For the first time in sixty-three years, I can see the world with a certain clarity when I open my eyes in the morning, and yet I still reach for the glasses I expect to be on my nightstand and I fumble at my face to take them off at bedtime. The sight in my left eye is sharper than the sight in my right eye and I don’t expect that to change. The right eye has a two-week head start on the left in post-procedural healing.
The Right Moment
I have been waiting for this moment for years.
The Bottom Line
Back when Lasik was a new and faddish thing, I asked my ophthalmologist about it. He took a look and said I wasn’t a good candidate; I was relieved. My eyesight is abysmal but it is still better than nothing, and what if Lasik left me with nothing?
My current ophthalmologist, Dr. B. told me when I got my cataracts out I could opt for the expensive corrective lenses that insurance will not cover. A one-time payment of three thousand for not having to wear glasses that cost seven hundred dollars every couple of years? Not a problem. So when might the cataracts come out? Patience, grasshopper, I was advised. It would be a while.
Finally the time had come and my surgeon Dr. L., well her office assistant, scheduled me for March 28. Got the pre-op taken care of in February. In the first week of March, my County executive notified us that the first case of COVID-19 had been diagnosed; at that point elective anything medical became a thing of the past. About a week later, they rescheduled me for June, I think, I don’t remember. Just before the pre-op check that had to be redone, the procedure was again rescheduled, this time for for July 1 and July 15. Got another pre-op check. Got COVID tests before each eye was done; at this time my left sinus is well and truly roto-rootered.
Healing Time
left, right and keeping track
Post-procedure discomfort is negligible. Eyedrops must be regularly used; rather than rely on my iffy memory, I have devised a system.
The main difficulty was two weeks spent with the old eye and new eye working unhappily together. I could read, sort of. I could watch the television about eight feet away. Using my glasses with the right lens removed was sometimes a help, sometimes not. Driving the car was out of the question. It has been a good long time since I’ve had to be chauffeured about. Don’t like it.
Sitting at the desktop computer is just fine; I touch type anyway.
In a few weeks I return to Dr. B. for a general vision check. I won’t be terribly surprised if she thinks a light prescription for long-distance looking would be a good idea. And I am curious if there is going to be improvement on the right or if I will at some point be able to bring very tiny things up close to see them or whether putting on of the magnifying glasses next to my couch seat will be a good idea.
New Opportunities
sunglasses
My friend in Cleveland suggested I go to Sunglass Hut when I mentioned that I should invest in a pair or two of sunglasses. She recommended Maui Jim and Sarah Jessica Parker brands. Didn’t find any SJP but more to the point, ye gods are those sunglasses expensive! There are a few clearance items under one hundred dollars, a few more that come in under two hundred, and then the ones that are three hundred and up. Do normal people really spend nine hundred forty-three dollars to get Bulgari sunglasses? That’s almost my half of the COVID payment we still haven’t received!
Here’s the big question though. Is it too late and am I too old to learn how to use makeup?