Serve Me Some Cheese With This

I'm not much in the mood to put up my Sunday Serenity just now. Which probably means it is more important that I put my mind to it.

I've been fighting headaches all week. None have been as bad as the one that woke me Sunday after only six hours of sleep following the Read-a-Thon but they have been bad enough to disrupt my days.

These headaches are often triggered by food sensitivities. Some of the items Ed bought for our Read-a-Thon last weekend were probably suspect. Then there was the extra caffeine I had that day too. But the reason I'm still having problems is that at least four out of the last six evening meals have contained suspect items. My system has not been able to regain equilibrium. I am not the cook, shopper or menu planner here, so I feel I've really no place complaining about what is put on the table. But this leaves me feeling rather helpless sometimes.

These headaches also further impair my vision. Besides having less than 10 degrees of vision left in each eye because of the RP, my right eye has a cataract which needs to be taken care of. I had the cataract removed on my left eye in the late nineties. I'd been blaming all my vision loss on the RP and was greatly surprised to have the central vision in my left eye returned to me.

It is also past time to get my new prescription glasses. The last time I had my prescription renewed was in 2000 when we were in Sunnyvale CA. At that time I was told that the cataract on my right eye was 'ripe' and should probably be removed. Knowing this, I have put off going after new eye glasses until I could get the cataract surgery first. Because I'd need a new prescription afterwards and we are only allowed one pair in two years. Which also means I will have to have bifocals instead of a separate pair for reading.

Meanwhile, two years ago, I damaged the lenses of both my walk-around glasses and my reading glasses. I had a habit of putting one pair on top of my head while wearing the other pair. This had caused no problem for years. Then my sister gave me the rest of her hair gel because she had developed an allergy to it. Apparently it contained something that ate away at the plastic lenses. It left some splotches of undamaged lens but trying to aim the right part of each retina at the right part of each lens is a challenge all its own.

Adding to that challenge is the missing ear piece on my reading glasses. On the hot days this summer during the Sweating for Sven challenge, real sweat became a huge issue. I had trouble keeping the glasses on my face. The contortions I put my poor neck to! Sometimes I just gave up and took them off and that turned out to be a sorta blessing because not being able to see more than a blur forming under the cursor made me less tempted to backspace, to stop and fix spelling or second guess what I was typing.

Because of the headaches and sensitive eyes even when the pain was gone, I've done little reading all week. I've done even less writing--other than emails and IM. I'm going to have to report a second week of zero word count to 70 Days of Sweat tomorrow too. I'm starting to panic but good at the fast approaching start of NaNo.

I've even feeling as much dread as excited anticipation about the opening of the library Monday. I haven't made the walk in seven months. I can count the times I've been out of this yard in that same seven months on one hand. I realized it is liable to be crowded on the first day and thus hold all my sensory overload and social anxiety triggers. Which is making me think of waiting until Wednesday to go...

Times like these I'm wondering just who I think I'm kidding.

OK. I'm done whining now. Feel free to serve me some cheese. (as long as it's not aged Cheddar or spelled with a z i.e. processed food product with additives) :)