Don Bowen Update: 2008-04-30
April 30, 2008Yesterday was repairman day at our house. First the Best Buy technician came to look at our TV in the basement that I have waited 2 years to call and get fixed. It had problems with the jacks right away and I was sure it was the TV, but just never exercised the warranty - one of the few I’ve ever purchased. Fortunately he confirmed that it was the jack panel. He called later that night to tell me that it was cheaper to have us go get a new TV than to repair ours for $2200!. Long story short we ended up with a better version of the same TV and a new 4-year warranty thanks to Matt.
The AT&T repairman also came by because I had static on my work phone. He had literally 20 reasons why there was no way he could fix it. The first was because we have cordless phones. I asked him, “What other kind of phones do people have?” 
He was no help at all and just wasted a bunch of my time. When will Best Buy start doing phones?
I was more anxious about this MRI than those in the past. I wanted it done on the same machine as all the other times, but it wasn’t possible. It was actually done in a mobile unit, but I was assured that it had the latest software, which I was happy to hear.
I made the mistake of laying down and thinking my head was cushioned. It wasn’t. I did fine for the first 15 minutes, but then the sharp pain on the incision started and made the second half tough. I think you get more familiar with pain, just never comfortable with it.
I’m not excited about my new sleep aid trazadone. Took it for the second time last night and had one of my worst nights. If I have the same experience tonight I’m done taking it.
Today was a long day, mostly because we spent four hours at an eye specialist who ran more tests on my eyes than I’ve had in the past 30 years - I’m not kidding. The main reason I went was for a field vision test. The machine was incredible and I did much better.
You can really tell that the left side of both eyes is severely impacted. The left eye a bit more than the right. Not sure what that little blind spot is on the right side of my right eye. Maybe I was just distracted.
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but he told me that I can drive. I even heard him dictate it for the official record. He also said, “You can’t see small things on your left, but you can see a big bus.” Now I’m not encouraging you to start taking public transportation, just telling you what the expert said.
Can’t remember the last time I had my eyes dilated. My eyes are still sore and watering even now, but at least I got some very cool sunglasses out of the deal!
While I was waiting at the eye doctor my friend Tim called and told me that the preliminary MRI results were good. Once again the news was emotional and very encouraging. I told Dr. Kattah that I had an MRI yesterday and he actually pulled it up on his computer right in front of us. He confirmed that is sounded very positive and then actually looked at the pictures. “It looks very small”. Praise God! I hope to get official news from Dr. Geoffroy and/or Duke tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.
Tomorrow I do my blood and liver work to determine if I can start my second round of temodar, which I hope to start Friday. The timing is tricky. I have to do my tests early in the morning, fax them to Duke, get their go ahead and have them order the temodar so it can be shipped to me by Friday. Please pray for this to happen and for no side effects this time, especially the nausea.
If you detected weariness and fatigue in my past few updates you would be reading between the lines correctly. I knew and I said this was going to be a long journey. I guess the pain of the past three weeks has made it a bit harder than I thought. I’ve had to spend way too much time resting with my eyes closed and it can be dark and lonely. But I know you guys are with me. I feel your prayers and I get your encouraging notes.
“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.” (Exodus 17:10-13)
You are my Aaron and Hur. Thank you!
I need a miracle, God specializes in them, pray BIG!
Unfortunately it appears decadron isn’t having any impact, but maybe tomorrow things will improve. Singing this weekend will be a challenge, so please pray the headache stops.
