Sometimes people only understand the value of something once it's gone. We would naturally believe such a truth would happen to us. It does happen. While I'd love to be an exception, I might not be lucky. One day at the office, I started losing my vision. Upon seeing an eye doctor, I was informed of a developing condition in my eyes that would cause my sight to continually degrade.
Diagnosis
What do people do when they have a problem with their bodies? In my case, I sought a doctor to determine what was wrong with my eyes. It turns out that I had cataracts.
A problem I had with this diagnosis was my age. I'm in my 40's. My parents both had cataract surgery close to their 80s. What happened to my body that caused me to get cataracts at a young age? While it was vital for me to understand the cause, the fact that my glasses didn't even work anymore was a higher priority.
Cataracts caused several problems that I didn't know were possible for my age. My glasses were now useless, cataracts prevented me from driving at night, and driving during the daytime was also problematic.
Despite my concerns and worries, a light was at the end of the tunnel. It did come with a catch, unfortunately.
Treatment
Procedure Options
I listened to the eye surgeon's description of my problem and the options to eliminate my vision problems.
- Routine cataract removal with short-distance focal lens
- Routine cataract removal with long-distance focal lens
- Routine cataract removal with multifocal lens
- Femto laser-assisted cataract removal with short-distance focal lens
- Femto laser-assisted cataract removal with long-distance focal lens
- Femto laser-assisted cataract removal with multifocal lens
Given that my parents already had one of these treatments, I sought their advice. Both of them recommended laser-assisted surgery with the multifocal lens. My insurance would only cover a portion of it, but I had little choice since I had so many years left of work before retirement. So, I informed the doctor of my preference and scheduled my surgery dates.
Surgery
I reported to the Premier Surgery Center of California to remove my cataracts. It was a small facility, but they put you at ease during your stay. I filled out many forms once I got there and then laid down in one of their beds. They gave me an IV, and I got comfortable. Someone from the surgery team came to my side and rolled me into the Operating Room (OR).
Once I arrived, the doctor marked my eyeball in different places with a marker. In as simple an explanation as possible, they informed me that the markings were for the correct laser placement over my eyeball. The anesthesiologist then gave me the dream juice to calm and put me only slightly asleep for the procedure.
They used a laser beam to cut open the lens of my eye. Once the lens was removed, the doctor then removed the cataract. After the doctor completed the removal, he fastened the multifocal lens in place of the discarded original. Upon sealing the new lens on my eye, the surgeon declared the procedure complete and then rolled me out to the recovery room.
Recovery
Recovering from the procedure occurred quickly. One of the nurses there gave me a set of rather nice glasses, and my wife took me home where I could rest following this procedure. I saw the surgeon again the next day to verify the surgery's success, and there were no observable side effects.
Over the weeks that followed, my vision was better without glasses. In fact, after my most recent appointment with the eye doctor, I don't even need glasses. My eyes will be able to see clearly for the foreseeable future. That's not necessarily true, but it helps to have a positive outlook now and again.
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In Closing
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
So far, within one year, I contracted or required surgery for:
- Dupuytren's Disease
- Back Problems
- Cataract Surgery
The list doesn't include the many medical issues my family has experienced. It hasn't been a dull 12 months. It is, however, 12 months I'm sure everyone can do without. Keep your head up, maintain a positive attitude, and keep moving forward. Getting caught up in despair over unfortunate events will only bring you down into depths from which you may not recover!
Thank you for reading and following on throughout my Hive journey. If you like this article, please consider reblogging, upvoting, and following
