So glad the cataract removal is under way. It’s about time you had some good news! I started to tell you to hang in there but you have been doing that for a long time. All the best to you.
That’s great news! I’m glad the abscess settled down on its own and you were able to get the cataract removal process going.
Sorry you have to wait that long for eye #2. Mine had been scheduled for 4 weeks apart, though they had a cancellation and I got 'em 2 weeks apart; a friend had hers done 7 days apart.
They gave me a scrip for computer / reading glasses at the 2 week followup for eye #2.
My friend actually wore a contact lens in the bad eye for most of the week between the two procedures, as her vision was so bad she couldn’t have gotten by even with a lens knocked out of the old pair of specs. I believe she did pretty much what you describe, re reading close up with the unfixed eye.
If you’re lucky, when #2 is done you’ll be able to get by with drugstore reading glasses.
I’m glad things are moving forward. Do you think drugstore reading classes might help while you go through the process?
Yeah, bummer the eyes surgeries are so far apart. I have what may be the best vision I’ve ever had in my corrected eye. Well, except for close-up. At about 14" or so, it starts to go fuzzy. I printed out a chart to gauge what strength reading glasses I need, and ordered a pair off ebay. Hopefully they will help for the several weeks I have left before I can get proper glasses prescribed.
Been doing OK, abscess-wise. Finished my antibiotics, doctor said the abscess had gone down to the point where it was no longer palpable. Hope it stays away until later this year, when I get the proctectomy.
Gotta figure out my SSI, and how long I can stay in rehab/skilled care facility before they stop paying me. I’ll likely need to stay in rehab for awhile after the proctectomy, but I’ll still need to pay for the apartment so I have a place to stay when I get home. Last time I went in, 6 weeks went by, then I went home and got stuck in a chair, because that was when I would have switched over to long-term care. They didn’t do a good job of explaining the ramifications of that. Made me feel like I was checking myself into a place I couldn’t check out of, and I wasn’t about to do that. I hadn’t even considered that SSI wouldn’t pay me while I was in there.
I’ve all but convinced myself that SSI will probably pay me for the period before the ‘long-term care’ kicks in. I’ll have to look into it, but if that’s the case, 6 weeks should be ample time to heal and be well enough to return to my apartment. I’ll see if I can save up a cushion in case things don’t go as planned, but it won’t be much.
Figure I’d bring this up-to-date. Both eyes are fixed now. Without glasses, I have great distance vision, poor near vision - exactly the reverse of what I’ve had my whole life. Most of my life takes place within arms-length, now more than ever. Wish I had better close-up vision. For things I could see without glasses before, I now need my bifocals and a magnifying glass. Oh well.
Don’t much care for my glasses. Narrowest lenses (from top to bottom) that I’ve ever had. I think it makes for a very narrow field of focus in the progressive lens. They didn’t have frames with wider lenses in the section my insurance would cover. Again, oh well. I can see pretty well, even if it’s not quite as good as before.
My abscess came back, again. I’m on antibiotics, again. Seems to be helping. I go to the surgeon in about ten days to talk about a proctectomy. I have to read up on it carefully, but it looks like I’ve got 3 months in hospital/rehab before they’ll cut my SSI. That will give me enough time (barring complications) to heal from surgery and still keep my apartment.
Got a call from the subsidized housing ppl. An apartment opened up and I was next on list, but it wasn’t on the first floor, which I need to have now. She was very nice. They’ll call me when one opens up on the first floor. I have to wait until my lease is up here anyway. Think January’s my last month. Hope that works out, in time. I could really use the extra cash.
Not bad overall, so far.
My gaming clan friend received a liver transplant on Sunday. He was going into kidney failure, really sliding downhill fast. Unfortunately, he had a stroke, either during or just after the surgery. His kidney function is returning, but he hasn’t regained consciousness, though his wife says he frowned when she told him she broke his phone.
Must be nice to be someone who prays, who has the feeling they can actually help.
I don’t think it is a reasonable belief that a subsidized housing apartment will open up exactly when your lease runs out. Instead it will probably open up before it runs out or after you have to sign a new lease. So you need to grab it when it becomes available.
Anyway best wishes.
Seconded.
Check into your current lease; it may allow you to go month-to-month once the lease is up. That would give you a bit more flexibility.
If you have a chance at a second-floor apartment in a building with an elevator, would that do? There’s the risk there that if the power goes out (or if the elevator malfunctions) you’d be stuck upstairs, so I’d personally be leery of it unless you were able to go down the stairs in an emergency. My in-laws, when looking for a condo, specifically wanted one on the ground floor for that reason.
Congrats on getting the eyes done. I’ve been able to get by with drugstore reading glasses, though that’s partly because I got the multifocal implants. That might or might not be something you could do (they do make over-the-counter bifocals) in the future, as a cost saving measure. Ugh on the abscess. What a literal pain in the ass :(.
And my sympathies to your friend and his family - how terrifying for all of them, and what an utterly unfortunate outcome of such life-altering surgery.
In many states, after an lease has expired, the arrangements can continue on a month-to-month basis as long as both parties agree. FILB, speak to your landlord about your situation; most are perfectly willing to continue having a good tenant indefinitely IME.
For instance, I rented a house for 15.5 years before I bought my house but I only ever signed a lease twice. When the first expired, we just continued under those terms. 8 or 9 years later, my landlord was trying to secure a loan and he needed a new lease to show the creditors, so we signed a new one. That one held for the next 7.5 years, despite expiring after just a year.
I paid the rent on time and handled minor repairs myself (sending him the bill for materials, natch); landlords love renters they can trust. I even gave him 60 days notice when I was leaving, even tho I only had to give him 30 days notice. He was good to me (decent, cheap house) and I tried to be good to him; it worked well for both of us.
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I will be going month-to-month after my lease is up. I’m not counting on exact timing there, just hoping for sometime after my 1-year lease is up. VERY SOON after it is up would be preferred, of course. 
MAMA ZAPPA, the multifocus implants sound like the coolest sort of sci-fi. My insurance wouldn’t pay for it, though. I expect you paid for the lens upgrade yourself. Nice, though. Overall, my vision is bright and colorful, though I get a bit of weirdness from light hitting the edges of the lens, as I understand it. It’s supposed to diminish with time.
I’m about a week from my consult with my surgeon. Not looking forward to the ordeal that will be. Hope I can get my SSI straightened around and they will do what their website seems to say - pay me for 3 months while I’m in the hospital or rehab. That’s essential to my keeping my apartment. Don’t think I’ll have the money to get a new place if I lose this one. If I get the new place, it will enable me to save more for emergencies.
My friend has responded to verbal commands yesterday. He opens his eyes (somewhat, according to his wife), and can move his feet. He touched his chest with his right hand, and then his left hand, when directed to. Bilateral movement, understands and responds to verbal commands. It’s a promising start.