When my kids were still in diapers, my cousin (who is a nutritionist) gave me a stern talking-to about the health benefits (or lack there of) in cereal. Since then, some of my friends have taken to calling me the “cereal nazi.” I wear that badge of honor with pride, and have trained my children to read the side of the cereal box before ever asking if it can grace our pantry shelves.

Yes, my kids are the ones running down the aisle feverishly trying to find cereals with at least 3 grams each of protein and fiber, but as few grams of sugar as possible (4 grams = 1 tsp. added sugar. Most nutritionists and doctors suggest you look for cereals with less than 5-10 grams.). If you’ve never tried it, you have no idea how difficult this little task actually is. Most cereals have barely 1 gram of protein! In fact, a bag of Doritos will do more to starve off your kids’ hunger than a whole box of some cereals. And with few schools allowing morning snacks, I need to get as much protein as possible into my kids each morning to keep their brains focused on learning (without being distracted by a rumbling tummy). It’s amazing how a bowl of cereal with 10 grams of protein will really keep you satisfied until lunch.

Thankfully, we’ve all grown to love the Kashi cereals, and the few made by Kelloggs and Post that pass the test. And every now and then I buy one of “the other cereals” (such as my guilty pleasure – pictured above). But we don’t eat those for breakfast… instead, we’ve found they make great desserts (after dinner) on those days when an extra special treat is needed. Isn’t that what a product like that is for?

Get the facts… to check out how your favorite cereal fares when it comes to nutrition. And if you’re looking for easy alternatives to cold-cereal in the morning, how about a cheesy breakfast bean dip with chips, or toast with sliced apples and peanut butter (one of my daughter’s favorites)? Need more? Here are 100 more quick and healthy breakfast ideas.

Why? Because last week I downloaded an app called Running Trainer 5k. I have had a couple of friends start training for a 5k, and I thought “sure, why not? it’ll be good for me, right?” Ummm… now I’m not so sure about that.

It starts out on day one with a couple of run/walk segments, each one minute long. Then it switches to two-minute segments, alternating between running and walking. I made it through two of those running segments (two minutes long) successfully. Then, when Ms. Trainer said “Run 3 Minutes”, I might have cursed at her in my head a bit, and kept right on walking. I am so out of shape!

Why am I sharing such a pathetic part of myself? Really it’s just to point out that there’s an app for that! The Running Trainer 5k app keeps track of how far you’ve run (with the GPS) and even marks it on a map. (See the screen capture for an example – although it is NOT from my session this morning!) As already mentioned, it tells you when to walk and when to run, and increases the difficulty each day, so you’re running 5k by the end of 10 weeks. Well, that’s the intention at least. We’ll see how well it does with me .

Seriously, it was SOOO worth it! I had a physical last week and was told my left eye is 20/15!! and my right eye is 20/25!! I’m still healing, so my right eye will get a bit better before all is said and done.

I have no red eye or major dryness. And I’ve finally gotten to the point where I don’t try to take my contacts out every night (although I do stop and wonder a couple times each week). It is truly amazing.

So for anyone considering PRK surgery, I definitely recommend it. However, be sure to do your homework first, understand the lengthy recovery period, and plan accordingly. In the end, if your experience is anything like mine, you’ll LOVE your new eyes!

That changed when I read about Lisa Hardiman, Co-Owner of Let’s Dish! in MD and VA. It was Lisa’s experience with breast cancer that caused Let’s Dish! to start their Pink Dish! Campaign in 2007. This was the first time I actually knew someone affected by this disease… someone I could identify with.
While creating the marketing materials and web site for the Pink Dish! Campaign, I got to read countless stories contributed by Lisa and other people who were affected by this disease. For the first time, I got a *real* glimpse into the lives of breast cancer survivors. Reading about women being diagnosed with breast cancer in their 30s caused me to do some research on my own. What I found surprised me. Using an online breast cancer risk calculator, I found I currently have a 15.7% chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer during my lifetime. Most studies show the average woman has a 1 in 8 chance of being diagnosed.
What does this mean? Count up your mom, sister(s), and enough friends to equal 8 women… and figure at least one of them will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Scary, isn’t it?

So what can we do?

• Get educated about the risks and signs.
• Raise funds for research.
• Be proactive, especially if you have certain risk factors. (Read this story about a Gossip Girls producer who had a preventative mastectomy after her mom had breast cancer.)
• Support those affected. The Red Devils is a non-profit supporting Marylanders affected by breast cancer. Also, Let’s Dish! has continued the Pink Dish! Campaign for 2008.

