The Eye

***CAUTION -- this story may not be for the weak in stomach***
So now that my eye is finally getting better, let me tell you the complete story. You may need to grab a drink and a comfortable chair, because it's a long one. I'll tell it in journal form to give you an idea of how long this problem has lasted!

February 14/15 - Well, we tried to leave for Hawaii on the 14th, but because of the snow, yada yada yada, we didn't fly out until the 15th, but it was a long couple days because the flights were really early and of course, we are always up late packing. Thus began the eye rubbing. While in Hawaii, my eyes were getting more and more itchy, as was my elbows and legs, as it usually does when I experience super warm, humid weather after being in the cold for so long. This time, though, my eyes were non stop itchy, starting to get flaky eyelids. I thought, well, just put some ointment on it and it'll be fine. Should go away by the time we get home.

March 16/17 (I think) - Eyes were getting considerably worse, now it seemed to be getting rather red and puffy. But only in my left eye. So put some Burts Bees Ointment on it and felt okay, drove up to NYC with Jerin, Wami, and Taisei, and felt fine for the most part. Just kept putting that stuff on, and felt like it was going to get better.

End of March - Saw the eye doctor, since I needed a new contact lens prescription anyway, and she recommended using Vigamox, an antibiotic eye drop usually used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis, or pink eye, and also Erithromycin on the eyelid to heal/prevent infection. The eyelid doesn't get any better, now it looks like a cyst of some sort has developed, almost looking like an open sore. But not bad just yet, I just thought it gets worse before it gets better. Little did I know.

April 7 - Eye doctor says the pink eye is gone, but now the 'secondary infection' of the eyelid was getting uncontrollable. She recommends that I see a dermatologist, but I was leaving for Japan the next day so was unable to do so. Gives me Bacitracin, a more stronger and general antibiotic, for my eyelid and sent me on my way.

April 8-16 - Eyelid gets significantly worse, since in Japan, I am out and about the whole time, and unable to clean around the eyelid, so it gets more and more infected, and the little open sore begins to overtake the eye.

End of April - Tried Neosporin, thought it looked like it was getting better, but it actually wasn't. Flew out to Jacksonville to see Jason & Michelle & Elias, and the heat and humidity there made the eyes worse, and actually started to spread to the other eye. Rest of my body starts to get itchy as well - elbows, legs, chin, neck.

Early May - Realizing that I didn't want a gimpy eye for my birthday, I finally call to see a dermatologist, and he recommends taking Doxycycline (a tetracycline) antibiotic and then using Bactroban ointment on the eye. Takes a viral and bacterial sample for testing to see if it was positive for any of those. Sends me on my way within few minutes. Efficient, I thought, typical of a former Navy O-6. Also told me I have eczema, which is why my eyes, elbows, legs, were rashing up whenever I go from dry to humid weather. This was the cause of all my problems.

May 10 - Early morning, I thought, hmm, should my face be feeling fat everytime I take the antibiotic? I look up symptoms for allergic reaction, and face swelling is a symptom, but I'm not getting anaphylactic shock or tongue swelling, etc etc. This is eight days into taking the ten day prescription. I've been home all week. Call the doctor, he calls back and tells me to stop immediately, that it could've gotten worse. Also says that both tests came back negative for bacteria and virus. So I realized that everytime I took an antibiotic, I took an allergy pill at the same time, so as my allergic reaction began, the allergy pill would also kick in; that morning, I guess it was just slower to kick in, and I was in a world of hurt.

May 12-14 - Thought hmm, should my eye be dried under a fan and allowed to crust up/scab so it can heal, or should it be moist all the time? Tried both. This weekend we tried the crust up thing, but then I couldn't open my eye at all. So was at home all weekend in bed. Right eye keeps getting worse. Getting rashes around it, and the eye doctor yet again gave me Vigamox because it looks like I have pink eye in that eye as well. Did it for both eyes. Eek. Oh and by the way, Evan got us all sick with the cold over the weekend.

