Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

Sigh. Sorry to do this but I am. I’ve had a set back with my allergic reactions, and this week it has been back with a vengeance. I still do not know what is causing it. If you visit my photostream and look at the set called alergies, you can see a history there. Note the lines under my eyes in this photo. Those are not “wrinkles” from age, but rather wrinkles from where all the swelling went down. They are above the eyes too, and looking at the right eye in this photo, you can see my lid appears to be drooping. It is–when the swelling went down the skin sags. Maybe in the morning they will appear more normal.

(Oh the vertical line b/w my eyebrows–yep-that is a true wrinkle. Does that mean I frown a lot?)

What to do?

I called and the doctor who said I should make an appointment with an allergist. Upon making the appointment for an allergist back in April, I found out the cost for a new patient workup was a minimum $600 (to cover costs of tests, etc.) and then my first office visit was an additional $300. That is outrageous. I canceled the appointment then. I have my state health insurance, but I must pay a deductable up front of $500. While this may not be much for others, it is quite a hit for me. So now we are planning (isn’t that crazy) for this huge cost since the allergy seems to come and go now. Sigh. Wish over the counter drugs would keep it from coming back. Anyone know any herbal remedies that stave off allergies from an unknown source?

Who am I writing for?

Recently I’ve had to do some real introspection. Why do I blog? Who am I targeting? What is my goal with each post? It has really made me go back and look at many posts. I used to think it was for my technorati rank, and then I thought it was for readership. Then I thought it was to solicit comments/conversations and affirmation that I have good points, thoughts, and ideas. Some would say it is for attention, and some might even say I am campaigning for an award or two.

Check out this:

Blog Stats

There are currently 191 posts and 479 comments, contained within 55 categories and 105 tags.

And for the record, those are not necessarily great stats, but I’m pleased with them.

Why then…?

That’s a lot of possibilities
As I sit here reflecting on this tonight, I realize it is for none of those reasons–though some of those things I list are definitely side effects, and some of them very satisfying ones. In short, however disappointing this may be to some, I do it for me. I do this as a way to tumble ideas through my head. I read others, and respond there, and then quite often here. And I’m open to any and all agreements and or disagreements. There is no harmful or malicious intent, but rather a desire to think out loud (albeit in a blog.)

Face to Face vs. Virtual Conversations

Feel free to agree or disagree, and if you want to be left out, I will remove anything that makes you uncomfortable, particularly if you express to me your interpretations. Words, just like emails, can be easily misinterpreted, and when someone is not known very well, the ever important “voice” that comes out of writing could start something that was never intended. It is better to set the record straight right away. Face to face conversations will ALWAYS supersede blogosphere conversations. It is the very reason we all strive to attend the conferences where we might meet up, and why many flocked to EdubloggerCon in Atlanta (NECC 2007) and Educon2.0 recently in Philadelphia. We clamor to see the people who do partake of conversations in the 2.0 tools because as much as we love these tools, they still cannot top meeting face to face, having conversations, sharing and networking in real life, and realizing that commonalities do exist in more than just our virtual presences. Even though the tools (like Skype, Ustreaam, and CoveritLive) allow us to experience the faraway and impossible (either physically or financially) to attend workshops, conferences, and seminars, nothing beats hanging around face to face with the people we have befriended in virtual places. I feel I made life long friendships with Liz Davis, Joyce Valenza, Lisa Thuman, Jennifer Wagner, Carolyn Foote, Sylvia Martinez, Will Richardson, Ryan Bretag, Robin Ellis, and many more who attended Educon. When I attend NECC this summer, I will deepen already strong friendships with Sue Waters, Diane Cordell, Sheryl Nussbaum Beach, Darren Draper, Dean Shareski, Lisa Parisi, Alex Couros, and more there. This is true on a local level too, as I have recently cultivated a few good friends (Heather L., Fran B.) out of virtual tools right out of my library association, SCASL. Why? We already share a camaraderie in other virtual venues.

So just who is Cathy Nelson?

Please don’t think you know all there is to me or what makes me tick from what is written here. The blog is just one component of me; it is one place you can learn a little bit about me. But it is not the total me. Want to know the total me? Pick my brain in person. I’m not near as forward, brave, or sassy in person. (But I do like to be that “wannabe” personality sometimes, and the blog allows it. It’s probably my one take away from getting to know Doug Johnson in person this past summer at NECC 2007–outside of his blog.) To quote him–straight from his list of biases which I am more and more seeing the wisdom of instead of just humor:

1. Technology is neutral.
2. Best practices should drive educational change, not technology.
3. Short-term fixes rarely fix anything and usually aren’t short-term.
4. PowerPoint doesn’t bore people: people bore people.
5. Machines are the easy part; people are the hard part.
6. Cell phones are evil. (Exception to bias #1.)
7. Macs are better than PCs.
8. More and better are not synonymous.
9. My best judgments are made when I think of myself first as a child advocate, second as an educator, and lastly as a technologist.

