Well, here's the scoop on cataract surgery. LOTS of eye drops - before, during, after. Start 4 x a day 2 days before surgery. Then up at 6:45 a.m. day of surgery. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Do eye drops, walk dog, wash hair. Go to hospital. Very cold there with air conditioning blasting away. A lot of eye drops every 15 minutes now. Walk into OR, lie down on table - no glasses from admission. O2 scanner on right finger and ecg electrodes on both wrists, blood pressure cuff on left arm. Frequent monitoring of vital signs. More eye drops than I could have imagined exist in the world! Then the anesthetist splashes a syringe full of ice cold gel into my eye to freeze it. Then a clamp is put in place to hold my eyelids open. The actual surgery takes 20 to 30 minutes - no watch no glasses, so this is my best guess. No pain but slight discomfort - and staring into a bright light trying not to shift my eye even when I can't see the light. Occassionally my doctor says "Don't fight me" but I am NOT MOVING A HAIR - this is the scary part - afraid I might move and go blind!!! Anway, also frequent re-assurances that I am doing just fine go a long way to getting me through it. And it's over. Wheelchair back out to the same room where I got the every 15 minute eye drops, call my friend Laurie to come get me, a teeny tiny itsy bitsy teeny weeny little cup of juice and 2 biscuits - I guess they don't want to spoil my appetite for breakfast when I get home! Appointment to see my doctor at 5 p.m. that day and I'm off home with a clear, hard, plastic shield over my eye. Passed a window before going out and blinded by the sun. Of course, my sunglasses are in my purse in the car. Laurie whipped hers out and I put them on, AND covered my eyes with both hands - light is MUCH brighter now!!! So it's then end of my first day post op and my vision in my left eye started clearing last night - but now I see double. And of course I have lost that wonderful close up vision I have always had when I take off my glasses and hold things an inch or so from my eyes. In fact I can't see anything perfectly clearly yet when I close my right eye, but getting there. And I read, watch TV and draw with my left eye closed. Get tired earlier!
Well, here's the scoop on cataract surgery. LOTS of eye drops - before, during, after. Start 4 x a day 2 days before surgery. Then up at 6:45 a.m. day of surgery. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Do eye drops, walk dog, wash hair. Go to hospital. Very cold there with air conditioning blasting away. A lot of eye drops every 15 minutes now. Walk into OR, lie down on table - no glasses from admission. O2 scanner on right finger and ecg electrodes on both wrists, blood pressure cuff on left arm. Frequent monitoring of vital signs. More eye drops than I could have imagined exist in the world! Then the anesthetist splashes a syringe full of ice cold gel into my eye to freeze it. Then a clamp is put in place to hold my eyelids open. The actual surgery takes 20 to 30 minutes - no watch no glasses, so this is my best guess. No pain but slight discomfort - and staring into a bright light trying not to shift my eye even when I can't see the light. Occassionally my doctor says "Don't fight me" but I am NOT MOVING A HAIR - this is the scary part - afraid I might move and go blind!!! Anway, also frequent re-assurances that I am doing just fine go a long way to getting me through it. And it's over. Wheelchair back out to the same room where I got the every 15 minute eye drops, call my friend Laurie to come get me, a teeny tiny itsy bitsy teeny weeny little cup of juice and 2 biscuits - I guess they don't want to spoil my appetite for breakfast when I get home! Appointment to see my doctor at 5 p.m. that day and I'm off home with a clear, hard, plastic shield over my eye. Passed a window before going out and blinded by the sun. Of course, my sunglasses are in my purse in the car. Laurie whipped hers out and I put them on, AND covered my eyes with both hands - light is MUCH brighter now!!! So it's then end of my first day post op and my vision in my left eye started clearing last night - but now I see double. And of course I have lost that wonderful close up vision I have always had when I take off my glasses and hold things an inch or so from my eyes. In fact I can't see anything perfectly clearly yet when I close my right eye, but getting there. And I read, watch TV and draw with my left eye closed. Get tired earlier!
No comments:
Post a Comment