This surgery was a little later in the day, a little after 12 noon. As a result, it was harder to not eat since I generally refrain from snacking at night. It’s funny how the mind plays tricks. I can often wait until 9 or 10 AM for breakfast and not feel that urge to eat but that morning it seemed a daunting task because I had to wait. A half cup of black coffee before 8 AM and some water was all I had. Wanting to get this thing done was enough to power me through the morning. A couple of days later I tried the fasting thing and it was much easier because it wasn’t a necessity.
Surgery itself was, again, fairly uneventful. The prep work required was quick and efficient. Numbing drops so the doctor could mark the left eye, a few rounds of dilating drops and the under the tongue sedative. As I overheard a nurse tell someone else, this part takes longer than the surgery itself. This time I actually fell asleep for a short while. The visual sensations during this surgery were different which is to be expected because the first time nerves that filter out so much aren’t there as much. This time, I swear I could see the intra-ocular lens get slid in. Colours were different, the overhead light looked different with more definition. Similar was the corona on the outside, a lacework of light against darkness, which may have corresponded to the remainder of the dilated iris.
Immediately after surgery I was, same as last time, led to a comfy armchair to await my ride home and instruction from the nurse. Earlier, I had heard a nurse tell other patients that each eye may react differently and that was the case for me. That included the fact that the next day or two could involve waking up to blurry vision from the newly operated upon eye. Unlike last time, sight from this eye was quite blurry and there was an itchy sensation. It was almost as if there was an actual stitch in the outside corner of my left eye. Experimenting by covering each eye revealed an overall red tinge to the room with this newly repaired eye while the other one was clear as could be.
At home the blurring and irritation remained. Artificial tears helped alleviate the itchy sensation. The Vigamox and prednisolone drops both stung a little bit, but that did not last too long. The still dilated pupil made everything far too bright so I spent most of the remainder of the day in bed listening to a book tape, napping at times and faithfully putting in the Systane artificial tears every half hour. I learned I had a better chance with the “every half hour” schedule by beginning at the top of the hour. For some reason on the 00’s and the 30’s worked really well. More of the other two types of drops were done just before bed allowing five minutes between each, as instructed. Again, they stung but not much and not for long.
Morning came relatively early, maybe because of all my naps. Vision from each eye was clear, no blurriness from my left eye. The drops did not sting anymore, either. Now it became time to get used to reading glasses and not needing corrective lenses for normal every day life. The reading glasses worked well because both eyes were now at the same strength, or far closer than they used to be. Previously, with one eye good and the other not, it was difficult to wear these for very long. My old prescription glasses worked better through the past three weeks than the reading glasses did. The prescription sunnies worked out well enough on my after-work walks but it was the left eye basically doing all the work. All the prescription glasses got retired, the day-to-day ones long overdue. Part of the experimentation included how well I could text without any corrective lenses. That worked pretty well with a bit of a larger font and holding the phone at arm’s length.
A few days in now and the reading glasses are working well enough that I don’t feel as if I need different strength. Where they weren’t working all that well with only one fixed eye they were now working quite well. After nearly four weeks of no driving I finally got behind the wheel. All went well. The most marked difference is with night driving where the oncoming headlights weren’t overly bright anymore and night vision was really good. Before the surgery I did not like night driving at all. Now it’s good. Of course, I still need glasses, just now in certain situations and not all the time.
Journey of a Lifetime 