May 15 - Realized hmm, maybe since there's no bacteria, no virus, that maybe the Bactroban wouldn't be effective since there's no bacteria to kill! Tried going without anything, and seemed to be healing better. Sat under a fan all day (been doing this fan thing for a few weeks now, so lame), so it was nice and dry. Seemed to be getting better. Tried sleeping without a fan at night, couldn't sleep at all, so tried with.

May 16 - Woke up with the eyelids bleeding and oozing. It didn't work. I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to keep it dry, but when it was wet, it never stopped oozing! My supervisor at work had given me a name of another dermatologist a few days back, called them and got an appointment with the Physicians Assistant there that afternoon. Went there, and she instantly gave me a handful of new prescriptions to take. Told me that with eczema, can't have the skin too dry (so no fan), and needs to be well moisturized. Prescribed some Keflex antibiotics, Desonide topical ointment for the eyes, Predisone to cool the eczema, and another allergy antihistimine to let me sleep at night without scratching too much. She also noted that this should go away by Sunday, if not a marked improvement. I'll see it when I believe it.

May 18 - Right eye is pretty much all better. Left eye is still a little pink, but much, much better than before. Went into work for a good five hours or so. Eyes still get a little dry, but as long as I keep it cool and wet, it feels pretty good.

May 20 - So now you're up to date. The problem with the Desonide is the side effect - itching. So I would rub my eyes while sleeping, so it hasn't been the most effective, but I can't complain. It's much better than it was back in April! Still itchy, but at least I can go back to Seattle looking semi-decent. It was a tough time for me in April/May, because anything we did to try and make the eye better, it seemed to work one day, and get worse the other. It was depressing, because on the internet, it said if I had something like flaky eyelids, I would have it for the rest of my life, and would be treating these types of problems all the time. Good thing it's just eczema, and I can treat it easier. But through those times, it was hard because physically I felt fine, I felt I didn't need to take a "sick day", but in doing so--in going to work, I was exposing my wound to germs, etc etc, the environment that made the eye worse. Was home for two weeks. Some nights I couldn't take it anymore and would go into work late in the night for a few hours just to catch up on e-mails, etc. After the PA prescribed the new stuff, and it started working instantly after that, it was a new beginning. Things became more optimistic. I didn't have to sleep all day, and didn't have to wipe the ooze dripping off my eye all the time anymore!

FYI May 20 is also the day I went into the Missionary Training Center...NINE years ago. Wow, how time flies. Ohhh yeah it's time for church. Better hop in the shower. Will beef up the story later when I have more time, but wanted to give you the skinny up front!

I have some pictures as well, if you'd like to see some. I don't have any of when it was super bad, when it was all crusty that I couldn't open my eyes. That was the worst.

Jacksonville, FL

Sorry for the delay. I don't know why we had SO much trouble uploading these pics to picasa. But here's pics from our trip to FL. Jason managed to get Mark to be a guest speaker at his training meeting, and so Evan and I tagged along for some fun in the sun. It was nice to get away from the killer amounts of tree pollen in DC.
Thanks so much to Michelle for being such a great hostess and taking such great care of us and for introducing us to mochiko chicken. We're hooked. Mark's gotten pretty good at making it at home now. Thanks Michelle for getting my husband into the kitchen! ;)

JAX

Apologize for the Slight Delay

So we're a little behind on our blogging. But rest assured, once we battle through each of our 'little' health issues, we will be up and running once again! If only Evan could blog. We've given up on Lucy. -- Mark

