#39 Judy and Carol

On Jul 15, 2016, Carol wrote:

Hi, Judy,

July half over!! Time flying!! Looking forward to cooler days, though, as heat has been bad. Your video shoot must be done by now. That was a very different thing to do.  

I’m still doing “less is more” with eyes; some days are better than others. I hope you are doing better too.

Take care, Carol

 

On Jul 15, 2016, Judy wrote:

Hi Carol,

It was so nice to hear from you this morning. It’s been awhile so I have a lot going on to share. The video shoot was definitely a great experience. It was so exciting that I was able to forget how much my eyes bothered me. I wonder if I truly conveyed the suffering this condition causes me.

Either way, if anything I said helps other people – then it was worth opening up my heart to share how I cope. And of course, am still coping! This past week was really hard for me because I had a terrible cold.

My eyes took a big hit and hurt me terribly. On top of that, I had another outbreak of hives. So I was itching and coughing all week. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt well. I also have been woken up in the mornings with awful leg cramps and heartburn.

I finally decided to try something new to help myself feel better. I made an appointment with a naturopathic doctor. It’s going to be this coming Wednesday. I had to fill out 9 pages for the intake. I know it will involve some radical changes – but I’m ready. When I tried paleo diet before, I was unsure of everything and gave up after a few months. This time I’m hoping I’ll get some guidance and that will make the difference.

Today I have more news. I decided to see a friend’s highly recommended optometrist. I know that optometrists can also treat dry eye, so I was hoping for some other new ideas.

This doctor was lovely and she explained so many things to me that made sense. She said my meibomium glands were pretty open, but my eyelids were severely irritated.

Right away, she felt it was an allergy.

I told her Claritin and allergy drops hadn’t helped. She felt allergy drops might have irritated my eyes with preservatives. I was impressed when she did some research and found some that were preservative-free. I ordered them on Amazon with a rush when I got home. I’m seeing her again in two weeks and will see if these drops help.

As far as my vision, she said I’d be a great candidate for scleral lenses. That could solve my vision and dry eye issues (hopefully!). It’s very expensive, but now I’m willing to try.

I feel like that inspirational eye video I participated in came too soon. I know I was still inspirational, but it sure would be great if I had solved my chronic eye discomfort.

I will continue to keep trying and trying! I’ll definitely let you know how it goes with the new naturopathic doctor next week.

In the meantime, hope you have a good weekend and aren’t boiling over there.

Judy

© Judy Unger and http://dryeyediaries@wordpress.com 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Judy Unger with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#38 I WILL SHINE

When I made the decision to participate in a short video documentary about dry eyes, life became very exciting. Initially, I wasn’t sure I was up to doing it and had to get over feeling self-conscious about my appearance. Thankfully, I overcame my fears because I was very motivated to share my inspirational story.

I was paid for my time and that was important to me because it made the project legitimate. I had no idea a film crew of three people would be flying in from Virginia. I was glad that I would meet the producer, Jackie, whom I’d spoken with several times on the phone.

In this picture I’m with Jackie, the producer.

I was asked to choose someone to interact with who knew me well and my childhood friend, Joni, agreed to participate. A week before the filming, we went out shopping together. It was “girlfriend” time!

I’ve known Joni all my life. She lived in the same building where I grew up and am now living.

This picture was taken after the crew finished the filming at my home.

The big day arrived and it was such a magical experience; I felt so important! Of course, it passed really quickly and was very much like being Cinderella. Sharing it with my friend, Joni was such a special memory.

I was able to get a picture of the film crew just before they left.

I end my post with a transcript of my conversation about the filming experience with Hannah, my vocal coach.

Click the blue link below to hear audio:

Blog excerpt 6-30-16 – Judy discussing film shoot with Hannah

Hannah: Go!

Judy: Well I’m back to earth, I’m Cinderella – Now I’m back to being my usual!

Hannah: I experience that on a regular basis.

