Sunday, August 11, 2019

The Eyes Have It


Who would have guessed that in my golden years I’d be living with a pirate? Not me.

          On Friday I handed over a man with two working eyes (if you don’t count trifocals, cataracts, and a divot in one iris after an unfortunate incident installing a basketball hoop), and three hours later was handed back a semi-cyclops.

          This is our first experience with cataract surgery. We’d heard several anecdotal accounts from friends who’d gone before, but there’s nothing like learning first-hand.

          Quick? Yes. Painless? Yes. It’s the after-effects we’re dealing with.

          On the fun side, much of our conversation starts with, “That tree is so green! And that door is so white! But if I close the good eye, the tree is dark and the door looks yellow.” Apparently rediscovery of colors is a major bonus.

          Except only one eye is corrected at a time. The next one won’t be for a month. And as far as I can tell, the doctor is unconcerned that patients are basically ocularly limping around with glasses now useful to only one eye, the other, repaired eye unable to use the trifocal lens.

          So, no glasses – can’t see out of one eye.

          Wear the glasses – can’t see out of the other.

          At the check-up yesterday he had the doctor pop out one lens of his glasses, but that still means the middle distance is a big blur to the new eye.

          One solution, buy a pair of $1.99 sunglasses at the dollar store, pop out one lens, black out the remaining lens, and he can wear this over his old glasses, thus missing fewer stairs and fewer handrails.

          Right now I’m just grateful that at my last visit to the eye doctor I was assured it would be several years before I needed to think about cataracts.

          This is key, because when the time comes I’ll have to think long and deeply about whether to have the operation.

          The reason for my hesitation? My Guy informed me that you can’t wear eye make-up for a month afterward.

          Deal-breaker. 

7 comments:

  1. Well all that information was an eye-opener...sorry. I did not realize how difficult it was after the surgery. My mother-in-law had it down and she seemed fine, but she was always such an easy going soul.

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    1. And the fact that My Guy paints isn't helping. :0)

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  2. I have watched other people go through it - and benefit. I suppose it is in my future, but not yet...

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  3. I had cataract surgery seven or eight years ago, in the dead of winter. When I first looked, one eye saw white snow and one saw yellow. The weather was so bad some other soul cancelled and I got the other eye done a week later. And new glasses ordered the same day. Woohoo.

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  4. I wouldn't be thinking of a future with cataracts, I'd be hoping I never get them at all.

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  5. it's one of the least traumatic and most enjoyable surgeries you'll ever have. I have had incredible nearsightism since birth, and wore heavy glasses (glass not plastic) from the age of seven. 50 years later, I was told I had a cataract in one eye and it was apparently a fast mover, by the time I got to the operation a month later it was a serious piece of work. I was never bothered by color, though.
    And when I was coming home, I was stunned by the fact that I could see, dammit. no glasses.
    I read every sign between here and there.
    The next one was a year later, and I only use glasses for close work, like reading very fine type, and splinters.

    You might be able to get by, as I do, with readers from the store. For 25 bucks, I'm good to go until I sit on them or the lens falls out.

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  6. Colors are so much better. I just had to wait two weeks between my surgeries. I took the lens out of my glasses...and closed my bad eye a lot!

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