1-26-09 no-brain-er
I guess I need to blog about my eye surgery.
I’ll just start with the facts:
After having extremely poor vision most of my life, technology has advanced enough to help someone like me. Basically without my glasses, objects have to be within 4 inches of my face for me to see them clearly. My eye doctor (Dr. S.E. Husain at Iowa Methodist) …. says I’m legally blind times FOUR! My correction is a minus 13. 20/1000 instead of 20/20.
About 5 years ago, I had a consult at Wolfe Clinic to see if I would be a candidate for some type of laser correction. That technology had been around awhile and many people were getting good results. Well, it turned out my vision was too extremely poor and the laser surgery would not be able to be used on me. That doctor at that time said to be patient and wait since new technology is always pushing forward.
So now 2009, the timing was right for me to try something new for extreme poor vision such as mine…. But the surgery is actually very common and has been done for many years on millions of people: cataract surgery........ (the replacement of the lens with a new lens). Thus instead of wearing glasses or contact lenses for the correction I need, I have a new lens in my eye ball. Or I should say my eye football. That is my problem, the shape of my eyes are more football like and thus pictures don’t focus on my retina.
Since I don’t have cataracts (clouding of the lens due to old age), they just call this surgery on me “lens replacement surgery”. It might seem like an extreme thing to do, but why not do it now when I’m young and healthy versus wait until I’m 70 and have fully developed cataracts. Well, it does cost a lot of money out of my pocket, since insurance won’t cover the surgery if there is no cataract, but Greg and I felt it was a good investment in the future. There is really a safety issue if I was ever put in a situation where my glasses got knocked off my face, I’m helpless. So the choice between putting money into a losing Roth IRA or into my future healthy eye sight seemed like a no-brain-er.
January 19th I had my left eye surgery and so far the results are better than expected. I can see 20/30 to 20/20. There will be some adjustment period before the eye fully heals and stabilizes. The doctor felt like everything looked good enough to proceed with the right eye on January 26th. It’s been a struggle this week living with eyes that are totally out of balance. Most of my time has been spent on the couch with my eyes closed resting and listening to TV or radio.
Now, I’m typing this on the weekend, with one eye covered so I can see the computer screen. Greg and I have been playing with my old glasses to create a fun eye patch as you can see on the right side panel of pictures. I will post this on Monday so everyone will be up to speed on what is happening. So think of me today was you read this, as I will be undergoing my second surgery.
My blog postings will continue this week, also as they did last week, because I was proactive and I scheduled postings done in advance of my absence.
I’ll just start with the facts:
After having extremely poor vision most of my life, technology has advanced enough to help someone like me. Basically without my glasses, objects have to be within 4 inches of my face for me to see them clearly. My eye doctor (Dr. S.E. Husain at Iowa Methodist) …. says I’m legally blind times FOUR! My correction is a minus 13. 20/1000 instead of 20/20.
About 5 years ago, I had a consult at Wolfe Clinic to see if I would be a candidate for some type of laser correction. That technology had been around awhile and many people were getting good results. Well, it turned out my vision was too extremely poor and the laser surgery would not be able to be used on me. That doctor at that time said to be patient and wait since new technology is always pushing forward.
So now 2009, the timing was right for me to try something new for extreme poor vision such as mine…. But the surgery is actually very common and has been done for many years on millions of people: cataract surgery........ (the replacement of the lens with a new lens). Thus instead of wearing glasses or contact lenses for the correction I need, I have a new lens in my eye ball. Or I should say my eye football. That is my problem, the shape of my eyes are more football like and thus pictures don’t focus on my retina.
Since I don’t have cataracts (clouding of the lens due to old age), they just call this surgery on me “lens replacement surgery”. It might seem like an extreme thing to do, but why not do it now when I’m young and healthy versus wait until I’m 70 and have fully developed cataracts. Well, it does cost a lot of money out of my pocket, since insurance won’t cover the surgery if there is no cataract, but Greg and I felt it was a good investment in the future. There is really a safety issue if I was ever put in a situation where my glasses got knocked off my face, I’m helpless. So the choice between putting money into a losing Roth IRA or into my future healthy eye sight seemed like a no-brain-er.
January 19th I had my left eye surgery and so far the results are better than expected. I can see 20/30 to 20/20. There will be some adjustment period before the eye fully heals and stabilizes. The doctor felt like everything looked good enough to proceed with the right eye on January 26th. It’s been a struggle this week living with eyes that are totally out of balance. Most of my time has been spent on the couch with my eyes closed resting and listening to TV or radio.
Now, I’m typing this on the weekend, with one eye covered so I can see the computer screen. Greg and I have been playing with my old glasses to create a fun eye patch as you can see on the right side panel of pictures. I will post this on Monday so everyone will be up to speed on what is happening. So think of me today was you read this, as I will be undergoing my second surgery.
My blog postings will continue this week, also as they did last week, because I was proactive and I scheduled postings done in advance of my absence.
"SEE you later alligator!"
No comments:
Post a Comment