Judy: Do you? That must be part of what it is – especially with the whole make up thing and the audience sees you as somebody you’re not, somebody else. I had a hive outbreak this morning so I’m itching, damn. That part is hard.

Hannah: I know . . .

Judy: It was wonderful and exhausting. They showed up to start the whole thing at 7 a.m. It was very interesting because I knew it was about dry eyes but they were really focused on my music. To me that’s the best thing in the world!

I went in my closet and dug out all my old artwork and I put it all on a table. I thought I’d make it look like I’m working on something. I took out my paints and made this whole display. And they said, “We’re not interested in your artwork. We just want the story to be how music helped to heal you!”

Hannah: That’s great!

Judy: It was great. They started off with saying, “Where’s your guitar case – the dusty old one? We want to reenact how you started playing guitar again. Let’s put it back in the closet and have you walk over, pull it out and look like you’re playing again – and it hurts.”

I had to be like a little actress!

Hannah: How awesome!

Judy: It was so awesome.

Hannah: Was it fun?

Judy: It was fun! It was fun watching them take interesting angles of my guitar. It was like having your baby photographed. We want more of this guitar and I’m like, “Okay!”

And then my friend, Joni, came over and they had us talk and walk across the street, while following us. People were jogging by and looking at this camera crew following my friend and I thought, “Oh, my God – who am I?”

Hannah: I love it!

Judy: I did love it! I mean the harder part was that it was hot and when I got back it was time for the interview using my brainpower. There were lots of questions – they didn’t really guide me; they gave me a list.

I’d be talking away and think, Oh, I’d better look down at my list and then try to make it sound natural. My friend would say, “Judy, when did your eye problems begin?” She was going from her list. And I’d say, “My eye problems began . . .”

So I talked a lot. I think after a while I started to repeat myself. What gets me is that all this footage and recordings are going to be reduced to 10 minutes and they took 90 minutes of speaking and 6 hours of video.

It was nice when they left that I was able to rest. I got up and wrote to a friend and said, “I’m in a show tonight and I know I could have my hair and makeup done professionally, but I don’t know . . .”

She said, “GO! Do it!!”

Hannah: Yeah! I’m so glad you did; you looked so pretty!

Judy: Really?

Hannah: Yes!

Judy: It was so strange – my hair was all poufy and when I got there, I could see the mascara was all over. I was weepy and my eyes water a lot, so I kept wiping and worrying. But it was great to be somebody else for a day.

Hannah: Yeah!

Judy: And you know what? Now I’ve got to share; it was my best performance. I know there’s no perfection and I had one stumble with my lyrics. But honestly, my voice – what a change! I can’t say enough about how that conversational approach worked. I got all the high notes and I got all the low notes, so what more could I want? It was probably one of my best performances ever.

Hannah: I’m so glad!

Judy: Thank you!

Hannah: Yay! That’s very exciting! Good, so when will they have all that edited and put together for you?

Judy: In a month.

Hannah: Okay, that’s not long.

Judy: That’s what they told me; I don’t know. They want me to send them some of my instrumental stuff and things they might put in the background. I mean that would be really cool if they can use my music in it.

Hannah: Absolutely!

Judy: Yeah. I don’t want to be let down by things they might omit or put in that could be misconstrued; when things are edited, you don’t know. But I’ll hope for the best.

There were a lot of close-ups. Especially after my performance when my makeup was all smeared and I was hot.

But you know what’s interesting? All that dialog was about what I struggle with, but I don’t know that I had any scenes of what I go through – rubbing my eyes. I wore dark sunglasses outside, but they kept saying, “Now we want you to look serious.” (Judy laughing) I’m trying!

But when they said I could smile, I felt like a light bulb. So I think it will be very inspirational to see my smile.

Hannah: Good! Yay!

Judy: Yay!

© Judy Unger and http://dryeyediaries@wordpress.com 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Judy Unger with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.