PROSE cases are finally coming!

That's our biggest news. It's been two months. We have backorders for more than 450 cases! When we finally got actual Fedex tracking numbers we were practically turning cartwheels. 

It's only a partial shipment, but we found that we can get caught up to about February 12, and hopefully we'll have a firm date on the rest that we need pretty soon.

So, we spent part of the day plotting about how we can turn everything around the same day they arrive - starting with how we could get the PROSE cases sooner. They're stuck in Bremerton, they wouldn't let us pick them up today, and if we leave it to Fedex tomorrow they might not get here till mid afternoon. Brent, thankfully, is going to drive there tomorrow morning and get them, David spent the latter part of the day pre-assembling a ton of boxes, and we're be doing a bit of an assembly line once we have the cases tomorrow. 

Brent *thinks* he's going to be back here by 8:30. I'm slightly cynical, but hoping he's right.

So many interesting conversations

Another reminder of Dr Rosenthal's legacy

Yesterday, I had a call from a woman in Massachusetts. It was not related to dry eye. Her 54-year-old son suffered a severe TBI at the age of 19, was in a coma for a year, and is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair. She's convinced he's having vision issues, as he keeps taking off his glasses and keeps tilting his head, apparently trying to see better, but none of the eye doctors she has taken him to would venture to change his glasses prescription. 

Why was she calling me? Because she remembered that Dr Perry Rosenthal, whom her son had seen more than 30 years ago, was the only one who could fix his vision at the time. She tried to track him down, found he had passed away, and called me to see if I knew who had taken over his practice. (How did she find me? That really puzzled me, until I googled the name and was astonished to find that the tribute I wrote last year was the first google hit.) She remembered Dr Rosenthal's kindness, after all these years, such as enquiring into other details of her son's health and recommending a remedy that her son uses successfully to this day. Such a precious, unforgettable man.

Do we have a sling?

We had a voicemail today from a lady with a rotator cuff injury, hoping we had some kind of sling she could use as she's prone to getting these injuries repeatedly. I assumed it was a wrong number until I spoke with her and she said we were listed as a medical supply company in the local Google listings. Google really doesn't let us get more specific than that (at least, not last I checked), but one would hope that the company name is a little bit of a clue about the range of our products.

Lids, lids and more lids!

I had a very interesting talk with a gentleman who got severe dry eye after having a total bleph about 25 years ago - when the surgeon was supposed to have given him a medically warranted brow lift. Yikes! He is among the many who do not tolerate commercial lubricant drops at all, and was in dire straits for solutions (forgive the accidental pun) when he found Unisol 4. Now, of course, Unisol 4 is gone and he might just be setting the record for nursing along the last of his supply longer than anyone else as he still has a couple of treasured bottles. He has moved on to Purilens, but his eyes aren't doing so well now, and whether that's because his dry eye is getting worse (apparently he has Sjogrens as well, and at any age, let alone 70's, Sjogrens is likely to cause more dry eye than saline drops could help) or whether Purilens is different enough from Unisol 4, I don't know. But I'm hoping ScleralFil may at least be helpful.

Earlier, I spoke with someone else who had dry eye from a bleph, and now I can't find my notes. Rats. It was really interesting too.

Lens insertion woes

So many conversations never would have happened if it weren't for an error or problem of some kind. Not that I'm in favor of errors or problems, but I sure treasure the conversations.

Today, someone received two See-Green lighted inserter stand kits. Whoops! She was understandably unhappy at having to deal with the extra one, but it was a rather costly package that we really needed to get back.

For various reasons I ended up speaking with her myself and was so glad I did. She's had her scleral lens since November, but only once ever successfully gotten it in her eye! And succeeding in this lens is the only thing standing between her and a transplant! I ached for her, hearing that, and at least now that I know, I can check in and see how it's going and if there's anything we can do to help.

I am thankful to have learned from the 'good old days' to expect a very high standard and that it is okay to hold doctors to it. Back at BostonSight, they would not release lenses to us unless we successfully 'graduated' from training. 

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

The Dry Eye Company's home is in a strip-mall sort of thing on the main road through Poulsbo. There are three relatively small one-story buildings, and we're the first suite in the second building. Amongst our neighbors....

To our left in building 1, there's Kitsap Crossfit - a popular spot, and we love them, as long as we're not trying to find a parking spot during one of their classes when our lot is full to capacity. They take up most of one building, bounded by the offices of a cleaning company on one end and, on the other, The Twisted Chiropractor. 

Across the lot in building 3, there's long-established Kimco Plumbing - great neighbors, they load up the vehicles with parts in the wee hours and disappear and we never see them all day. There's Hot Yoga, one of whose patrons hit my parked car, left, felt guilty, and came back and restored my faith in humaity. There's the dry cleaners, which is ever so handy, and a tattoo parlor that I really, really need to visit one of these days, and a floor tile place occupying the unit we had when we first moved into the complex.

In our building, there's a church occupying the next two units. We have very thin walls, but we never hear a peep during the week, except of course during their months-long renovation project last year, but thankfully that's all over. On the other hand, I normally work on Sundays, so I get the benefit of a full length sermon. The rest of the building is occupied by DME, an automotive repair shop. So nice, if I needed anything worked on, to just hand Bob my keys when I get to work.

Except that Bob isn't there anymore. He had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. When Bob took over the business, less than a year ago, he actually built living quarters for himself in part of it and moved in with his dog, Danny. 

So often, driving in or out of the lot at all hours, I would see Bob and Danny on their walk.

And when I was working late at night, it was always a comfort to know Bob was there.

He had a massive heart attack. He was 61.

A new team member!

You just never know what you're going to get. What will tomorrow bring?

Today, I met with Josh, my friend Lisa's son, who is between jobs and looking to try something new. He's going to help Brent and Susan in the stockroom part time. I'm so excited to have him! He spent a little time with them today and I think he'll fit right in. And, what better way to get initiated to the Dry Eye Shop than to join us tomorrow for a PROSE case packing party. Taking an entire shipment of something, packing everything up individually and then filling orders and sending all of them right back out the door by pickup time is our specialty here as we've had so many backorder situations to deal with in recent years.

Oh, and happy PI day!

Gosh darn it. I was going to do a promo with a $3.14 discount at Chaidie and Brent's suggestion yesterday, but I didn't remember till the end of the day.