Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Cataract Surgery - Day One

I arrived an hour early for my cataract surgery. I opted to take a taxi in as my daughter was busy in the morning but would come and pick me up after the surgery. Not too early though as all the procedural work was completed soon after my arrival which was great. I managed to get my 250 steps an hour by quietly taking a short walk each hour of sitting. Into the pre-op area and everyone was so very efficient from the first nurse who interviewed me and put drops in my eyes to the last one who showed me the way to the clinic area for a quick visit with the surgeon before being discharged to home. Home again just after 2:00 having arrived at 10:00 am. I was extremely tense; hospitals are not the place where I ever like to be as a patient if I can avoid that. But the whole process was so streamlined that relaxation gradually crept into me and I was able to quietly record in my mind all the details. My only regret is not having both of them done at the same time especially afterwards as I was able to get up and go home without assistance on my feet. My eye did not have any pain and we actually went to the hospital pharmacy and bought the eye drops before heading home. Heavy rain, lightning and thunder all day actually but it did not create any problems for me. 

The first thing I did notice though was my ability to see further back on the right side (my right eye was operated on). Having lived an entire life where I had to turn my head to see further than about 75 degrees on the one side seeing the entire window at the back at the same time as I could see the entire window at the front of my small house was amazing.  The other incredible feature was the brightness of the vision. If I closed my good eye then the colours were so much brighter looking out of my right eye - white was really dazzling white instead of the sort of off white I have gotten used to the last few years - the effect of the cataracts I guess. My vision is still fuzzy but I can actually see these letters as I type with my normal glasses (not reading lenses) so already a plus and it is just the beginning of day two when I reach about noon. Three sets of drops in the eyes and the only problem I have is not having enough strength to get any drops out of the first bottle, I think the other two I can manage on my own but my daughter is here to do all of that and I am most grateful for her help. 

The ophthalmologist had said I might see better and indeed I may. My brain will need time to reprocess how this eye sees and that will likely wait until the second eye is operated on. There is a possibility it might be one week sooner and will wait and see on that as he mentioned he had a cancellation. We will see if I am lucky and get that cancellation other wise it will be towards the end of the month. I can see why they only do the one eye as it is gives them a good flow through at the hospital taking up just 15 minutes of surgery time for each case. When you double the operating time then that gives fewer breaks to the staff in between cases. Plus you get more patients in on each OR day. I took his comments to mean that my lens was simply inadequate at birth and at that time these sort of surgeries were not done. It is a gift to children now to be able to correct their strabismus at a young age and improve on the sight God has given to them. 

Back to resting the eyes. 

Prayers for the people trapped by the land slide in Papua, New Guinea - 2000 feared to be under the slide..


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