PamS53 wrote: »

Helene, it was by far the easiest surgery and recovery I’ve ever had. I only had 1 droopy eyelid. There was no pain at all and only a little discomfort from the bandaging on the first day and night. I was told to remove it after the first night and after that my only reminder of the surgery was the stitches that didn’t come out until a week or ten days later. I had to apply an ointment twice a day for about a week. My eyelid is fully healed now and there is a tiny scar that I think will eventually fade away. Now the eyelid that was operated on is about 1 millimeter higher than the other one, but you’d have to look really closely to notice that. The doctor thinks it will eventually relax to match the other eye over time.

That's great! If I end up having to have that I'll know it's not so terrible.

I don’t know if I need surgery on one or both eyelids. I just want to see better. My eye doctor kept reassuring me my vision numbers were the same. He wasn’t even looking at how the eyelid was cutting down on my field of vision. I had to ask him to the referral to the surgeon. I’ll find out what he says Friday.

Pam, that’s very helpful information about your surgery and how the surgeon decided you need it. If it turns out I need it and he can schedule it during November, I’ll have it done before FL. If he can’t get it done by then, I’d schedule the surgery for June when we get home from FL.

Helene, it was Maryanne who said a friend is considering moving out of the country if Harris doesn’t win. I wish I could, as well!

I’m glad the info about the vision testing was helpful. It really confirmed for me what I already suspected.

Helene610 wrote: »

Pam, where would your friend move to? I’m trying to stay calm and hope for the best for Election Day. We voted last week. I’m surprised that so many voters are waiting until Tuesday when they have options to vote by mail, drop box or in person early. Who would choose to wait in an hours’ long line if they didn’t have to? I hope a lot of Republicans will vote their conscious and just not say how they voted. I’m praying Kamala comes out on top and that Trump doesn’t incite violence. Some of his more reasonable supporters might have learned jail time is a real consequence for those who think violence is the answer.

We voted a month ago. Easy peasy. It should be this easy to vote everywhere. Reading about folks who walk hours to vote sounds like Little House on the Prairie or something. I'm trying to work today but having trouble concentrating.

I'm really really down today. I have NO clue what people are thinking. It boggles my mind how many people in bad economic circumstances seem to have voted for this creep who obviously doesn't care one fig about them and will do everything he can to enrich himself, whether it hurts them or not.

Helene, I’m sorry for your loss. I hope it’s of some comfort to you that his last 2 years were peaceful and happy.

I am also deeply saddened and concerned after the outcome of the election. I truly believed that Harris could win it and I am beyond angry at all of the people who believed all of the lies they were fed by his sycophants and supporters, not to mention the so called “news” media that pumped him up and ignored all of the obvious signs of dementia. I really fear for our country over the next 4 years. I strongly suspect he will be declared incompetent in a few months and then JD Vance will take over. As bad a trump is, I believe Vance will be even worse.

We just got home from our visit to Williamsburg, VA visiting my sister. She’s even more depressed and worried than I am over the outcome. Unfortunately for her, her DH is a staunch Republican, so he’s happy with the outcome and not at all sympathetic to how she feels about the future.

My baby brother's wife is of (fairly recent) Ukrainian heritage. Her family was already worried for their relatives and now they're terrified.

A good friend has a family member who is gay and one who is trans. They are trying to figure out if they can emigrate before inauguration day.

An acquaintance, who is extremely religious and who didn't vote, had NO idea what I was talking about when I started to talk about the cheeto and the religious groups who see him as their savior. (She also thinks china owns half the u.s. - ???????)

Everyone I know, knows someone who's terrified. I'm having problems sleeping and my stomach is super upset. It's sort of like during the pandemic when I'd get busy and forget about everything and then all of a sudden it would hit my consciousness again and I'd panic anew.

DH sent me an article today going through examples of idiots who didn't realize they were voting against their own interests by voting for the cheeto. An article I read said a lot of the blame for that idiocy falls on fox news. A simple example was a work place that was told there would be no christmas bonuses because the company had to buy as much inventory as possible before tariffs kicked in. The idiot employees had no clue tariffs would cost money.

Helene, how did you appointment go about your eyelids?

That does sound like a strange appointment. What kind of doctor is he? Mine was a dermatologist/plastic surgeon who is widely known in this area as “the eyelid doctor”, lol. At least you were given approval and the surgery timeline will work for you.

The doctor is an ophthalmologist and eye surgeon. He specializes in oculi plastics and cosmetic eye surgery. He’s part of the group practice I used for my cataract surgery and yearly eye exams. It’s affiliated with a well known Boston eye practice. It takes months to get an appointment with him so my wanting to push it back to next June wasn’t a problem. He told me to ice the eye area 10 minutes every waking hour to control the swelling. Even so, there will be bruising so I probably won’t go out much until that fades. He prescribed an ointment for itching which I think I start day 2. It stressed not scratching the itch because it could pop stitches. How does that compare with your experience?

You probably didn’t have itching because you used the ointment. We didn’t discuss a sleep mask but I probably hear about closer to the surgery. Using the ice as directed probably kept your bruising to a minimum. I intend to follow instructions to the letter so maybe bruising won’t be a big problem.

Maryanne, I agree with you. I think the buyer’s remorse will be huge (or should I say YUGE) once his policies are set into action. I’m hearing and reading a lot of analysis and there doesn’t seem to be any real consensus as to why certain voters voted the way they did. I have one friend in particular that acknowledges that he is a horrible person but she voted for him anyway because she believes the checks and balances in our government will prevent him from doing any serious harm. No amount of discussion would convince her that if he won, the checks and balances would be gone. I hope she’s seeing it now, but I suspect she’s happy keeping her blinders on, only watching shows like The Batchelor and The Voice, and ignoring reality until it impacts her directly. I think there are a lot of similarly uninformed people like her throughout the country and that’s how we got here.

I’ve cut way down on news to help my mental health. I question whether Trump can carry out mass deportations. Doesn’t a country have to agree to take them back.? I don’t see a lot of that happening. Maybe it will be like the wall. He talks a big show but delivers a lot less than he promises. Thank goodness Gaetz is gone. Maybe a few more of his wacko picks will fail confirmation too. One can hope for that.

I hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving!

Because I'm veering from my usual, I find I'm fretting over "what have I forgotten?". I almost forgot DH's cranberry.