Surgical Fun

 A nurse came out to the waiting room and asked a few questions and talked to Olive and I. She wanted to confirm that I had a driver.

Back in the little pre surgical room she asked more questions.
Did I take two showers, sleep in clean sheets, no lotions, no pets in bed?...and so forth.

Then came all the wires and hook ups and a blood pressure reading which made their eyes pop. I heard one nurse look at my chart and say "white coat syndrome". Indeed, the quickest way to increase my blood pressure is to put me in a room and put the cuff on me. They dug a bit deeper into my chart which showed my normal readings to be well, very normal. 

The nurse put dilator goo that also was a local anesthetic in my eye. So, I was hyper and anxious and now couldn't see much through the Vaselined Eye.

In 20 minutes they checked the pressure again and I'd done some deep breathing and mental calming. My pressure was good.
The guy across the hall actually helped immensely. He was in for his second cataract/lens surgery.

The nurse asked him how he was getting along with the new lens, he said good but it was blurry once in a while. She replied, "Give it a couple of weeks so your brain can adjust to the new view."

He laughed such a wonderful laugh and replied to her, "Oh darlin', I am a Norwegian! We better give my brain a whole lot longer!"

The handsome eye doctor came in and fiddled with something and then discussed a 14 degree something and some techno wizard words. Then he initialed my left eyebrow. He told me to look straight at the hall way and then came in and touched my eye with something. I couldn't feel it.

He turned to the assistant and said something about that's the mark for the lens.
I asked him if he just put marks on my eyeball! 
"I did! See you soon!"

I got some really nasty tasting grape flavored goo to put under my tongue. [The day will be filled with goo references] It was Versed which is worse tasting than the grape flavored cough syrup kids of my generation had to have.
That med is supposed to sedate you. I didn't feel sedated. 

So when they came to get me I steeled myself for the surgery.

They put a mask like thing over my face and then pulled off an opening over my left eye. I was a bit surprised and then I felt more drops and a sudden pressure. Ahhh, they clamped the eye open! 

[And I didn't care! I was diggin' the pretty white light with all the green blobby stuff moving around, it was like a pretty kaleidoscope of green and white with dark shadows.]
Obviously, the Versed worked.

I heard the doctor's voice as he was saying what he was doing, it didn't make any sense to me. But at least he had a nice voice.

I don't remember them pulling the mask thing off my face, but I was wheeled down the corridor and that was it.

They wheeled me out to the entrance and off I went with Olive as my wheel woman. We did a KwiK Trip breakfast of croissants and coffee as we drove home.

All the rest of the day, I wore sunglasses in the house. Light bothered me, everything in the good eye was drippy with tears and fuzzy. It felt like I had an eyeful of hay chaff and I couldn't read. My weak eye went on strike and I went to bed with headphone and Chill Out Music from Pandora.

I was so frustrated. The big surprise of the day was that Rich asked if I needed some water to drink, could he make popcorn, could he get me some fresh Kleenex's for my drippy gooey eye? Could he feed Charlie for me?

I went to bed early and somewhere in the middle of the night, my eye stopped being drippy and weepy. It stopped itching and feeling gooey.

I woke up and stepped outside at 3AM to look up at the moon with no glasses on. I covered my weaker eye.

Can you imagine seeing the moon clearly for the first time in ages? Can you imagine seeing the moon with my own eyes for the first time ever without a halo around it?

I could have cried.

Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. I couldn't see to read the comments until this morning. 

The Eye Surgeon visit

On Tuesday I took my hubby in to see the regular eye doctor. The tech and everyone took their time with him and were so laid back and chilled out. My hubby actually enjoyed meeting the doctor I use.

Wednesday was my appointment to meet the eye cataract surgeon and see if I qualify for the upscale lens replacement.

I checked in and immediately noticed a different atmosphere in the waiting room. I figured out pretty quickly that it was 'Meet the Surgeon Day' for eye surgeries.

I was about the only person there that didn't use a cane or have white hair. The hustle and bustle seemed much more intense than it was the day before.

Olive drove me there and dropped me off so she could go to the Wonderstate Coffee shop and do her remote work and enjoy a nice break from her basement office. Talk about things working out!

One lady called my name and took me to a room where she started to 'measure' my eyes. She explained a few things to me and seemed to push the regular surgery. I inquired about a special lens option, she noted that and whisked me to another room. 

I met a young man who was the Tech for the Surgeon. He tested my vision and went through my medical chart and then put some nasty stinging dilation drops in my eyes. He was nice and worked swiftly.

In about 10 minutes another young man walked in. He introduced himself as Steve and began to ask more questions. 

He...was the Surgeon. He went through my chart and asked about my 'good' eye and what I was hoping to get out of the cataract surgery. I responded by asking him if inter ocular lenses would improve my vision and possibly get me out of glasses. 

I'll stop here and explain that I was born with an eye issue. My right eye was nearly turned in all of the way. I had Strabismus surgery when I was in second grade. That made my eyes look fairly normal and I didn't get teased for having crooked eyes.

Having my eye turned in caused a condition called Amblyopia. For all the years I had a crooked eye, my brain stopped developing good vision in that eye.  I wore an eye patch on my glasses and did eye exercises -- PT for the eyes.

Dr. Steve explained that he could place an IOL [inter ocular lens] in the 'Good' eye and that would give me incredible distance vision, and I'd probably need just dime store cheaters for close up work.

I was all for that. 

There was a whirlwind of things after that and I was whisked to the surgical scheduler. She gave me 3 dates to go to LaCrosse. Crap. I'd need a driver fro the surgeries. The first date was to measure my left eye for a new lens to improve my vision. The next two were dates for the surgery.

I hadn't planned on going to LaCrosse at all. But with the 'new' high tech surgery, it had to be done at the larger facility. I almost said forget it...

I texted Olive with the surgical dates and asked her IF she'd be interested. I'd have to be in LaCrosse between 6-8AM on those days. Mind you, she has a toddler and she works remotely. Hubby is a stay at home dad and works part time.

As the scheduler and I looked at dates, the text back was: Absolutely! I can do that!

Wham bam, thank you ma'am. I was handed instructions and off I went.

Now. Here is my comparison for the two visits.

With the regular eye doctor: Calm, easy going, extra caring.

A pre surgical visit: Whirlwind. Almost like a production line in a factory.

Olive had picked me up a frothy Moca something or another coffee and I tried to explain what I was going to go through.

When I got home, I signed into MyChart and looked up the notes and details from the visit. I was able to re-read what the surgeon had said and it all made perfect sense. Being able to read the doctor's notes I think, is one of the best things ever invented.

I have what is considered Monocular Vision because of my issue as a kid. 

Of course, with one eye that the brain likes to ignore, making a miracle.... isn't feasible. 
I keep forgetting that I see the world in a different manner than those with two working eyes.

From early childhood on, I've learned to judge distances without depth perception. To me, the world is flat when I look out at it. 

I've gone nearly 67 years seeing the world this way and have gotten along fine. 

I'll be thrilled to see clearly again in any case.