Let's Tokyo

Tokyo 2007

Ah, the nostalgia. Tokyo is beautiful this time of year because it is when the Cherry Blossom Festival happens and it's nice to see that families actually do sit under the trees and have picnics while the sakuras are in bloom! It didn't last long, though. Just like the ones in DC, the rain, wind, and cold blew it all away. Rivers, cars, sidewalks were covered in little blossoms. Anyway, did quite a bit of walking around Tokyo. A little too much, that I got lazy toward the end and just ate at local American food on base rather than walk 10-15 minutes off base. Yes, trains are very convenient in Japan, but they can be a ways away sometimes. Hopefully we'll be back there soon. There's just so much to see, so much to do! Will write more later. It's almost 1am. (not that that ever mattered, but people at work are starting to notice when I get in late :) )

back on homebase

bevan in seattle

Well, that was a fun 12 days in Seattle. And I love going home to Seattle cause it's like a mini-vacation. Free babysitting, good meals, and family and friends. It was just too bad we only had one day of really good NW weather. Yeah, it gets rainny and cold in Seatown, but when there's good weather it's GREAT weather. I think Evan had a good time cause he still ask about his grandparents every so often, and then he'll say "no Ah Kung" (no grandpa). Tonight as I was putting him to bed he asked about daddy and then he said "daddy sleeping, Ah Kung sleeping" I guess he remembers my dad sleeping. When I showed him pictures of our trip he actually remember's Amy, Mark's cousin's daughter. Amy is about 6 months older, maybe more... but he'll point her out of the picture everytime. I guess that amazes me cause I'm so used to him not remembering anyone, and not even calling me mummy. And now he'll ask about people and even me when I'm not around.

About our flight back to DC... I really don't like flights going East, cause you lose SO much time in a day. I just happened to talk to Jason on the phone the morning I was leaving and he mentioned about a huge NE windstorm in our area. Great. I always seem to find the best days to travel too! :( So, I packed extra motion sickness pills for myself, and extra snacks and things to distract Evan if we end up circling DC for an hour in rough winds... which has happened before.
I have to give high praise to Northwest Airlines for this trip. I don't usually take NW Air, but after this trip, maybe I will more often. Evan isn't 2 yet so he is a lap passanger, which is nice that we don't have to pay for him yet. But, he is getting a bit big and too active to handle sitting hours in my lap in those cramped seats. The first leg of the flight was great. They upgraded our plane to a larger newer one. So Evan had his own seat and all the space he'd ever want, and all the new finagled buttons he could press. The next leg I knew was on a smaller plane and that it was full so the odds weren't in my favor for an empty seat next to me.
Evan was wired and was off the walls at the airport. I don't blame him. We just got off a 4 hour flight and still had another 2 hours to go, I had to let him burn off steam. They called people with disabilities or those traveling with children to board first, but Evan was jumping out of his stroller was I was pushing it. He's become a real daredevil with his stroller lately. There was such a huge crowd of people all waiting to board, I got tired of trying to push my way to the front of the line. I don't understand why people don't just get out of the way! It really is like everyone thinks if they get on first, that they'll some how get to their destination faster. And don't even get me started on people deboarding the plane!
So, anyway, I grabbed Evan and dropped him back in the stroller and dragged our stuff off to the side to wait to be last to board. If you can't be first, be last to board. Besides, you feel like some VIP when everyone is seated and watches you walk on and take your seat. I think Evan liked it too cause he was waving to EVERYONE we walked passed to get to 22D.
So here's what puzzles me. Maybe the NW Air staff saw my frustration and are really intuned. or maybe someone in the crowd? Or divine intervention? But when I finally went up to the gate, they knew who I was and they handed me a new ticket. "Ms. Chang, we've assigned you a new seat so you'd have an empty seat next to yours, just to make travel with a little one easier." WOW!! Did she read my mind?! No where on MY reservation did it say I was traveling with a lap passanger. None of the staff asked me to put him on my ticket. How did they know? Well, however they knew, they gave me the last empty seat left on the plane. There were plenty of little kids on that flight, too. And that whole flight, Evan was an angel. He sat in his seat happily looking at books, playing with toys, eatting his snacks, and watching Nemo. The flight attendents all came by and told him what a well behaved boy he was, and that for a 21 month old he was like a little man. I was in my own "shock & awe" moment too! For his final trick, he climbed into my lap and fell asleep right before the half hour of turbulance till landing. The winds had not died down in DC and the plane was swinging left and right and making sudden drops that made you feel like your stomach was at your neck. The guy next to me grabed his air sickness bag just incase, and I was SO glad to have taken my motion sickness pill before the flight. People applauded when the plane finally touched down. I'm so glad Evan slept through that. But I think he was still effected by the turbulance, cause while he was running circles around me at baggage claim, he threw up all over himself. That's my boy!