So I go back to the eye doctor one week from today. At that point, I will be on week four. Back before I had my vision corrected, a 4-6 week recovery time sounded long, but totally doable. In hindsight, I had no idea what it’d be like living with less-than-perfect vision (and no way to correct it) for 4-6 weeks.

Now that I am *over the hump*, I can finally sit back and relish my new eyes. Almost three weeks without contacts or glasses is still not enough to stop me from thinking I have to take out my contacts at night. I still marvel at waking up and seeing the clock. For someone who was 20/200 for the past 30+ years, even seeing at 20/40 or 20/50 without glasses or contacts is a miracle. What more can I say – it’s absolutely amazing!

So today I had another follow-up visit with the eye doctor. I was able to vent a little bit of my frustration at not seeing that well yet. Prior to surgery, they tell you that you will be able to “function well” about 7-10 days post-op. Unfortunately, I think their definition of “functioning well” doesn’t include computer use, because that’s where I am *seeing* big problems.

I can take care of my kids, clean my house, cook meals, do laundry, and so on, without any problems. I can even fumble my way through the grocery store (although I’m certain I’m missing some of the good sales!) But when I attempt to work on the computer, things are very blurry. I’ve increased my default font sizes to around 18 points in both my email and web browser. (Sorry if you’re all receiving emails from me with HUGE font sizes!) I turned on the “vision impaired” services for my Mac, which allows me to run a magnifying lens or sorts across my screen at will. That’s really nice for the small details in some of the designs I’m working on, as well as for those applications that don’t allow me to increase the default font size.

Today the doctor told me I’m 20/30 in my left eye (which is great) and 20/70 in my right eye (not so great). Because my right eye is dominant, it’s really causing my brain some frustration while trying to interpret what I’m seeing, particularly when the light is behind the image (as it is on all computer screens). Ironically, it’s easier to read text on paper right now!

So everyone keeps asking if I regret the surgery. That’s tough. I don’t regret having the surgery, but I regret the timing. I think if I had known I might not see at least 20/40 in both eyes for up to a month post-op, I would have tried to find a better time of the year (maybe when the kids are out of school and I’m not working as much anyway, or over the Christmas holidays…). In any case, I can’t turn back now, but continue my eye drop regime and triple-dosing on Vitamin C. There will continue to be good days and not-so-good days, but… One of these days I really *will* wake up to 20/20 vision. That is certain. Unfortunately, how many days will have passed is anyone’s guess.

If you’ve ever worn contacts, you know how it feels to have a contact bug you. Now multiply that times 10, and you’ll have an idea as to how I felt. I wanted to rip the contact (bandage) out. I literally could not stop crying – the tears were involuntary, as if my eye was rejecting the damage it had just encountered. (That would be the burning smell I mentioned in the previous post.)

I put in my first set of three drops (steroid drop, antibiotic drop, and painkiller drop, each given 5 minutes apart), but that didn’t help. I took more tylenol and advil, but nothing helped. Finally, at 8:30pm, I called the doctor on call and was told, “you had PRK, that’s painful.” Thanks.

Somehow I made it to 10pm, when I had to put in another set of drops. Then I did my best attempt at sleeping until 7:45am, when my mom came to drive me to my 8:00am follow-up appointment.

I kept my eyes closed the whole ride to the office, with tears continuing to involuntarily stream down my face. The doctor decided to replace the contact bandage in my left eye. In order to do that, they gave me a much stronger numbing eye drop and all was well. They asked me to come back again the next day (Friday) even though they don’t normally see patients again until Saturday.

Back at home, I was able to listen to a little TV, but mostly just rested. I kept myself pumped full of Tylenol PM and Advil, as I tried to sleep. The pain was pretty bad, and I was scared by that because they kept telling me Friday and Saturday would be the worst pain days.

By the time I woke up Friday morning, I actually felt a little better. BUT, I still worried that the pain would come back or get worse. At my 10:40am appointment, I received fabulous news: I had started to heal much more quickly than the average patient, and the “holes” in my cornea were already 80% healed. In other words, the worst was OVER! AMEN! I was beyond thrilled as I walked out of that office.

