I passed my pre-operative physical yesterday, which I needed before my scheduled cataract surgery on Monday.
I will need a second surgery in a few weeks, for the other eye. If it happens later than 30 days from now, I will have to take a second physical. I didn’t know that physicals have expiration dates, but it makes sense that they do.
I have a leather eyepatch with a bloody eyeball painted on it ready to wear between surgeries. During that time my sight will be so different in each eye that I will likely have double vision, so a patch was suggested.
Peace be upon you. I’m a few weeks past my second eye’s bifocal implant. My vision is gradually improving. I’m able to read the newspaper, now, even some agate print, if I stand in the brightest spot in the house. I still feel around for my glasses when I wake up. I’m going to get some cool sunglasses, something I couldn’t do when I wore glasses.
Good luck! It’s a pretty routine operation these days.
My husband had his first eye done, and he found it to be easier than he thought.
So when he went back for the second eye, he found it hurt more.
The doctor said that everyone said that, that the expectation of pain and discomfort for the operation is pretty high, and so the first operation is a breeze. Keep yourself psyched up to think that it’s pretty bad for the second operation, and fool the doctors.
BTW, my husband had to wear glasses for myopia, and his sight is now better than it’s ever been, and he only wears reading glasses (like everyone in our age group <sigh>.
Good luck, and post pictures of you with the eyepatch. Keep it on for the first night after, at least, it’ll keep you from trying to scratch or rub your eye.
My mom just got her first eye done on Tues. and is THRILLED. She says the yet to be operated on eye now seems like she has a brown lens on because the fixed eye now sees things so much “brighter”.
I am happy to say the first cataract procedure was a resounding success. The surgery was Monday morning, and when the patch came off Tuesday, I was seeing 20/20 (at a distance) immediately, and also at a followup appointment on Friday. I have an extremely bloodshot eyeball, which the surgeon said was caused by my moving it slightly as he was gripping it, but that should fade with no adverse consequences in another week or so. One more followup in another week to remove a single stitch (which I can’t either feel or see), and a new test for a prescription 2-3 weeks after that, and the whole thing should be done.
Just in time for the surgery on the other eye, now scheduled for May 21.
I will end up needing reading glasses, I’m sure. It is VERY strange having to move paper farther out to read it than to move it closer, which is the experience of my whole life to date.
The first 5 minutes after they removed the eyepatch was all about me just looking around and saying, “WOW!”
I’m so glad things went well. Nothing better than to be able to see clearly, which I haven’t been able to do since I was nine. I’m just thankful for contacts, at this point. Here’s hoping the other one goes as well, or maybe better if you don’t move.
I’m hijacking for a second here, because you made me think of my dad, who saw his baby granddaughter clearly for the first time when she was six months old, in the car on the way home from the airport when he came back from the Mayo Clinic. He sat down next to her and the first thing he said was, “Her eyes are really blue, aren’t they?” He spent the rest of the trip home reading signs and saying it was the first time in years he’d known where he was on that road.
I don’t care what anybody says, cataract surgery is a big deal.
If anything, the right eye, the one already operated on, is significantly more functional than immediately after the surgery. I tested a week ago at 20/25, so my eye got slightly more nearsighted. That turns out beneficial in a sense. At first I couldn’t read most print without reading glasses – my arms weren’t long enough to get the print far enough away to focus. Now I car read without the Walgreens specs, and my distance viewing is hardly at all impaired. So without glasses I might have to get a bit closer to read a street sign, but otherwise I’d hardly notice. In other words, I’m quite functional for both near and far vision without any correction, and that is a better result than the surgeon told me was possible.
The left eye has gotten so bad that it’s more or less a gray blur that my brain filters out, but I hope for similar 20/20 ish results with it when the patch comes off Tuesday.
I also look forward to depth perception again, but I’d have to say it’s an overrated function for the modern couch potato like me. I don’t have to catch or kill my prey, or spot juicy berries, and driving without it is surprisingly easy (and legal I found).
And I was just thinking, what with all the ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ promos that are about to hit, that if some tactless ass asked her what was up with the eye-patch, she could reply “I won the ‘What would you do for a Date with Johnny Depp’ contest.”
That’s a classic!
