Removing cataract is slick and gave me 20-20 vision

Somehow one day after having the cataract taken off my right eye, I have 20-20 vision which I didn’t have since my 20s.

It was an amazing process that unnerved me a little although the doctor and the hospital were amazingly kind and efficient.

I noticed blurry vision at night years ago but no one told me it was a cataract until last spring. “Don’t rush,” they said so I took them at their word.

The ophthalmologist appointment took until December 23rd and seemed pretty straight forward. He had a booklet for me that explained everything in detail. What to expect, what to do, how long it would take to see better.

They make you take along a “responsible adult” to day-surgery at the hospital and arrive at 8 AM. I got a call Monday saying there was a cancellation. With no time to prepare or worry I was in the queue.

Tuesday morning, everything went off like a charm. The Day-Surgery department was humming with activity. 34 patients would be treated that day and 17 in the morning.

Nurses probed, measured, stuck needles in while I played the joker with a handy quip. In a flash in comes the gowned and masked doctor who makes a quick joke about which eye and marks a X on my forehead.

People are putting drops in my eye and he just whisks in, pulls my head to the end of the gurney, pumps it up higher and starts to push me down the hall.

It was strange that an orderly wasn’t doing this but I appreciated being in the hands of the doctor. It was comforting. Let’s get one thing out there – I hate anything near my eyes. So it was uncomfortable all the time.

In a few minutes I meet Jan, Brent, Kathy in the operating room. The microscope has a god-awfully bright light that I learn to stare down. They put warmed sheet over my chest and then a sheet over my face. He pops a hole in it and I am staring up at the god-awful bright light.

15 minutes of whirring and some dis-embodied voice saying “warm” and “hot” and it was over. The old lens was gone and a new lens in place and I had a perforated eye protector. Plus one awful headache which lasted the rest of the day despite T3s.

So today at the doctor’s office there were about 10 people who had been through the same procedure yesterday. Some wore the patch some didn’t. I kept mine for that “pirate” look. The doc whipped off the tape and eye patch and declared everything is wonderful. Better than wonderful, I got 20-20 vision again. It’s only slightly fuzzy in my right eye.

I expect to work the angle of recuperating for a few more days so don’t tell anyone I’m better.