Cataracts anyone?

[JohnnyM]

I had both of mine done a couple of years ago and I encourage you to go for it and git 'er done. Don't worry about it -- you'll be fine.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that they're installing a piece of plastic in your eye that is not connected to your brain like your old hazy corneas were, so it only knows one thing: I need to make this guy see in focus at X number of feet away. Your doc will ask you what you want that distance to be and will then put a nice new plastic cornea in there that will be in focus at whatever distance you tell him . To be in focus closer than that or farther away than that you'll need glasses.

Most people say they want to be able to see well enough to drive and read highway signs without glasses so the doc puts in new corneas that work great at 100 feet, pretty well at 50 feet, not bad at 20 feet or 10 feet, but not so well at less than 5 feet. All you have to do is buy a few pairs of reading glasses of different strengths for your close-up work and your vision problems are solved. If you're like me, it'll be a whole new world. You won't believe how well you can see.

Do not fear -- go for it.

Johnny

 

[wasanah2]

I guess I would choose the same thing, to get to see to drive without glasses, but I better have something in mind to see the speedometer because I have a tendency to have a lead foot.

 

[wasanah2]

As it turns out, I'm going to be off the forum till after the surgery on the 24th.  I appear to be having the aggressive growth of the cataract in the good eye and I think it will be better to move in over at my aunt's till after the surgery.  Thank you everyone for helping me through this fear.  It's going to be all right.  I know because I understand a lot more about it now.  Lack of knowledge really makes the imagination run away with the fear too. 

So it's kinda scary now too because I have a lot less sight in my good eye than I had this morning.  They have to do one at a time, so after they do they blind eye, they will do the one that's noticeably going bad tonight.  I have the PSC type of cataracts and evidently they can get bad rather quick.

But I need to get over to my aunt's tomorrow and then I can just stay there till the surgery.  I must say too that being on the internet seems to make my eyes worse, so I don't know if I wil even take the computer over there with me. 

Thanks again.  I'll come on after it's over and hopefully I'll have a really positive report to share about this.  Will be thinking of you all when I go through this too.  I know you're all with me.  Thanks!

 

[wasanah2]

Well, tomorrow the 24th, before dawn, I go in to get the cataracts removed on one eye.  As time gets nearer and I know more, it's easier to comply.  I'm lucky to be otherwise healthy and in good shape.  Not going to doctors over a long period of time, the unknown is a strange thing.  When I went to my first appointment, they had all these weird machines and things that measured my eyes. 

While I haven't been seeing doctors over the years, I have been regularly going to the dentist, and if you consider all the things about dentistry that have changed over the years, it's like space age today.  I suppose the same can be said about eye doctoring.

Well, when I can get back on, after the grogginess goes away, I'll report what happened tomorrow.  I'm not real religious, but I will take any prayers, well wishes or good thoughts anyone thinks to send my way.  Thank you.

-W

 

[Cammalu]

It will be a piece of cake don’t worry!!!

 

[DanoT]

My eye doc discovered early onset of cataracts a half dozen years ago and advised that there was nothing to be gained by waiting to have the surgery preformed.

Pre op I was offered drugs to help me relax but I turned them down. It was a mistake as I became very tense during the operation. For the second eye, a month later, I took the drugs and it went a lot better.

The most uncomfortable part of the operation is the very intense light that gets shined in your eye but the op literally takes only minutes so the ordeal is over very quickly.

Prior to the cataract operation I thought my apartment walls were dull and needed painting, after the operation I discovered that the walls were bright and no painting needed.

After the op I walked home, about 2 miles and had no problems as I had previously bought a pair of dark wrap around sun glasses.

The eye patch was worn at night to prevent rubbing the eye while sleeping.

Pre op I was near sighted and had to wear thick eyeglasses or contact lenses but post op my eyesight is now the best vision that I have ever had. No more corrective lenses needed and most close up reading does not even require drug store glasses except for small print and low light conditions.

 

[wasanah2]

Thank you all!!!

Well, I made it through.  I can see and as the hours go forward, I see better and better.

Thanks very much to JohnnyM because no one was asking me where I wanted to see with this eye and I pulled the doc aside before the lala land drugs went in and told him that I want to see close with this blind eye.  I'm an artist and I wear safety glasses working with stained glass.  Previously they had to go over readers to see and if I were in the middle of something to see further out, I couldn't...and they were both steaming up on me as I got warm working outside with the glass.

My late mother had contacts that one saw close and the other far and she trained her eyes to deal with this function.  She didn't have to have readers and the contacts made it so that her eyes adjusted and worked together between reading and driving.  This was before bifocal contacts, like in the 70s.  The thing is, for her it worked great.  I didn't have time to do an experiment like this, so this is what I told the doc.

I said, I'm an artist and I want to see up close.  I want to wear my safety glasses without being impaired with problems like my readers are steaming up inside (I work with stained glass out of doors, so in the tropics, that's what we deal with).  At any rate, he said, really we like to have people give it a trial first with contacts and I told him the blind eye was seeing nothing and the good eye took over everything.  I have a month before the next surgery, and that gives me time to get it to work.  And if it doesn't work, you can correct the good eye at the same as the one you do today and I'll have to wear glasses to drive and watch tv and anything far.  I said, I'd be happy to do that if we can give this a chance.

They did have a multifocal lens, but my insurance wouldn't pay for it and out of pocket it would be 2500 per eye.  I just don't have that kind of cash nor the time to raise it, so right now I'm doing something I haven't done since I turned 40, I'm reading and typing without readers.  My previously bad eye is seeing well enough to type this out to you. 

So I want to give a shout out to JohnnyM as because of you mentioning about where I wanted to see, I got a problem solved.   They weren't asking me the question.  They were just going to link me up with a lens that sees far so I could continue using readers, but this is way better so far.  And if it doesn't work that the eyes won't work together, no biggie, they can just put the other eye at the same reading level as this one.  But I can tell right now that I'm already getting used to it.  Having the eye blind for a time means that they had to work independently anyway.   That's got to help.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU JohnnyM!!!!!  And also thank you to all of you that prayed and had good thoughts and such for me.  I appreciate it a lot.  I wasn't scared because I knew what was going to happen.  And when no one asked me about where I wanted to see, I remembered JohnnyM's post.  Geez, if this works out the way I hope it does, I won't have to wear glasses and I didn't have to pay 5 grand for fancy lenses.  

Thanks everyone!!!!!!!