Cataract Surgery - Post-Op - Follow-up

For a 'side sleeper' as myself, being restricted from sleeping on one of my sides is not conducive to a good night's sleep.  In addition, having an eye guard taped to my face made sleeping almost impossible.

At 4:30 AM the alarm went off.  It was dark and I was disheartened when I tried to 'see' with my new lens.  Nothing.  My good eye now open, I could see, but nothing out of my other.  As I got to more light, I could eventually see, but it was disconcerting to experience this first thing.

After instilling my regimen of eye drops, I had some badly needed coffee, but had to resort to reading an ePaper on my phone since my news carrier didn't arrive until sunrise.  I was able to read using both eyes, but my new lens was still a bit blurry.  However, even that was better than looking through (or trying to see through) my cataract.

My ride arrived around 6:30 and we trekked into Waltham.  Being Friday the 13th, I was leery of route 128.  Murphy's Law prevailed and a truck had careened off the road on the opposite side and all the rubber-necking caused Southbound traffic to stall for a good number of miles. [I don't miss the commute - AT ALL.] 

We finally made it by 7:55 and was the first patient to arrive.  A technician, Ellen called me into the examination room.  She checked my vision and proclaimed that I had eagle vision - 20/20.  Wow!!!  I was able to whip through all the lines on the chart except the very last.  [I believe she said that if I did see that,  I would be 20/10.]

I had asked about my inability to see in the dark and a sporadic 'halo effect'.  Ellen indicated that some of the meds used on me caused my pupil to be restricted, thus reducing the amount of light to the retina. [I did check later and found this to be true when I looked at both eyes.]  As for the halo, she said that it goes away after time and as the eye heals.

I was discharged to the waiting room until Dr. Song called me in.  He looked at my eye through his machine and seemed very pleased with the results.  I asked him to confirm (or deny) that I had sutures.  He chuckled and said, "No sutures."  I told him that I couldn't tell what was going on, but my imagination was running rampant.  After a very big smile, he said, "You did very well and your cooperation made it easier." [How could I not cooperate?  I'll take the praise when I can.]

I have a follow-up next week, but he said that I still have restrictions for a week: I have to wear the eye guard at night; no sleeping on my right side (bummer); no lifting anything over 10 pounds; and no bending below my waist.

When I had asked about the halo effect, he indicated that it goes away as the lens becomes seated.  He did say that in about 5% of the procedures, the lens moves and another surgery is necessary.  [This was disconcerting especially since 3% of all breast cancers are in males.  So I'm not a fan of those types of percentages.]

We decided to take a different route home and in true Friday the 13th form, traffic was terrible and it took more than an hour to get home. [Yup, don't miss the commute.]

More to come.