Other than that, our last few days home have been laid back. Both Mark and Evan are adjusting back to DC time. Mark pretty much slept all day Saturday to get back to normal. And I'm glad to report that after a few 2am bedtimes with Evan, he's finally back to 9-10 bedtimes. I guess I'm the last one standing. It's 2am and I'm blogging... *sigh*.

Friday Nite Update

Evan's watching an old black and white of Elvis in the movie "Love Me Tender" with my mom, so I've got some time to make a quick post. We're getting Evan an early start on the classics.

A quick update from Mark. He's done with work and meetings and has two days to play. He met up with Hideaki last night to go out to dinner for okonomiaki; I'm so jealous of all the good food he's enjoying out there. The only thing Hideaki wanted was a burger from Burger King from on base. I guess that's the only place to get one in Japan. They're meeting again this Sat to go to a baseball game. Mark's told me how exciting the games are, especially the crowds, so I'm guessing they're gonna have a great time.
Mark was worried that his Japanese was rusty before he left for his business trip. But he found that it came right back to him as soon as he found him self lost on the streets walking from the train station to the military base where his hotel was, dragging his luggage with him. That's probably the only bad thing during his trip. He's been site seeing and shopping in Yokohama and Tokyo. He even went to the Tokyo temple to work on some family names we have.
Wami and Jerin told me about how picky Japanese are about their rice, and that it was a lot better than what we have here. So I asked Mark to get me some! :) He said it was a bit pricey, about $10 US for 2 kilos (apx. 4 lbs). So I hope its good. Is there a special way to prepare it? or is my regular rice cooker fine?
One of Evan's current little obsessions, besides Nemo, is a little white bunny named Miffy. We got him the Chinese DVD and he loved watching it. Acutally, we found out that he really just loved watching the intro song over and over and over and over... So, Mark's gonna feed his obsession by buying him Miffy ABC books and toys. hehehe

As for us in Seattle, Evan seems to be learning more and more words faster. He's starting to copy what we're saying, probably not knowing what it means. I'm not sure where he learned it but now he likes to say "nope" all the time. So I've had to teach him to say "yup". It's so funny when we're directing a question to someone and he'll think we're talking to him and he'll say, "nope!" He's also started referring to anything that's round or close to round as a "basketball". And all fruit as "apple" even if he knows its call something else. He has become a bit OCD about fish too. If he sees one in any form, photo or drawing, he must point it out and say "fish!" over and over and over. And it doesn't matter if you acknowledge his discovery or not, he'll keep pointing and saying "fish!"
The other day my mom took him into the Disney Store. She thought she'd buy him something from there and wanted to see what he really liked. The funny thing is that I don't really buy him things he sees in stores. I let him play with toys while we're shopping but I tell him to put them back. So, Evan got SO excited to see a huge pile of stuffed Nemos and Lighting McQueens. He arranged them all into a nice neat line in the middle of the store. So my mom thought he liked the cars. Well, then he put them all back and ran to the other side of the store and got excited about something else. He was so funny. He wouldn't take anything, he'd put everything back. For a while he held on to a toy car and a mickey mouse plate. Then he saw a huge beach towel with a HUGE Nemo on it. He dropped the car and plate with such noise and ran up to the huge Nemo blown away at how HUGE Nemo was! It really was bigger than him. I wish I got a picture of the look in his eyes when he saw how big Nemo was.

