- Looking Out
My family history isn’t very good with respect to eyes. Both of my grandmothers had glaucoma. My maternal grandmother also had cataracts and was ‘legally blind’ by the time she was 50. My Uncle Willard had macular degeneration and was blind for the last five years of his life. So, I worry about my eyesight. My ophthalmologist does, too.
For several years, I’ve been using drops for glaucoma. Right eye only. My astigmatism is severe and my cataracts are “coming along.” It’s been some time since I’ve been able to drive at night and I can no longer read road maps or telephone books, with or without glasses. All very scary.
Yesterday, I went for (another) cataract consultation. I learned that the old way of waiting for cataracts to “ripen” before they are ready for surgery is pretty much a thing of the past. Nowadays, it is a question of how badly your vision is impaired. If your sight is not poor enough, your insurance won’t pay for the surgery. Wouldn’t you know that it would boil down to that!
I find that I am a fine candidate. And, I may even have a choice as to distance vision without glasses (90% chance of complete success) or near vision without glasses. But first, I must travel to Longview and have my eyes ‘mapped’ to determine whether implanting toric lenses will correct my astigmatism.
I’m eager to get on with it. However, I need to wait for three weeks or so until Nyel recovers from foot surgery, scheduled for tomorrow. Once he can walk and drive again and I can put aside my Nurse Ratched duties, my quest for improved sight will begin in earnest. How I wish that my grandmothers and Willard had been afforded such an opportunity. We do, indeed, live in the best of times…for some things, anyway.
Eyes: Yes, they do have it! At least the “attention” of those in our age group. I’ve had cataract surgery in the right eye which has macular degeneration (two drops 4x a day). Just read an interesting article in our local paper. I will make a copy and send it to you. In the meantime, be heartened, improved vision is possible!
Don’t worry about the cataract surgery Sydney. I had it done about 10 years ago. In my case it was determined that I would be blind in about a year without it.
I convinced the surgeon to fit new lenses so that one eye was good for reading, the other for driving. For me at least the switching from eye to eye is very automatic.
Now days, they do not “put you out” to do the surgery. I had a local anesthetic and was chatting with the surgeon throughout the procedure. Approach it academically and it is fascinating. There is very little pain and the recovery in fast.
My great grandmother went blind from cataracts. As a woman ahead of her time, she was a school teacher and suffragette (you know chaining herself to the statehouse steps etc.) and taught herself to drive when women just didn’t do that sort of thing. I’m sure that she would have been happy to know that my surgeon was a woman.
My mother had hers done in Tacoma and was very pleased. The place was beautiful and we were all very satisfied with her treatment.
Cataract surgery is such an amazing treatment… I was so pleased with the results Jim had.
When he had them done they would normally give a patient a general anesthetic. He refused asking instead for a local. Now they do this as a matter of course. His ophthalmologist, a fascinating energetic young woman, agreed that it could be done without a general.
The actual incision and lense placement took about 20 minutes. Since he is diabetic they use extra large lenses.
His doctor came out of the room and exclaimed, “I love my job!”
I was chatting with her right after the procedure, and saying how amazing it was to have an nearly instant cure for a malady that took months or years to progress to complete blindness. She told me that she felt certain that it had to be the most rewarding job in the world, and her favorite part was when she went on humanitarian aid leaves to third world countries. She said she regularly would treat people who had been completely blind for years, and they would see again.
Sight is such a precious thing. It is easy to take for granted as it slowly degenerates.
I know that you will enjoy your new lease on life and view of the world.
It gives one pause to reflect on perspective.
The view itself will not have changed, just how you view it.