So.. some of you might remember a couple of years ago I had surgery on my right ear to replace a previously working ossicular chain prothesis that was originally done in 1989. Well, we are at it again.. I've been deaf in my right ear since last November and this Wednesday, Lord willing, they will replace it again. Most likely what happened was a really bad cold followed by insane sneezing and coughing caused a build of of pressure in my ear. Enough to push out the tympanic membrane just enough to dislodge the prothesis... they think I have eustachian tube dysfunction which is why the pressure built up and would not release properly. So at the same time, they will dialate my eustachian tubes to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

A Dutchman was painting his house when he realized he didn't have enough paint to finish the job. Rather than get more paint he took the remaining paint and watered it down. After he had finished, the skies opened up and the rain washed off the paint. Then there was a loud roll of thunder and a voice from on high exclaimed "You must repaint, and thin no more!"

Heres a great read https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0091

I know this is long, bare with me, it requires some context. I was born with a condition called Nystagmus (CN) which affects both of my eyes and Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) which only affects my right eye.  Congenital Nystagmus (CN) is where a person has uncontrolled eye movement. Mine is horizontal. Sometimes they are still, other times not so much. With this, i have a moving null point where if i turn my head to the right in varying degrees, the CN tends to calm down a bit. Its hard describe what its like.. When its bad, the best i can describe it as is seeing life through a flip book where as everyone else sees it in 4k. The ONH, basically my right Optic nerve never fully developed. With lens correction its maybe 20/50 vision. Because of my Nystagmus, my 15⁰ to 45⁰ moving null point  (right head turn) and astigmatism; it has always been hard to get a decent eyeglass prescription. The reason is the focal length changes between the eye and the eyeglass lens depending on what my null point is at any given moment making things blurry and hard to focus. I looked into contact lenes which would eliminate the focal length issue, however the level of astigmatism I have is too high for normal contacts.  Doing some research, i found out about Scleral contact lenes. These are specialized and I only found one opthalmologists in Grand Rapids that is trained in prescribing and fitting them.  They use a special scanner to measure the topography individuals eye (the Sclera and Cornea) then custom make the lenes accordingly. Because of how they are made, the amount of astigmatism someone has does not matter unlike the common soft contacts. Since Sclarels are so specialized, they are a bit expensive. Usually insurance will not cover them and I'm not sure if I could justify the cost at the moment. I dont really know how, but they managed to get my health insurance to cover all but $115 of them!!  I just got them today (the 30th day of October in the year of our Lord 2024). It will probably take a week or so get used to them and for my eyes to adjust. So far, i am extremely pleased with them. It's almost like seeing the world through different eyes.  Praise God and thank you for your prayers.

So I've had a long term issue with low back pain that radiates down my right hip through my quads of my right leg, sometimes it's the left.  MRI's confirmed arthritis and  Lumbar spinal stenosis around  L3-L5 and other places  along with general inflammation. The current thought is that the nerve root where they exit is being compressed causing a pain sensation. The doc tried throwing meds at it (neurontin and whetever else) but none of them really seem to help much or have had unwanted side effects. Regarding the pain, can ignore it during the day, however, I can't at night. I haven't had a decent nights rest with out taking sleep meds that leave me groggy and brain fogged the next day in several years. Anyways this is really starting to grind on me physically and emotionally.

Please keep my father in-law in your prayers, he was just admitted into St Marys with a glucose level of around 1000.

For whatever you want for Christmas, Immanuel, God with us, the GREATEST GIFT has already been given to you. ‭John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭ESV‬  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Long story short is, she has some very serious health related issues and a really bad home life that is oviously not helping.