So for me, the worst days were actually Wednesday night and Thursday. But once I crossed that 80% mark, I really felt no pain at all. By Saturday morning, I felt good enough to go to my daughters’ soccer games before my doctor’s appointment. I wore a hat and dark sunglasses because I was still really sensitive to the UV light. I couldn’t tell which kid was mine in some cases, but hey, I made it!

Sunday, I felt good enough to drive. On Saturday I was able to read the 20/40 line when using both eyes together. It’s not crystal clear, but apparently it was good enough for me to drive.

On Monday I had my 5-day post op appointment, and the contact bandages were removed. Although it felt great to have them out (they had gotten pretty dry), for some reason my vision was worse on Monday. My trip to the grocery store involved me getting really close to all the labels to read prices. I decided to cut my errands short and head home.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was better, and today is a little better still. My left eye is pretty close to 20/20, while my right eye straggles at a double-vision 20/40. The doctor keeps reminding me this is all totally normal, and that I *will* be 20/20 as soon as my eyes are fully healed. My right eye had a stronger prescription, which means the laser had to do more damage to fix it, which means it’ll take longer to heal.

The average healing time for PRK is 4-6 weeks. Before my surgery I thought that sounded way too long to be true, but now I see that it is a very gradual process. There are a lot of steps between 20/40 and 20/20, and it may take a few weeks to get there completely.

It still hasn’t completely sunk in that I am not wearing contacts all day. But at night, when I get ready for bed and then chill out with a book or the remote, I remember. And in the morning when I open my eyes and can instantly see how much longer before I need to get up, I smile.

When we arrived at the office, we were informed they were running about 20 minutes behind. Drat. More waiting WITHOUT valium! So I played with my iPhone until they finally called me back, while hubby stayed in the waiting area playing with his (inferior) Blackberry.

The first thing they did was give me a glorious little pill called valium (10mg in case you’re wondering). I had already taken the recommended 600mg of ibuprofen at home. While we waited for the valium to kick in, the doctor asked me if I had any concerns about post-op. I proceeded to share with her my multitude of concerns for about 10 minutes until *wham* all of the sudden I stopped mid-sentence, turned to look toward the sky and pronounced that I had no more concerns. Yup – the valium had kicked in and I was feeling fine. She administered some numbing drops and left to find the surgeon. I sat in the chair with a dumb grin on my face (and twittered that I felt …)

I believe the doctor had to actually hold my arm while we walked to the surgery room, as I was a bit unsteady. The surgeon asked if I could read his name tag or the clock (my answer was a big fat no, as I was about 20/200 pre-op). Then I laid down on a cold “table” in the middle of this big room of machines. One nurse held my hands, while another covered my left eye (they always start with the right eye). The surgeon then placed a wire contraption that reminds me of the egg-holder used to dye Easter eggs over my right eye to hold my eyelid open. Then the surgery began.

Because I was having PRK and not Lasik, the first part involved a 30-second chemical bath to remove a very thin outer layer of my cornea. They all count down the 30 seconds. It’s not painful, but just a bit uncomfortable. Then the surgeon takes some sort of squeegee and wipes away the remnants of the bath.

Note: while all this is happening, you feel a bit like you’re having an out-of-body experience. It seems the surgeon is wiping away something on a window above your face, rather than your actual eyeball!

Next, I’m told to look at a red light inside a scope above my right eye. (This is the laser.) It takes 60 seconds (again, they count it down) to “re-sculpt” your cornea to perfect vision. I didn’t feel anything at all. Really, the only way you know something’s happening is by the smell. Yup, that burning smell is your eye!

At this point, my surgeon asked me a trivia question (I can’t recall the question, but I know I didn’t have the answer). In reality, it was a ruse to try and distract me from the FREEZING cold water they splashed over my eye to finish the process. Nice try. After that a contact bandage (i.e., clear contact lens) was placed over my eye.

The entire process was repeated on my left eye and then they had me sit up. Of course this is the point where the doctor asks me what time it is. Yes, as corny as it sounds, I could read the clock that was a total blur to me just 6 minutes before!

I returned to the first office (otherwise known as the valium room) for a final check of my eyes. Seriously, the entire process was a piece of cake. Had I known the surgery really wasn’t that scary after all, I might have done it a whole lot sooner.

