One Week After Cataract Removal

By this time last Thursday I was sleeping.  I guess I still had the pain and sleepy meds running in my system.  So I’m getting back to my “normal” routine.  It seems I get the most work done when everyone else in the house is sleeping and I don’t have phone calls to answer.  11:30 to whenever I go to sleep (usually between 1:00 and 2:00) is probably my most productive time working on the site or promoting it.

The fact that I can do that with some confidence is a result of the surgery.  I use reading glasses that enables me to see the computer screen more clearly than I did prior to the surgery.  I have the font size at +2 (two steps above medium,) which is where I used to have it.  I am now also able to read, briefly, without the screen being reversed.  For those not familiar with Macs, you can easily reverse the screen to see a negative view.  Fonts that are usually black on a white background are reversed and become white on a black background.  If my eye improve a little more, I may even be able to use a Windows machine (though why would I want to do that?  Our point-of-sale system runs on a Windows machine…)

Other achievements I’ve had in the past week include seeing colors more vividly.  I love just walking outside and looking around.  The grass and leaves are so green and the sky is so blue.  Flowers seem to have so much more color.  I can also see cars on the road, signs on buildings, and, on the down side, marks and dirt on the carpet and walls.

Watching TV has become enjoyable again.  I can now tell characters apart, where as before the surgery I was happy if I could tell if a character was white or black.  I’ve also noticed that I am reading the ticker(s) at the bottom of the screen while I watch Bloomberg, CNBC, FNC or CNN.  All the graphics on the news and sports looks sooo good.

The best thing for me so far on TV has been watching the Flyers.  I don’t know if it is just from the surgery or also from watching in HD, but I can follow the puck much better that I’ve been able to in a long, long time.  I guess it doesn’t hurt that they’ve been winning either.  Lets see if I enjoy watching them play the Caps…  I do like Ovechkin — he is one of my favorite players.  He is a complete, tough player, unlike Crosby who is a gifted player but the worlds biggest crybaby.

My first outing to a sporting event was this past Monday.  I went to Jane’s softball game against Abington Friends.  I was very happy how much more of the action I was able to follow.  I did lose track of the ball on some hits though.  I enjoyed the game even though Jane’s team lost (though Jane knocking in a run and scored another) and the umpire was terrible (though that is not why they lost.)  I am looking forward to watching some of Jake’s lacrosse games.  His last game before my surgery, I had trouble seeing the players who weren’t near the sideline we were on.

Lets face it, my eyes still suck in a big way, BUT, I can see so much more than I could before the surgery.  I have more confidence wondering around a store by myself (of course, until I get glasses or better reading glasses, I still can’t see what is on the shelf…)  I’d also be comfortable finding the bathroom on my own in a restaurant, which is something I would not do before the surgery.  I am still hopeful of reading printed material and throwing a ball around with Jane or Jake.  Maybe next week…

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Eight Hours from Now…

It is hard not getting excited about the surgery.  I dream of all the good things I may be able to do, while knowing the risks that could dash my hopes either temporarily or longer.  I have never had eye surgery that improved my sight significantly.  I am really hoping that the only thing done is the cataract extraction.  While I will take any improvement over my current vision, I am hoping for 20/80 – 20/100.  I don’t know if my eye could even get to 20/80 — that is probably a best-case, the planets are aligned scenario.  20/100 is the third row down on the chart, the OPLB line on all the charts I read (not that I’ve read that one since early this millennium.)

I received many well wishes and good lucks today from my friends.  They are all greatly appreciated.  My involvement in this whole thing is easy.  I just have to lay there.  Eliz is the one that has the difficult job.  Beside all she does normally, which is just about everything, she’ll now have even more tasks — put eye drops in (as often as the Dunkin Donuts guy makes the donuts,) read everything to me (including email, orders from ForYourSalon.com, business/news/political/sports sites, and who knows what else,) lead me around everywhere, and do just about all my tasks running the business (which aren’t many, but it is more stuff to do.)  Her father once told me, after I mentioned a small problem Eliz was having, “Sorry, no refunds.”  Who’s looking for the refund now…

At this point, in my mind there were no other solutions to my eye trouble.  I won’t second guess my decision.  I wonder how it will turn out.  I’m hoping the planets are aligned.

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One Week to Go

At some point next Thursday morning, I will be in surgery hopefully only having a cataract removed.  There is the chance that I will also receive another corneal endothelial transplant (DSAEK, partial-thickness corneal transplant, endothelial keratoplasty, or whatever you want to call it.)  It is what I had done on 4 Dec 2008.

From what I gather, recovery time on the cataract extraction is about half that of the DSAEK (which is about four months.)  Seems like I won’t have to wear that awful eye shield as long with only the cataract coming out.  After the last surgery, I had to wear it for over a month.  Lets not forget the misery on the day after my last surgery.  My IOP went from seven to about 30.  I puked my guts up all day long from the dramatic change in pressure.  Showering was difficult too since I had to make sure I didn’t get any soap or water in my eye.  That was only for a few months.  Eliz will be shaving my head this weekend so that I only need to use a washcloth to wash my head.

I am very excited about the prospects of seeing more than I see now.  Maybe I’ll see well enough to go to the movies again.  I’d love to go and see a few Phils games, or even go see an Eagles game (you know, I’ve never been to the Link.)  If things go really well, maybe I’ll be able to throw a softball around with Jane, a lacrosse ball with Jake, or even read the mail instead of having someone read it to me.

Of course, there are risks and I do worry about something going dreadfully wrong.  I see only light out of my other eye, so any failure would dispose of the fantasies I’ve listed in the previous paragraph and make life a bit more challenging.  I have no idea what I would do then.  Lets just hope for the best.

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