The Real World...

STINKS! Next time I ever complain about being bored at home or being on bed rest (which I pray will never happen again) please tell me to shut up! Today I returned to work...nothing like being thrown back into a job involving teaching, managing, answering questions, listening to, entertaining and transporting 23 kindergartners for 7 hours. That is real work people...trust me, as I barely have enough strength left to continue my post. I don't really know how I do it 5 days a week...but I do, and I wouldn't change it for the world because when my 23 students saw me the look of excitement and the hugs were unforgettable, for about 2 seconds before the questions about the eye began, the tattling began, and the recap of what I had missed all week began...man, what a job! I love you little kindergartners...and Mrs. Rector too!

Anyway...my eye is doing great! The drops are really starting to get bothersome, but I continue on so that I can make a full recovery. Tomorrow is another crazy day with trick-or-treating added to my list of things I must do with 23 kindergartners-wish me luck! Tonight we are off to dinner (who cares that I gained .8 back this week...bring on the Mexican, next week I'll get back on the elliptical). Then we are going shopping for our Halloween costumes for our "Whatever AnnualSometimes Bi-Annual Shannon Halloween Bash." Have a great night, and thanks for checking in on me...I promise a post about our AWESOME patio soon. For now, I'm off to take a nap-a peaceful nap where I do not hear the words "Mrs. Hedgepeth" (or any variation of it)...

Nichole

Free At Last...(again, hopefully for good this time)

So I just got home from the doctor and I have been given the all clear to resume all normal activities...YAY! My eye is looking great, so he says, since I can't see it, and he is very pleased with how my recovery is going. My vision was much better in my left eye today (20/25) but we will not know for several weeks how or if the surgery was successful. They have to keep my eye dilated so that no scar tissue develops, therefore, my up close vision will be effected for several more weeks. I'm feeling pretty confident that everything will go good...I can see so much better already. I get to drop down to 24 drops a day-so that's still fun and entertaining. The doctor did express some concerns about doing my drops at school because of germs and stuff, but I will just have to be extra extra careful. Speaking of school...yesterday a wonderful goody basket was dropped off-I work with the greatest people. I got some gift cards to some favorite food places, so reading won't be required-yay! The basket was also filled with eyeball gummies...they think they are pretty funny over there at Oakdale! I'm excited to get back to work and be with my second family again...I just hope I can stay awake since I've been pretty lazy these past couple of days! Thanks for checking up on me during this rough little batch. I'm excited to be on the road to recovery and getting back to a normal life. The patio is even finished, so that'll be my next post...got to build up the suspense since it took several weeks to finish! Until next time, keep me in your prayers for a full recovery! Thanks!

Nichole

Off to the Dungeon

It's not as bad as it sounds, but I'm off to the cold, COLD dungeon, otherwise known as Room 219 at Hotel DE' Widrick (otherwise known as my parents house). Since my Mom is now "in charge" of getting me where I need to go I've decided to save myself a lot of stress and go stay the night up there so she can take me to my appointment in the morning. Otherwise, I'd be waiting here for her to come pick me up, and many of you may or may not know this, but my Mom is notorious for being late. Therefore, I'm taking that chance away by staying at her house, therefore ensuring I get to my appointment on time. I'll be leaving all 4 boys at home to bond for the night. I'll let you know how the appointment goes tomorrow! Until next time, thanks for checking in on me again...

Hedge

PS-I feel like my vision is getting better and better...hopefully I'm on the road to full recovery!

Bored and Bruised...what a combo!

It's Tuesday afternoon and the boredom is setting in...I want/need to do something. I called my Mom and told her I was going to drive to the grocery store because we need groceries...she yelled at me. Lucky for me she is a great Mom and she's on her way down to get me to take me "out" for awhile. She has to run some errands, so I'm going to go with her. At least it gets me out of the house. Now...the looks I'll get while out and about should be interesting. It looks like I was in a wicked fight, and lost. The left side of my face is pretty swollen and bruised, which I'm sure is pretty normal, considering what I've been through. At least it doesn't hurt. Even more fun...I counted how many drops I have to put in my eyes each day. You wouldn't believe how many...at least 32 drops a day, plus one pill. If I wake up at night, I'm suppose to put a drop in, so that raises the total. I have drops for even and odd hours (confusing, so I've made nice little bags with times)...last night I kept waking up on odd hours and I didn't do my drops because that one really, I mean REALLY burns. Maybe tonight I'll get lucky and wake up on even hours. Oh...and the drops have to be cold, which means I have to pack them in my little lunch box with ice packs...so much fun! Alright...enough complaining, I'm off to run errands with my mom. Later on tonight I might grace you with a picture of the incision on my eye, quite nice, and my nice bruised face, we'll have to see. Thanks for checking in on me!

