Random 5 for January 22, 2023 – Dry eye, Mahjong, wisdom teeth, food, weather

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One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes winter cartoons!

Done! – Over the past nine months I’ve been getting treatments for dry eye. I have the severe kind, not the kind every person over 50 has (so don’t tell me you have dry eye too unless you actively doctoring for it). The kind that feels like someone put battery acid in there. It’s painful and annoying and the eyes are very hard to rest. This nosy Rosy uses her eyeballs all the time! I had three different kinds of treatments plus medications and I’m at a much better place. It will never go away. One of my treatments SHOULD include living on an island with good humidity (humidity is my friend!) and moderate weather. A Tiki bar nearby would be good too but it’s not absolutely necessary for my eyes.

Getting into it – I’ve been playing Mahjong for the past six months or so. I have started to do some exercises at home. That means having the tiles on a card table. Yesterday, my cat Morgan hopped up to help me. Before I knew it, there were tiles on the floor and a very pleased cat congratulating herself for winning her first game.

Ouch! – This week the beloved husband gets one of his wisdom teeth removed (or as I like to say “yanked out”). Neither of us have had an extraction so we are not sure what to expect. If it was me there would be tons of soup and mochas in my future. We’ll see!

This has never happened before! – One of the step kids (aged 50ish but we’ll always call them kids) visited this past week for a few days. I had bought some chicken to have on hand. It was in the coldest spot in the refrigerator. We never used it so after she left I opened the package to break it down into smaller packages. Ewwww! It stank so badly. Crime scene decomp stink. It didn’t look different. I wasn’t sure if it was the cryovac packaging or it had gone bad. I consulted Dr. Google. He said it was bad. It was within the use by date so I’m not sure what happened, but I wasn’t happy to throw away the equivalent of five meals.

A snowless January? – We are close to the end of January and the weather forecasters are predicting the possibility of a snowless January. That hasn’t happened before. Latest first snow date on record for our area is January 20th. Long range forecast is too warm for snow although we may have flurries. The beloved husband is taking credit for this phenomenon. He bought a new snow shovel in November. It’s a sure way to beat off storms.

So how was your week?

This is for my Colorado readers!

72 thoughts on “Random 5 for January 22, 2023 – Dry eye, Mahjong, wisdom teeth, food, weather”

  3. I hope your eyes repair themselves somewhat with this treatment. Cat friend Carol doesn’t mention her eyes as much as her other issues – she has spiking BP and is having surgery on Valentine’s Day for her stomach having moved into her ribcage area. Morgan won – well she would do better than me as I’ve never played. I am addicted to Klondike Solitaire and Word-Wipe and would miss them, though I give them up for Lent. (That’s a big sacrifice for me.) What a waste of money with the chicken – people probably picked it up, didn’t want it and left it near the check-out counter and a store clerk just returned it to the meat area again. I always buy the Sargento sliced Baby Swiss cheese and I had just opened the package the day before, ate some and I had some crackers laid out and went into the fridge to grab the package, opened it up and it was all green – how did that happen in 24 hours. I was so surprised, the package flew out of my hands and landed on the floor. I felt kind of sick after seeing it, but I’m still alive, never got sick. Once I opened a can of creamed corn, took several large bites off the tablespoon and poured the rest of it into a pot … a huge black fly was in the corn. Felt sick, never got sick. Contacted DelMonte who said “we do not have human Quality Control” and kind of dismissed me, but I got coupons for a few cans. I keep waiting for the third thing to happen and hope to live to tell about it!

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  4. How disappointing and a little confounding to have had the chicken go bad. Somehow it had to have already turned before you bought it, I’d guess. Thankfully your good nose averted food poisoning! And I hope the tooth extraction isn’t too disconcerting. It’s interesting that neither of you have previously had an extraction. Load up on treats for the reward following the procedure. Both of you can get in on that. 🙂

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  6. It’s been snowless here, too. But we won’t get out of January without it. Forecast is that snow starts on Wednesday. 😕 Very aggravating about the chicken. Good luck with the eyes and the tooth. 🦷👀

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  8. I have dry eyes which I deal with on a daily basis. Mine feel like I have hard contact in after about a 12 work day, but I can’t take them out. When we go to SC in the winter, they are much better than when we are home with the furnace running 24/7. Glad yours are better, because I understand. Good luck with the extraction and the menu planning. If you really want to check out a snowy January, head my way. I have extra shovels. 🙂

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    • Nope, I’m okay without snow. My eyes get extremely sensitive to light along with the painful irritation when I have a flare up. Humidity is our friend. Dry heat is not even with a humidifier going. It’s not the same thing.

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  9. I live in a place, here in Italy, where humidity is often 50-80% so my hair is crazy and Iget nervous every morning when I wake up and see my hair so wet. Yhis January no snow here, no more, there’s rain every day and it’s very sad and boring. For dried eyes you can us a natural way: place a warm, wet washcloth over your eyes.

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    • My eyes are way beyond a warm washcloth compress. I wish it was that simple. The corneas get inflamed and my glands aren’t producing enough oil. In humidity my hair curls more and I like that. Right now, it’s pretty straight!

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  12. That is one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips, too.

    What is your definition of snow? Does it have to stick and reach a certain level? We had snow flying through the air for 24 hours before there was barely an inch to measure. It probably melted within a day or so. Would that count as having snow??

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    • If you can see it on the ground, it’s snow. We had a few flurries yesterday but that didn’t last. It turned to rain. You couldn’t see anything on the ground at all. We haven’t even had a “dusting.”

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  13. We had snow today, the wet stuff, a few inches which stayed on the lawn but not on the road….it was our first snow since that mini-blizzard at Christmas. I can’t remember a January that warm before. Love the Abbey Road pic!

