There are many things I would like to draw your attention to that have been happening lately. Let me first start by sharing with you a joy from this morning.

2222
That's right the old Scooter hit 2222 miles this morning! I would like to say I turned off the road to take this picture, but I did not. I took it at the red light I was stopped at this morning. There are only 3 lights in town and 2 of them were red on my way to work at 6:48, but that did not bother me because my Scooter turned 2222. I have had it about a year and a half and it already has enough miles on it to go to the moon and back. I am so proud of the little guy!!

Next on the list of exciting news to tell you is that I am now officially a school bus driver. That is right, I took my first official drive in a school bus yesterday! It was a noon and evening route for a driver who had a funeral to go to. There were a total of 4 kids on my bus (2 and noon and 2 after school). They all said that I was cooler then the normal driver. Well truth be told one student had some support needs and was nonverbal, one was too scared to say a word, one kid was in 6th grade and the other kid pretty much ignored me. But I consider all of those to be a success.

Last but by no means least, and something that goes along with driving the bus is that I now have PMS. Well again I might of changed the facts. I have MPS. Which means I have motorcycle, passenger and school bus endorsements on my class B Commercial Drivers License. I know it is kinda a big deal, but I am not letting it go to my head. I also got the "A" restriction taken off because I no longer need glasses or contacts.

On another note, I had my every two year physical yesterday. Although that is never fun I am glad I am not a woman or over the age of 50 yet. The nurse did comment that I had great vision! 20/15 in each eye and 20/13 together. I told her I just had LASIK and she said I cheated.

Well till next time,

Keep up the fight

Going Under the Laser

That is right folks, I will be going under the laser Friday, September 10th, at about 9:45. I will be getting LASIK done on both of my eyes to hopefully end my dependence on glasses and contacts.I have been wanting to get LASIK for several years now, but it has always been to expensive, but thanks to a new medical study, I can afford it. LASIK cost about $5,000 and there are also fees for the initial screening, vision test, eye drops, medications and follow up appointments. All in all it is not uncommon for the whole package to be closer to $6,000.

Over the years I have been watching my Health Savings Account grow to a modest amount of just under $3,000, so how is it that I am able to afford LASIK? Great question, let me explain.

So I was listing to the radio when I heard an ad to call for more information about a LASIK study. I will save you some of the details and tell you that instead of $5,000, I will pay $2,000, get all my meds and drops for free, follow ups for free and at the end of the study get a check for $500.

So what is the catch? Here's the deal. The FDA is doing a study on the eye drops that are used after the surgery. They are already on the market and commonly used in the %1 solution. The drug maker wants to know if the drug would work better in the %5 solution. So they are giving the study participants drops that are either %1, %5 or just a natural re-wetting drop (placebo). I have no idea which one I am on and I just take the drop like normal.

What they are hoping will happen is that those participants with the %5 will heal faster. Those who get the placebo will still heal, just slower. So, once a month for 6 months I have to go back and the run a bunch of test on me to see how I am doing. They poke my eye with this fine hair about 100 times. I'm not kidding there are 9 zones on each eye they test and you have to feel 3 pokes in a row before they will move on to the next zone. The other test is a reading test where they are trying to see how quickly your eyes can recover and focus on small print to be able to read faster.

Well keep me in your prayers and I will let you all know how it goes.

Keep up the fight