Eye-carumba!

So I went back to the optometrists last night and I knew it was gonna be painful, since our health coverage offers $40/year for eye exams. And that's it - no money for glasses, contacts or anything else. Since my initial exam was $112, this falls kinda short. Not too mention $55 for a glasses fitting, $45 for the contact lens fitting, $190 for frames, $290 for lenses, $30 for vitamins (more later) and I haven't even got contacts yet!

I've been using the allergy eyedrops faithfully since I got them, but I had to be honest. They made a noticeable difference, but my eyes are hardly symptom free. The watering is mostly gone, but they do still get itchy. He took another look and gave me a more detailed explanation of what others have said - basically, I have sucky eyes for contacts. Over the eye itself is a mucus layer, a water layer and an oily layer. In an ideal world, they exist in a particular balance with each other, but in my eyes, the oily layer is too thick and the water layer too thin. This means that when I blink, the fluids are not distributed evenly over my eye, particularly when there's a contact getting in the way.

So, on his advice (and profit, I'm sure!) I'm trying a multi-vitamin that is "especially formulated" to alleviate dry eyes. I'm still not sure how it's supposed to be different from a regular vitamin, except that it's not a complete listing - mostly Vitamin B. However, it's not any more expensive than any other decent vitamin, so I'm willing to give it a try. Apparently, I should notice a difference in 3 weeks or so.

In the meantime, I popped in the new lenses he originally picked out and wandered around the store for a while. It was obvious to both me and him that the left one in particular just wasn't working. So we went back to work with all the doodads and refined the prescription. And, of course, the particular fit he arrived at wasn't one they had in stock, so I have another wait. I hope it's a bloody short one, 'cause we're going to Waterton this weekend and doing it without some kind of sunglasses is going to be painful.

Countdown to La De Dah

I forgot to mention the other day, but I finally got to see the owls that live outside of Stuart's office. It was the middle of the day, but there they were, perched up in the tree; although they were awake, they weren't looking particularly perky. Stuart thinks they may sleep at night, just to avoid harassment by the crows. Apparently they have a nest somewhere close, but so far the guys haven't been able to locate it. Probably just as well, since the adults were pretty cute and fluffy, I don't think I could stand how adorable the owlets would be!

The allergies are finally coming under control. My biggest problem is still with post-nasal drip triggering coughing when I try to fall asleep, but it's knocked back enough now that a lozenge usually helps enough. Once I'm asleep, it's not waking me up again, thank god. I'm still dragging a bit though, just trying to catch up on everything I missed.

It's just in time though, since the Calgary Folk Fest is this weekend! Mom's driving up tomorrow and we're gonna do music and fresh air 'til we can't stand it anymore. There are a couple of groups playing that I'm really looking forward to: Wendy McNeil, Calexico, Duhks, Blue Rodeo. There are some folks I know I'm gonna skip: Ani DiFranco. And some bands that I'm waiting to see perform live before I make up my mind: Great Lake Swimmers, Weakerthans, Sam Roberts band. There are also a whole schwak of groups I've never heard of, but their write-ups sound cool, so I can't wait to hear them; it's a toss up what I like best about folk fest, hearing my favs or finding new stuff!

And even better, the forecast has been adjusted over night, lowering our chance of rain over the weekend. Wheeee! Since I still don't have contacts though, I wouldn't mind some overcast to keep the sun out of my eyes. ;)

I call Mulligan on this week!

As reported, I ended up catching the evening bus to Edmonton on Wednesday. (Why, oh why, do they insist on turning the AC up to popsicle?) Mom picked me up from the bus depot and let me sleep in her bed, so I wouldn't have to add the accumulated mouse leavings to my allergen list. (That sounds bad. I should explain. My parents' house is pretty old, so no matter how hard we try to fill all the cracks in the foundation and other entrances, there are usually some mice in the basement. Their nests and stuff build up in the walls where we have no easy way to clean them and my allergies are bad enough that just walking down the stairs makes me start to sniffle.)

I did get some sleep, but still not a full night of deep sleep. Sigh. I ran some errands, then had lunch with Meg, before going over to the CCI. I managed to say "hi" to some of my previous co-workers, although some of them were off on vacation. I picked up Dad and we headed to Dr. Pearman's office. He was running about half an hour late, as usual, but I finally ended up with two allergy remedies and something for me and Stuart for post-exertion use (to counteract cramps and muscle damage.) Then it was time to pick up Mom and get me on the bus back.

I had only one real coughing jag last night, which was great. Unfortunately AND surprisingly, I had trouble just falling asleep though, so I think I got about 6 hours. After a week of not much, I'm pretty foggy today. The allergy symptoms do seem to be easing a bit, but sheer sleep deprivation is slowing me down. You just can't win some days.

Hyper-active Immunity

As mentioned briefly in my Sinister post, my allergies have spiked. A look at The Weather Network's pollen report helps to explain why: mould spores are at high (80+), along with the grass and tree pollens. Blah.

I'm a walking advertisement for antihistamines - itchy, runny eyes, sore, itchy, swollen throat leading to a cough, sinus congestion and general mental fuzziness. The only problem is that OTC antihistamines are pretty ineffective, I've been taking them far too long. I was looking for a homeopathic doctor in Calgary, but they and the naturopaths charge outrageous fees. For that much money, I wouldn't expect healthiness - I should be freakin' deified. It's cheaper to catch the bus to Edmonton and see my homeopathic doctor there; so that's what I'm going to do.

I could live with everything else (and have!) but when I go to bed, the coughing keeps me up all night and I am not the type who functions well on sleep deprivation.