I couldn’t help but title the post this way… and if you don’t hear the Macarena playing in the background, then I don’t know what’s wrong. So let’s recap—knee is miraculously better, scudding along at 0 on the pain scale (may it stay there forever), back and arms are improving and will probably be pretty much back to normal tomorrow. So what else could go wrong?

I’m really going to have to stop asking that question.

Blepharitis—that’s what else could go wrong. When I awoke this morning, my left eye was bloodshot, rims were red, and it felt like I had little rocks in the corner near the tear-duct. My eyelids were both puffy as well, which they have been because my allergies have been elevated, but this felt different than allergies for the eyes. *sigh* A phone call to my regular doc later and I had a lunch time appointment for him to look at my infected eye.

Any other time, I’d have been tempted to use my allergy eye drops, warm compresses and wait a few days to see whether it cleared. But both my regular doc and my oncologist have made it perfectly clear, even to a stubborn-headed mule like me, that ANY infection was to be treated immediately. That I cannot afford to have any infection take hold in my system. Especially now since I had to have steroids for the knee issue, which further weakens my immune system. So the call to the doc was made.

Bleh!

Here’s what the informational sheet my doc provided has to say about it:

Blepharitis is a common and persistent inflammation of the eyelids. … Bacteria reside on the surface of everyone’s skin, but in certain individuals they thrive in the skin at the base of the eyelashes. The resulting irritation causes dandruff-like scales and particles to form along the lashes and eyelid margins.

So now I will need to use antibiotic eye drops 4 times daily, warm compresses to help descale my eyes, and wash them ever so gently with a solution of baby shampoo (Baby Magic is the best—no petroleum products in it). Or, potentially, I could lose my eyelashes. I know I’ve talked a bit about hair loss and how it’s not likely to happen from chemo, but now I have something that could potentially rob my eyes of their lashes? Good grief. I wonder whether I could have permanent eyelashes grafted on that are hot pink????

What do you do when life keeps raining on your physical well-being? *shrugs* I bought a purple holiday hat with bling on the brim and took a goofy picture of myself and posted it to Facebook. Why??? Because I can and it helps me to focus on things OTHER than my ridiculous health. Don’t get me wrong, I am taking the health thing seriously, and unless I tell them otherwise, I do follow doctor’s orders, but I also have to laugh because we have reached the point of if it’s not one thing, it’s another. By posting my pic on Facebook, I got to take a couple trips down memory lane with the folks who have known me for donkey’s years. I was able to reminisce about writing an epic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas revision with my friend Nancy when we both worked at K-Mart. And I think there is a unanimous opinion that my curls peeping out from the cap bear a striking resemblance to Herbie, the Dentist elf in the Christmas Classic, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. So for the season, I shall be LK, the writer elf.

Oh and if you haven’t twigged it yet, I do love the holiday season, and will probably be decorating the posts with Christmassy stuff through the month.

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