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All, thank you so much for your stories and especially your kindness. I am feeling pretty reassured ... now the only thing that could postpone the surgery is another snowstorm!! They were predicting one for Wednesday where I live, but now it says just 1" of snow expected, so I think I will be fine.
I have rep'd everyone I could, I think -- I so much appreciate all the replies!! I will definitely post again after the surgery. I do wish I'd had it earlier, but you know, your eyes automatically compensate if one is going bad, I think -- I had no idea HOW bad my right eye was because I normally have BOTH eyes open, of course, and I was mostly seeing out of my left eye without really realizing it (if that makes sense).
The left-eye surgery is 2 weeks after the first, so March 4th. I will have to keep the eye drops straight but I am willing to do anything at this point!!
More soon!
LOL, my mother ran into that with her cataract surgery ( she had it about 3-4 months ago) since she had both eyes done within a week of each other. She said she kept the eyedrop bottles for each eye in a separate little box, and labeled each bottle and the box with R or L to keep them straight. I can imagine that could get a little confusing- I had mine done about 6 weeks apart so I didn't have two sets of eyedrops.
I am a clinical technician at a cataract surgery center in the Pacific NW and we specialize in cataract surgery. We do TONS of surgeries every week, and for the most part, it truly is routine and complication-free! We sometimes see eye pressures increase immediately after eye surgery but those are noted at the one-day postop appointment and easy treated with a special eye drop (no big deal). I have seen very few complications outside of that. My mom just had both eyes done last fall, and everything went well. I asked her how the anesthetic injection went, and she said it was a non-factor, totally fine. I think you will be AMAZED at the difference once surgery is over.... and only regret you haven't done it sooner!
I am a clinical technician at a cataract surgery center in the Pacific NW and we specialize in cataract surgery. We do TONS of surgeries every week, and for the most part, it truly is routine and complication-free! We sometimes see eye pressures increase immediately after eye surgery but those are noted at the one-day postop appointment and easy treated with a special eye drop (no big deal). I have seen very few complications outside of that. My mom just had both eyes done last fall, and everything went well. I asked her how the anesthetic injection went, and she said it was a non-factor, totally fine. I think you will be AMAZED at the difference once surgery is over.... and only regret you haven't done it sooner!
About what % of your surgeries are the monofocal and what % are the multi-focals and what is the feedback on each type?
I think it'll be fine. My dad didn't mind the surgery, and that's saying a lot. He couldn't put in his post surgical eye drops. I had to do it for him. I made him lie on the couch or his bed with his hands underneath his body. I had to either lean on or put my knee on his chest and pry open his eyelid just to get the darn thing in. Every single time, he jumped as though he's been electrocuted. He couldn't stand anyone or anything near his eyes. If he said the surgery was not a problem, it's not a problem.
I had both of mine done earlier this year, a month apart. As others have said, it was a breeze. I didn't need the surgery very badly but have another eye problem (lazy eye), and the doctor suggested that I have the cataract surgery done first to see if it helped. It did improve my vision a little, especially helping with glare, but didn't cure the main problem.
Like many, I have a real problem with anything getting close to my eyes and was a little concerned, but it was a snap. I wasn't "put under" but only given a sedative and eye drops so was awake for the procedure. I just lay there listening to the doctor and his assistant jabbering. I think both eyes were done around noon, and a couple hours after both we went to dinner. I wasn't allowed to drive until 24 hours after the surgeries, after a follow-up check. The vision slowly improved in each of them for 2-3 weeks.
My wife usually put the eye drops in for me in the beginning, but then I started doing it myself (for over two months).
I'm back! Surgery seemed to go totally fine -- my right eye was a bit of a complicated case because the cataract was so dense. I could hear the surgeon talking while he was working, and it didn't seem so bad once he got in there -- e.g., he'd thought he might use blue ink to make the cataract clearer but ended up not needing to. (My left eye is not nearly as bad.)
I don't really have a sense of what my vision will be yet -- when I was in the recovery room without my glasses on I could see the EXIT sign better with the right eye (new lens!) than the left eye, which I think is a good sign! OTOH, the eye is irritating me a bit -- it feels like I have a contact lens in there that doesn't fit quite right. As far as I know that isn't unusual either right after surgery (the surgery was literally about 4 hours ago).
I have my one-day follow-up with the surgeon tomorrow morning, so will know more then! But it wasn't bad at all -- honestly, the waiting around was the worst. Next time I am going to bring my Kindle with me!!
I figured I would write in a bit of detail about my post-surgery experiences so hopefully this thread will provide reassurance to others who will be having this surgery in the future! I know that I was VERY reassured by the kindness and details provided by so many posters to this thread (thank you all again!).
I wrote yesterday that my eye was irritating me a bit -- it felt like a badly-fitting contact lens was stuck in there. It kept me awake a little last night, BUT by the time I woke up this morning, that sensation was totally gone -- it's not the least bit irritated any more.
I had my 1-day post-surgery visit today -- it went well. I was bummed when at first I could not read the eye chart well at all with the "naked" eye, but then the tech added another little piece to the instrument -- looks like a circle with a bunch of holes in it -- and I could see MUCH better with that. It's something about the holes diffusing the light, making my vision clearer? (Not sure if I'm remembering correctly, but some of you may know what I'm talking about!) Anyway, the tech said everything looked really good for 1 day post-surgery. Then the surgeon came in and re-checked the eye with a couple of other instruments. He said there is still some swelling, which is not unusual at all, and it will go down day by day. He said I should see vision improvements day by day as well. I picked up the 3rd eye-drop solution so I will faithfully be doing all 3 4 times a day. I'll see the surgeon again next Thursday for my 1-week visit.
I have been working at home all day today writing quizzes etc. -- Thursday is my normal work-at-home day and I have a bit of catching up to do! I am wearing my usual glasses, and of course they don't work well at all for my right eye, but I keep doing quick checks of the vision. For example, from a couple of feet away I can see this screen better with the naked right eye (surgery eye) than with my naked left eye, and about the same as with the corrected left eye. I was also walking on the treadmill this morning (I can't jog, alas, for another few weeks -- I asked ) watching Dexter, and I could see it fairly well with the naked surgery eye. So the vision has already improved hugely from yesterday just after the surgery to now, and I am excited to see what happens over the next several days!
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easy breezy
