Not Quite As Expected

I survived my first cataract surgery for glaucoma. The doc even managed to install a micro shunt. But it was by no means, easy or pleasant.

Let's start with having to be there at 8 am. I had a girlfriend pick me up right after my son got on his school bus. We got to the hospital with at least 20 minutes to spare. There was some paperwork involved. I had to change into a gown with hospital skiddie socks, but I could keep my sweatpants on. I had taken my earrings out the night before, but insisted on keeping my wedding band, so the nurse taped it to my finger. I'm not sure how often people lose their wedding bands during ambulatory surgery...

I got eye drops administered every 10 or 15 minutes. They monitored my blood pressure and heart rate. Everything normal. No eating or drinking so I'm annoyed when they ask me if I've taken my vitamins. "Uh, no because they need to be taken with food and water!" Duh.

I'm not even cold. At first. But eventually, the hospital chill catches up with me. The nurses cover me with warming blankets. I have an IV in my arm for a mild sedative. They administer more eye drops. My doc is running between two ORs, and one of them seems to be suffering from a complication. It's taking a long time to get me into the laser room. Once I'm there, the staff realizes that it's going to be quite a problem getting the speculum to fit my tiny eyeball, especially since I'm a small Asian person with small eye openings. They try different types but none fit properly, and at least twice, my own eyelashes get in the way. The laser must be able to sit right up against my eyeball, and the speculum holds the surrounding skin away. I'm not so numb that I can't feel the instruments pressing against my eye, pinching my skin.

As a last resort, the doc injects anesthesia into the skin just outside my eye in order to relax all the lid muscles. Not quite but better. She injects more, and is finally able to stretch the skin enough to fit the speculum properly. They tape my eyelashes up and out of the way. There are two quick bursts. All I see are bizarre lava lamp blobules. Then they wheel me into the surgical theater next door where the doc removes my old lens and inserts the artificial one. I hear her remark about how thick the old lens is. She needs to clear space for the shunt as well. I have narrow angles which means so much less room, but she manages to implant the miniature device.

They tape a clear cup over my eye as protection. I can see light but my vision is all Right eye. With just the artificial lens, I can see color and shapes, but everything is blurred. Like I'm viewing the world through frosted glass. I hope it clears up soon! My girlfriend is skeptical that I'll be able to drive to my follow-up appointment tomorrow so she offers to take me. Meanwhile, the nurse is checking my pulse and BP. I'm surprised they're so low, but that's the sedation still in my system. I get to go home after I've demonstrated that I can eat, drink, walk and pee all on my own. Not a problem. My eye waters on its own, and when I blot my face, instead of clear wet spots, I see the faint yellowy pink that suggests plasma. Or pus. Ugh. I feel like I have sand in my eye, and the eye guard acts like a pair of bad reading glasses. I have additional eye drops to use four times daily for the next 4 weeks. I'm not even sure when I'll get back to the gym at this point...

In a few weeks I get to decide when and if I want to do this again, but with my good eye. Ugh.