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  15. Good to hear your dry eye problem has been eased somewhat.
    The last package of chicken I bought I put in the freezer. When I took it out to defrost about a week later, it smelled awful. I tossed it. When I bought it there seemed to be a lot of blood in the package. Maybe that was the problem, I don’t know. I do know that I didn’t want to eat it!

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    • I was confused when I opened the package. Pork has a slight smell when in cryovac packaging but I never noticed it with chicken. As I pulled out all the chicken, the smell exploded. No way I was going to eat it (or even feed it to my cats). We had bought two packages at the same time. Stored in the same place in the refrigerator, opened a day apart. One was fine and the other stinky!

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  16. My twenty-some-year-old grandson says he has especially bad dry eyes and runs a humidifier in his apartment. I’ve been thinking he should just use eye drops, but maybe I should have been more sympathetic. I guess he’s not the only one.

    I still have all my wisdom teeth. I hope I’ll get to keep them for the rest of my life.

    We’re having a snow-less January, but that’s not so unusual for us.

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    • He’s young for severe dry eye. A humidifier helps but he should use eye drops. There is also a prescription drop that helps (although I’ve never noticed a difference anywhere but my pocketbook). In a bad flare-up warm compressed really help in the moment.

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  19. Good luck with the wisdom tooth extraction. In some instances, this has to be done in hospital rather than at the dentist. Hubby and I don’t have a full set of gnashers between us, but the dentist we have is very good and when the mouth is totally numb, you don’t feel a thing.
    As for your chicken, still in date, did you take it back or write to the supplier? You never know, you might get a box of goodies as a gesture of good will.

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  21. Glad to hear your eyes are doing better. Yeah, Abbey Road is alive and quite well in the Centennial State. Much to many’s chagrin. I’ve worn the edge down on the shovel and will have to replace it if I expect to get through the snowy months. 🤣 Kudos to Morgan for her Mahjong win. Well done.

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  22. Good to hear that your dry eyes have improved! It’s been a long haul with your dry eyes and I think it’s wonderful there is something out there that brought some relief. I was so lucky, I did not have wisdom teeth. No tonsils to be seen either! Snowless January here… I hope.. Ha!

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  23. I have dry eyes. Insurance won’t cover the cost of prescription drops, so I make do with OTC drops. Some days they work, other days not so much. I’ve had chicken go rotten in the refrigerator too, not because of my mishandling though. It must have been bad to begin with. I didn’t take it back, just figured sh!t happens.

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    • My insurance doesn’t pay for the one drop but I was able to enroll in a program that I pay considerably less than retail price. It’s a new drug and sometimes they do that for a while until you are hooked and ready to pay the big bucks or your insurance covers. Not sure it really works though. Feels like battery acid going on. The other is a steroid for really bad days. that is covered. I had three separate procedures. One was covered and the other two were not. They were all helpful but the most helpful was the first one that was covered. I use a lot of OTC drops. Still looking for one with lasting power. The chicken, sigh. I handled it safely. Always refrigerated in cold part. Have no idea what happened but it had to have happened during processor to store handling. It’s frozen until trash day (couldn’t stand the stink in my garage) but I can still get a whiff when I open the freezer door. If you find the golden grail for dry eye, let me know.

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  24. Your hubby will have to share the credit for the lack of the first snow to date. I purchased a “Snow Joe” in late winter of last year because the vehicle I bought in February is a tall SUV with a roof rack and a long-handled broom no longer did the trick. Tooth removal (especially only one) shouldn’t be a big issue, although men do have a tendency of acting like they are on their deathbed if they get a splinter, so… Nothing too hot or cold, softer foods for a few days, with no chewing on that side for about 2 weeks, OTC pain relief and the loving care of his wife will probably all help in his healing!

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  25. A snowless January sounds good to me…Feb and March too would be okay. So sorry about your eyes and I hope the newest procedure provides some relief. And good luck to Beloved Husband. I was told, at my mid-60s, that they don’t recommend pulling wisdom teeth. Hence my two years of Invisaline braces…which has not been fun. I might have preferred just having them taken out!! Hope it goes ok.

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    • He has a low level infection in it that bothers him from time to time. The dentist recommended getting it out before it became a major problem. Usually they take them out if need be, when people are young. I don’t mind “dustings” but those major snows that required a lot of shoveling are not a favorite of mine. Maybe when I was a kid! I do feel sorry for the snow resorts though.

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  27. Maybe you could run a humidifier in the dryer months? That’s good for skin, eyes, and mucus membranes (which may minimize colds, flu, & covid contagion).

    Weird about the chicken . . . but not something I have to worry about these days. 😀

    That said, “when in doubt, throw it out” is a good motto for any food that smells like a crime scene or a rotting corpse or that is otherwise “suspect.”

    I had a bunch of teeth extracted. I think I had to swirl saline or some other kind of antiseptic around in my mouth for a couple of days. No infection = good!

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  28. Does a humidifier help with your dry eye? I’ve a younger sister with this issue–everything from collagen plugs (to keep her tears from draining) to laser cauterizing (which might be the thing that was most successful). She still puts in drops a couple times a day, especially when she visits out here, where it is sometimes as dry as a desiccant pack.

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    • We have a humidifier going all the time during the winter and it helps some. Everything helps some but nothing is a golden goose. I don’t think I heard of laser cauterizing. The plugs were useless for me. Part of my issue is I’m not producing enough oil secretion or the glands get blocked.

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  29. I’m glad you’re getting some relief from the dry eye. I like your prescription for a humid place with a tiki bar. Your health plan should be glad to cover that expense, certainly 😉. Good luck with hubs’ tooth extraction. I had wisdom teeth removed in my 20s…it wasn’t bad but what is in your 20s?

    Deb

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