes are in good health. My prescription hasn't changed for my glasses, so I didn't have to get new ones. They only really work in the morning to early afternoon anyway. Once I get a thickness measurement, I'll know a little better how my eyes are actually doing regarding the Fuchs, but in the meantime I will thank God for His goodness to me and that I can still see the flowers in bloom (click on "flowers in bloom" to see a flower slide show) this summer!

I won't bore you with the details, but he explained how my eyes can be swollen from retaining fluids, yet still dry at the same time. Made a lot of sense to me.

Just so you all know, I would recommend Dr. Grigg and his office to anyone needing an optometrist. Even though he's not a corneal specialist or opthomologist, he recognized right away that I may have Fuchs and referred me to a specialist for my second opinion. He has taken extra time and care with me and my specific situation. He truly cares about his patients. He's even been on my blog to read up on how I'm doing and that says a lot in this age of in-and-out doctors where they try to see as many patients as they possibly can with the least amount of time and care possible. Anyway, click on his name, this blog title or on the link in my Helpful Links list to go to his website. He and his wife are actually both doctors there. It's kinda funny because I see the Mr. and my husband sees the Mrs. So, you'll have to ask my husband what he thinks of her, but I would have to guess that she's just as caring about her patients as her husband.

With our summer so busy, I am looking at August or September to go see the corneal specialist. I'll update when I get that appointment set.