Surgery Diary
Today I had cataract surgery on my right eye, and in two or three weeks I will have it on my other eye. My vision felt like it was connected to a dimmer switch and it was slowly becoming grayed out. It was becoming difficult to drive, especially at night, and I needed to do something about it.
The surgery itself only took about 20 minutes to a half an hour. I was completely awake for the whole thing, having decided not to take the meds to calm you down beforehand because they would take hours to wear off. It was uncomfortable in that there was a really bright light shining in my eye and if it would've gone on much longer I would've asked the anesthesiologist for the pain meds. But truth be told, I have a very hard time with pain medication and it is often worse for me than the procedure itself. I can stay drugged out for a long time and if there are any other side effects I will get them bigtime.
For those of you who don't know, they use some kind of a ultrasound to break up the cataract and then make a small incision in the eye and insert a lens in your eye. I had local anesthesia in my eye and only felt a tiny bit of pressure when this happened.
When I had first decided to do the surgery, I was asked if I would like to have my vision remain the same, using my glasses to correct my nearsightedness, or would I like to have that corrected, but then I would be farsighted. I opted to have my vision changed so that I could see far away. So today is the first time in my life that I can see far away without glasses, at least out of my right eye, and I just feel so happy!
It's going to be kind of weird for a couple of weeks because I have a different vision in my right eye than in my left eye and my brain needs to figure out how to get my eyes to work together. Right now, I feel off-balance when I walk and I don't have the same depth perception. But my surgeon told me that if I can just get through the next few weeks, then after the second surgery my vision will match up. I feel really good about myself today in that I did something very brave. I am always afraid of surgery, even when other people tell me that it was nothing.
I'm kind of bored tonight because there's really not much I can do. I can lay here with my cell phone and write like this, and take a picture or two. It's hard just being so still when you're used to doing things, even simple things. I will wear this patch until tomorrow afternoon when I see my surgeon, and then if all goes well I only have to wear it at night for a week when I sleep.
XXOO
Surgery Diary
Today I had cataract surgery on my right eye, and in two or three weeks I will have it on my other eye. My vision felt like it was connected to a dimmer switch and it was slowly becoming grayed out. It was becoming difficult to drive, especially at night, and I needed to do something about it.
The surgery itself only took about 20 minutes to a half an hour. I was completely awake for the whole thing, having decided not to take the meds to calm you down beforehand because they would take hours to wear off. It was uncomfortable in that there was a really bright light shining in my eye and if it would've gone on much longer I would've asked the anesthesiologist for the pain meds. But truth be told, I have a very hard time with pain medication and it is often worse for me than the procedure itself. I can stay drugged out for a long time and if there are any other side effects I will get them bigtime.
For those of you who don't know, they use some kind of a ultrasound to break up the cataract and then make a small incision in the eye and insert a lens in your eye. I had local anesthesia in my eye and only felt a tiny bit of pressure when this happened.
When I had first decided to do the surgery, I was asked if I would like to have my vision remain the same, using my glasses to correct my nearsightedness, or would I like to have that corrected, but then I would be farsighted. I opted to have my vision changed so that I could see far away. So today is the first time in my life that I can see far away without glasses, at least out of my right eye, and I just feel so happy!
It's going to be kind of weird for a couple of weeks because I have a different vision in my right eye than in my left eye and my brain needs to figure out how to get my eyes to work together. Right now, I feel off-balance when I walk and I don't have the same depth perception. But my surgeon told me that if I can just get through the next few weeks, then after the second surgery my vision will match up. I feel really good about myself today in that I did something very brave. I am always afraid of surgery, even when other people tell me that it was nothing.
I'm kind of bored tonight because there's really not much I can do. I can lay here with my cell phone and write like this, and take a picture or two. It's hard just being so still when you're used to doing things, even simple things. I will wear this patch until tomorrow afternoon when I see my surgeon, and then if all goes well I only have to wear it at night for a week when I sleep.
XXOO