Bruised and Swollen Hedge

Oops...

So, somehow it managed to slip my mind that today is my parent's 29th wedding anniversary. Sorry for forgetting Mom and Dad...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART!

Love your favorite daughter in the whole wide world...Nichole

What a Weekend...

Hedgy is back to blogging. Thanks BFF Shell for taking over duties last night...I can't believe I let the secret password out...but I guess I can trust you not to break into my blog and put up nasty messages right?! Anyhow...where to start, where to start. I've got to go quick because I'm not allowed to strain my eye which is patch free and on the road to recovery. The story, brief version (yeah right)!

-Yesterday morning I work up with a wicked red eye and soreness. Went to the doctor at 2:30 and he decided to call in the specialist to have a look. Saw the specialist, Dr. Sanders, at around 4ish and it was determined I had an infection, a small one that we caught very early, and needed to do emergency surgery immediately. Off to Presby we go. Got into a room around 6ish and when Joseph ran down to get something to eat they of course came and took me away to surgery. My surgery started at around 7ish (I was apparently great entertainment down in the operating room per Dr. Sanders this morning...I wanted him to tell me everything that was happening, he said he wasn't comfortable telling me how many different needles he was sticking in my eye, so we talked about my cats...he said I was a "hoot"). Got back into my room around 7:45ish, discharged at around 8:30ish and got home around 9:30ish after we got something to eat. What the surgery was is this...they injected some super strong antibiotics directly inside my eye to attack the infection. They also took a culture to send off for testing, but 60% of the time, nothing shows up. Chances of infection occurring from cataract surgery, 1 in 1000...that's just my great ol' luck!

-I've been in very little pain and I had to keep a patch on my eye until I saw Dr. Sanders again today at 1. Took off my patch, and everything looked great. I'm a little dizzy and uneasy because my vision in my left eye is very clouded, but this is to be expected. I got a great report from the doctor...he is very pleased with how everything is looking and says I lucked out because we caught the infection so early. I felt bad for dragging everyone in on a Sunday afternoon/evening, but at the same time, you don't mess with your vision, so I'm very thankful for how quickly everyone worked to get me all better. I am patch free and actually do not have to go back to the doctor until Wednesday (usually every 24 hours but since my eye is looking so good he felt comfortable holding off until Wednesday). I'm not allowed to drive, lift, strain, work out, or work. I'll know more about work come Wednesday, but it's very frustrating because I had like 10 conferences scheduled for this week which are having to be cancelled for the second time (first time b/c of the whole hive incident). But...in the end my vision is most important.

-I feel great...I'm doing drops every hour and enjoying relaxing and catching up on some rest. I didn't sleep well Saturday or Sunday night, so it's nice to be able to rest. Thanks for checking in on me. Joseph has been a trooper and with me the whole time. He'll go back to work tomorrow and Mommy will be taken over my cares-yay! I do have a quick little quiz for everyone...enjoy!

***Which picture is the real Nichole Hedgepeth aka Itchy Nicki, Blind Hedgy or any other names you could possible think of?

A.








B.

C.

Nichole's Emergency Surgery

Hey guys! This is Michelle blogging for Nichole tonight. She gave me her secret code (while she was a little loopy, she might regret it later!) so that I could sign in to give everyone an update. She had emergency surgery at Presbyterian Hospital this evening. The surgery went well - the purpose of the surgery was to inject antibiotics into her eye to get to the infection. The doctors said the antibiotics started working immediately so that's good news. She has a patch on her eye and has to go back to the doctor tomorrow at 1:00. She's out of work for at least a week and has lots of drops to put in her eyes for the next few weeks. Good news is she also has some Vicodin so the next few days should be good (hence why I'm doing the blogging!) She said her vision isn't very good and that when she looks in the mirror she sees this...