PS-don’t humor yourself and think you did something to warrant this post. I got the idea after reading what Clarence Fisher said today in his blog. Because that is true, no one gets a pingback except Doug and Clarence. Hope the rest of my friends have subscribed to google alerts or something to let them know I named them. (I can be so selfishly mean sometimes.)

Attribution:

Image: ‘asleep‘
www.flickr.com/photos/45519093@N00/7790062

Image: ‘mac kitty‘
www.flickr.com/photos/94507863@N00/144630706

Image: ‘Photo 43‘
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2287488214_f3157bc639.jpg?v=0

Disclaimer: This post is about my last round of lasik, and may not really be of interest to anyone except those considering eye treatments.

I had a second Lasik procedure Thursday (that had been scheduled since January–I made them let me wait until Spring break) and when I went back to the doctor Friday, they did not like what they saw, even though I was reading on the eye chart 20/20. I had swelling of the corneal flap (the incision they made-a flap they cut and lay open to do the Lasik) and there were white blood cells forming to fight the inflammation. Apparently this is BAD for the healing of the corneal flap. SOOOO….

Just to recap the history of my eye-surgery, I had total lens replacement in August, followed by a lasik procedure on my left eye in October, and then the Lasik for my right eye this week. I’ve been able to read w/o glasses for most material since Sept, but EVEN from a phone book since the October Lasik treatment on my left eye. But I still had an imbalance in the eyes. Not wanting to miss any more work due to the doctor visits, I scheduled the right eye Lasik for spring break.

Thursday my 17 yo took me (had to have a driver since they give you a lot of relaxers–not to put you under but to calm and soothe you for the procedure), had it done, and then came home to “sleep it off” which is literally what they ask you to do–giving you 2 sleeping pills and 2 painkillers. They forgot to give me mine, but I didn’t stress, but instead did a Bendryl and slept most of the afternoon. I did experience some mild discomfort, but didn’t stress it b/c I was told I may have some, and I knew they had forgotten to give me the painkillers. So I just took Advil, and went back for the post op visit Friday–alone. No driver needed.

When they looked at my eye, they said I had a lot of corneal swelling and they could see white blood cells trying to heal the cornea, but they needed the flap to seal and the swelling to go down w/o those white blood cells–which is what the drops (3 kinds) are supposed to do. Dr. Christenbury said the white blood cells would make it take longer to heal and could damage the shape of the cornea?????? (I really don’t know the medical jargon here or even if I have described what the risk here is correctly.)

So he said he needed to go back into my eye and “wash” it out. I had two choices-call and get myself a driver up there to drive me home OR let him do it without having the Atavan to make it a smooth comfy process, and drive myself home. Of course I said I’m a big girl and I did the procedure with NO medication, nothing to take the edge off. It really did not hurt, but I was ultra aware of everything going on–like even the squeegee they used to put my corneal flap back in place–doesn’t that sound weird? They lay me down, flipped open the flap, and flushed my eye with what seemed like 2 gallons of water–my hair was soaking wet on the right side, and flipped that flap back over, smoothed it out, and finally placed a contact like bandage over my pupil. I had to wear a plastic shield over my eye the rest of the day and night, only to remove for a 3 drop regimen every four hours.

So I went back this morning, and they removed the “contact-bandage” and the flap is sealing nicely, but there is still some swelling and haze–SO guess what? I have to go back Monday. One more day of spring break will be nice.

I feel fine, and I can read better. And I can tell already that my vision is more balanced than before, which is why I needed the right eye lasik treatment.

It may sound like this was very painful, but it wasn’t at all. The most uncomfortable part was having my eye physically touched, but they gave me MANY numbing drops, so really all I could feel was the pressure of their touching it.

Even with my complication, I would still recommend this to ANYONE thinking about it.I can now read the phone book and text message on my cell phone–which was not possible 6 months ago w/o glasses.

Now after creating this post, when my friends and family ask, I’ll just direct them here to “read all about it.”

Image Attribution:
Eye Chart. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/3496961_9e581fd0fe_m.jpg