On the topic of doctors’ orders for before/after surgery, I’ve realized that it is extremely difficult to follow the instructions when you have no idea what’s the underlying reason for these do’s and dont’s. I know that sometimes doctors are annoyed with all these questions, but not understanding the reasons produce even ore questions :).

For example, I was given the list of eye drops with a rather complex schedule of how many times a day they should be inserted, depending on what’s the week after surgery. Plus, there were instructions not to exceed the dose and what to do if you miss the dose.

Only when I got the second package from the pharmacy, each of them had a half-page of explanation in large print :), I knew which of them is antibiotic, with is anti-inflammatory, so you can at least get an idea of how important/not important is to keep the schedule. And it was only on Tuesday that my eye doctor explained to me why the anti-inflammation drops dosage has to be reduced gradually.

Or take this no-bend/no-lift over 10 pounds for a week. And what happens after one week? All of a sudden, you can lift as much as you want? What about the bodyweight exercises? How do they count? Or when I asked about yoga, they said – OK. But yoga poses may be so different! Some include mild bending, some – mode bending. What about a shoulder stand? Or a headstand? Also, you need to know what’s the average level of activity of this particular person, because each body would react differently to the same level of physical activity. You need to know what exactly is important for the operated eye to make a better judgment of what you can or can’t do. Otherwise, you would end up asking about each individual move. Or will do something crazy 🙂

So I like it when I can get explanations. My doctor explained to me that vision is changing after the surgery because the inflammation goes down. Which may be obvious, but I didn’t think about it!
Now I am more informed, but now, surgery number two is coming. And it will bring new challenges:)

Once again, way too many details, mostly for my real-life friends.

I forgot to mention that right after the surgery, I was allowed to put my right contact lens in, so after I came home, I was able to put the old lens on. After three weeks of glasses, it felt great. The left eye was still foggy, and also there were random dark “bloody” spots floating around, but for those, I knew they would go away.

I also knew that my operated eye might still change, but not significantly. So when I woke up Wednesday morning and took my eye shield off, I knew right away that that was not -2 or -2.5
My appointment was st 8-45 AM, and again in a distant location. Vlad came to me in the morning and drove me there.

When the doctor’s assistant was trying to measure my vision, I told her that I see nothing on the screen, no matter how big it is, that the screen and the wall are blurry. So She stepped closer and measured the max distance fro which I could see things clearly.

After a while, the surgeon came in, and I told him it must be -6 or so. He checked it, and it turned to be -4. I said: doctor, let’s discuss what can be done now. He started again about Lasic, and I told him: forget about Lasic for a moment, I need to understand how I am going to function in the next four weeks.

Continue reading “Eye Surgery Details – Part Two” →

For my real-life and/or long term friend, more detail about surgery and the aftermath.

Until the week before surgery, I was sure that I am getting the multifocal lenses, which should correct every issue I have, except for maybe some minor close vision problems. Last time I was at the doctor’s office for final measurement, a surgery coordinator reassured me once again that any multifocal will correct my distant vision 100%.

I didn’t believe that statement from the very beginning. But the staff was repeating it over and over again. They were saying that I might still need readers from time to time, but that’s it.
The surgeon called me five days before saying, that “with the type of lenses I’ve chosen, he can’t give me 20/20 vision, I will remain nearsighted.

As you can imagine, I started to interrogate him about what type will do the correction, and he said – monofocal, but they won’t give you anything else, no astigmatism correction. Just go with our original plan, you will have – 2 – 2.5 left, and in three months I will do Lasic on you. I said that I do not care about Lasic; my concern is how I will function in between. He said that I could wear glasses in between. And he strongly recommends fo me to go that way, “as I would advise my relative.” And I said – OK.

Continue reading “Eye Surgery Details” →

I have trouble looking at the screen, so just a very quick update. I got my left eye operated; so far it is extremely foggy, so it’s hard to tell what it turned out to be. The surgeon told me that I have something about -2.5 left, but once again, I can’t tell now.

Now I can only see with non-operated eye, for which I can wear my old contact for the next ten days.

Will have a follow-up tomorrow.

That’s for my real-life friends. I went to do the eye measurements today. Today there were no delays, and also, I was not dilated, but still, it took a lot of time.

I confirmed which type of lenses I want, signed tons of papers, and received tons of instructions. I already read them three times, including two pages of possible complications (which are always scary!)

The good part is that they told me that after my first surgery I could wear a contact lens on the second eye, except for the last three days before surgery. So I am going to be one-eyed for only three days. Also, I can’t get any water in the operated eye for a week (have to go with my hair unwashed?!), can’t do heavy exercises for a week after each surgery, and also I have to do eyedrops.

Let me tell you – this is something! There are three kinds of drops, and you need to put the into an operated eye before and after each surgery and somehow not to mess up! Once a day, twice a day, do not touch an operated eye, but make sure the drop stays in …

Ohm and also – not only the surgery is not covered by insurance, but even the eye drops are not covered either! The total cost of these three microscopic bottles will come to over $600.

The better part: they offer zero percent interest credit for 20 months. There will be some fees, but I am going to take it – just in case.

To summarize: I am still freaking out, and each and all of my children have told me I should not do it silently. And I will be freaking out until all is done. But I am more informed now:)

I mentioned back in the fall that I am going to have eye surgery, actually two of them, one for each eye:). Because of that, I’ve first had to switch to the soft contacts, and you might remember my horrible Thanksgiving story. Well, now that I returned from Cyprus, I was ready to switch to glasses. I have to wear them for two weeks before measurements will be taken, and then for one more week until the first surgery.

The problem is that I can’t wear glasses, because my prescription is so high. The whole world looks twisted, and I have constant headaches and nausea. 

But there was more to the story. I when to my eye doctor to get the final glass prescription on December 20. I could not do it earlier, because my vision was changing after I switched to soft contacts. It was stable for three weeks by then, and the doctor took the final measurements for glasses. 

I have three separate prescriptions. One is for my distant vision (those used to be contacts), the readers, and the glasses for driving and watching movies, presentations, etc. My glasses combine all of them in one. I told the doctor that most likely, I will need two separate glasses because, in my driving glasses, I can’t see the close-up objects. But then it turned out that each pair, even with the cheapest frame, will cost over $500, and I only need these glasses for three weeks. 

Since the glasses should have been ready by January 6, I decideded thet I will try them on and see whether I need a separate pair without prisms, or I can manage.

December 6 came, and my glasses didn’t show up. I called the doctor two days later. They told me that the glasses didn’t pass the quality test in the lab and were returned to be fixed. Long story short, it happened three times. I was scared because I was leaving on January 17, and upon my arrival, I had to start wearing glasses immediately. 

I was calling the doctor’s office every day; they were calling the lab every day, the lab was apologetic, but still didn’t produce my glasses. 

Finally, I had to ask my neighbor Renate to pick up my glasses when they come, which she did. When I returned Sunday night, I could start wearing my glasses, but I had no time to adjust. It felt horrible, as I described above. And it turned out that the only thing I can do comfortably in these glasses is driving :). Moving around the house, doing things, climbing stairs – all of the above is a struggle. And now I have no time to order the second pair – by the time it arrives, I won’t need it. 

Two days are done, twenty one more to go.