I was told to go home and take a nap until around 7 or 8pm. Then, I had to administer 2 rounds of drops at 8pm and 10pm before going back to sleep for the night. Unfortunately, my night didn’t go as smoothly as that, but you’ll have to wait to hear more until the next installment…

I’ve known lots of people to “go under the knife” and have vision correction surgery, but I was always way too scared of the procedure to ever contemplate it seriously. But then in June, my eye doctor said something that changed my mind. During a routine eye exam, he explained that with each consecutive year of contact lens use the risks of infection of vision problems increase. According to my doc, the risks really increase around year 30 of consecutive contact lens use. I just passed year 20, so the 30-year mark seemed to be looming on the horizon. Suddenly the risks associated with vision correction surgery didn’t feel so scary.

So I called the office to schedule my free consultation to find out if I even qualified for the procedure, and was told I’d need to wear my glasses for two solid weeks before the consultation. No contacts for two whole weeks? Yikes? Remember how I said my glasses were six years old, broken and hardly fit for public consumption? My vanity got the better of me and I told her I’d call back.

I finally called back six weeks later and scheduled my consultation for the first day the kids were back in school – August 25. I dutifully took out my contacts on August 10, and wore my old-school glasses for two agonizing weeks (can you tell I REALLY hate those things?). The big day arrived and I was tested, dilated, and tested some more. Because the surgeon was off that day, he had to review my results and call me on Tuesday to discuss my options. My procedure was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the 27th.

At 2pm on Tuesday, I got the news… I did NOT qualify for Lasik because my cornea is too thin. Instead, they could perform PRK vision correction. For anyone who has not entered the crazy, mixed up world of vision correction, here’s a quick run down on the difference.

• Lasik involves a flap being cut in the cornea surface. The flap is lifted and pushed to the side, and then the laser makes the necessary changes to the cornea to fix your vision. The flap is then replaced and the eye begins to heal immediately. Because there’s only a small cut along three sides of your cornea, the healing process happens within a day — all while you’re happily sleeping (thanks to some sleeping pills). You wake up and have perfect vision. Yahoo!
• PRK is essentially the same thing, minus the flap, because some people don’t have enough room in their cornea to have a flap and then still “fix” the cornea. So instead, a very very thin outer later is removed with chemicals, then the laser continues to make the necessary changes to the cornea to fix your vision. The big difference is in healing time. Instead of a few small cuts that need to heal, you have a big gaping “hole” in your cornea that needs to “grow over”. In essence, the PR in PRK = Painful Recovery (OK, so that’s not the exact meaning, but it works!).

When I was told I needed PRK, I cancelled my 8/27 procedure. Instead, I scheduled my surgery for September 17th, so I could plan ahead for the estimated 5-10 days recovery period. I was able to put my contacts back in (thankfully) until the 12th (they have to be out for 5 days prior to the PRK surgery).

More to come…

Today (Saturday) we visited Casa Havilla, the home Melissa runs. The 9 girls who live there all came from families who live in the dump. The parents allowed their girls to move to Casa Havilla, to give them a better life. We gave each girl a backpack filled with wonderful treats. When we first arrived, they definitely looked at us as if behind glass walls – very shy and reserved. After they received their backpacks, their faces lit up and there were smiles all around. Mike said it was amazing to see them sharing the items and passing them around, because only a year ago when they came to the home, they would have been fighting over everything (not maliciously, but rather because they had to fight for everything in the dump). They sorted throught their bags 10 times while we were there, smelling all the soaps, reading the books, and playing with the toys. Thank you to everyone who contributed – it was pure joy to see these girls receive such treasures.

So the reason for the title of this post is that when we woke up this morning, Corinna´s hives and fever were gone, and they haven´t returned! It´s wonderful because those three days were really tough, but a little sad because now Peter thinks his granddaughter is allergic to his campo! Who knows – it could have been anything. We´re just glad it has passed!

Now we are at the beautiful Barcelo hotel in Montelimar. Such a contrast to where we´ve been and what we´ve seen over the past few days… I must admit I feel a bit guilty! But it was also glorious to take a hot shower! (And will be glorious to sleep in air conditioning!) The girls are loving the pool – I think they swam for 5 hours already today.

I guess that about sums it up for the past two days. It´s been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster, but the final outcome is all good. It prompts me to pose the following question (to myself as much as anyone else): what pushes you to do the things you do? Is it a desire to succeed? If so, how is your success measured? Or maybe simply a desire to survive? Or perhaps a desire to please someone… yourself, others, or the One who created you?

Sorry if that sounds a bit more philosophical than usual for me, but a trip like this certainly makes one ponder such questions. Time to let Wyeth use the computer for a bit… my next post probably won´t be until we return. Adios!