The second cataract surgery was completed earlier this week, and I am the proud owner of some pretty wonderful, powerful eyesight. My distance vision really could not be better. My reading vision is good and improving every day. I knew there was a caveat with the reading vision due to a deformity in eye shape, but the doctor did a bid of laser surgery along with the cataract procedure to make the most of the multifocal lenses. And here I am, reading and writing without glasses. I still have a little difficulty with thin letters like i, l, t -- especially double letters -- and some punctuation. But I'm delighted to be reading well for the most part, able to see my phone and computer, and to read fairly small text without much difficulty. I may still wear reading glasses for long episodes of reading -- like a book or news articles. We'll see.
The whole experience was truly interesting. I accepted the Valium they offered, but no other calming medication. The eye area is totally numbed and I was awake and aware for the entire procedure. At a few points patient feedback is needed. It sounds awful, but really is not. Even having your eyelids held open is not weird. You feel like you are blinking normally and it doesn't bother you at all. The entire process takes only about 10 minutes, although you do spend additional time for a physical and numbing process beforehand. Really, the longest appointment was the preliminary one a few weeks before surgery, where they do many tests and measurements. My overall impression was that it was a really interesting experience to have and to "watch". It was more fascinating than anything. No pain at all, and only tiny moments of discomfort.
Perhaps the hardest part is arranging rides to and from the clinic on three different days. My kids all have work and other things happening in their lives. I know it wasn't easy for them to arrange. But they all came through and helped me out. I noticed other patients in the office struggling to arrange rides. It's not easy for anyone, I think.
I came out of the first surgery with amazing clear distance vision immediately but blurry reading vision. That reading vision has now improved to 20/20 but with a slight "smeariness" to the text. I could actually read the 20/10 line as well. The second eye remained blurry for both distance and reading the whole first day, and I was worried there was some problem. However, by my followup visit the next morning, I was seeing very well and able to drive myself. The reading level was only at about 20/40 and that was a reach. But that has improved a great deal and reading in both eyes continues to improve.
One thing I am learning is that I look through these implanted lenses in a different way than I did multifocal contacts. With contacts, I tended to narrow my eyelids to sort of hold the lens in place while I looked through the bifocal part of the lens. It's a habit I need to unlearn. The implanted lens is not floating on the surface of the eye; and holding my eyelids like that has no benefit at all. It's better to hold my eyes open and simply tilt my eyes and head as needed to access the reading part of the lenses. Just relearning this and retraining my brain is bringing about better and better results.
It is amazing to have perfect distance vision without glasses or contacts. I keep feeling like I need to put my glasses on or take out my contacts. Just habit.
I have been following doctor's orders to a "t" following the surgery: no heavy lifting, no yard work for a few weeks, eye drops on a specified schedule for four weeks, etc. The hardest part is refraining from yard work. But I care too much about having good outcomes from the surgery to do anything that might diminish the good results. I did what I could before the surgery. I got some yard help before the surgery. And now the yard projects will just have to wait for a little while.
So, all is well in the vision department. I'm definitely glad I opted for the multifocal lenses as I do have pretty remarkable reading capability without glasses so far. It was worth it to me.
This was just one of the turning points in my 2019. More to come.