I'm coming along in my knitting and crocheting lessons. I'm finding out that you just need to learn the basic stitches, the lingo and how to read the patterns, and master how to hold the needle and yarn right, and for the most part, you can do anything! Ok so it's not as easy as it sounds, but at least I understand how things are made, even if I probably wouldn't be able to do it myself. I'm working on learning how to make a baby hat so I can make a bunch and donate it to the church's Humanitarian Aid program. And I'm making a shawl for myself to use while at the temple. I don't know why I'm always cold when I'm doing work there. I hope this helps.
I'm getting faster and faster at crocheting it, and making less mistakes along the way. It's so annoying when I make mistakes cause the only way to fix it is pull out everything you done since you made that mistake. So that could mean an entire section that took me a half hour to do gets pulled apart. So frustrating.
Anyway, you guys probably don't really want to read this much about crocheting... it's really grandma's thing. :) hahaha. I think it is too, it's just that I think I feel like I need to know this for some reason.

Well, that's about it for now. I still need to figure out the fastest way to upload pics off my camera to my parent's computer. The USB cord doesn't seem to be working right. Actually I think the memory card in the camera is messed up. I swear I'm gonna win this fight.

Seattle and Japan

Evan and I are enjoying springtime in Seattle while Mark is in Japan on business. He's emailed me about how beautiful the cherry blossoms are in Japan, and I'm so jealous. We did go to the tulip festival here in Seattle. If you're ever in the NW in the beginning of April, I highly recommend the 40 min drive north to see the endless fields of tulips. So far, I've spent my time visiting old HS friends, and hanging out with family. Pretty relaxing. Evan's getting spoiled left and right.

Easter morning, my dad hid plastic easter eggs in the front yard for Evan to find. I took some of the eggs and drew on them with permanant marker. I turned one into a basketball, another into a baseball, and one into a fish. Evan loved those eggs, since those are his favorite things right now. My mom got Evan M&Ms for easter candy. I wasn't too sure about giving Evan chocolate, since I'm so afraid he'll be a chocoholic. I relented and put 3 M&Ms in each egg. Evan LOVED them! He was drooling orange and green all over himself! He never drools when he eats! hahaha. I started to see the candy monster come out in him, and took the rest of the candy away and gave him just the eggs. He had such a good time looking for eggs, he kept asking "more?" when there wasn't any more to find. So after church I hid the eggs again in the living room, since the usual Seattle rain started outside. And that kept him busy walking around the living room for 20mins. nice.

I'm glad to be home for a while. Having mom's home cooking is the best. Whenever I'm home, my mom and I always work on some project together. Like sewing or quilting or painting or cardmaking or putting together a family history book. This time, I'm learning to knit and crochet from my mom. My mom is an amazing bundle of self taught talents. She taught herself how to sew her own clothes when she was a teenager. No patterns, just by measuring herself and getting ideas from fashion mags she had a wardrobe of custom made clothes. She learned to knit and crochet her own sweaters too. I think there are a few that us kids had growing up that she knited for us too. They're so well done you'd think they were from the store. In fact the other day we were in Banana Republic and she saw a sweater vest that looked just like one she made in her twenties. She showed it to me and sure enough, same color, same style knit, just like the one in the store!
So, I have to try to learn as much as I can from her while I'm home. So far, my knowlege of knitting has increased. I learned what I've been doing wrong for so long, and how they do all those different patterns if knit. I'm learning to crochet. I've never done that before. It seems simple enough, but I'm not seeing the patterns in the fabric I've done so far, that its a bit frustrating. In knitting you see patterns really easy, but crochet, it's more complex looking to me. Well, I hope to at least get a piece well along the way to take home and finish by the time I leave.

Not much else to report from Seattle. I'll have to post about Mark's adventures in Japan later.