esrosedotblog

EYE TO EYE

How am I doing with the eye you may ask. The removal of the cataract and replacement lens.

Great. In a word.

There is nothing going on with it at all which is good news. I take my drops. I have finished with one of them, there were three.

I am also getting better at integrating the "bad" eye with the new good one which indicates I will have little trouble making the left eye for closeup work and letting the right eye do the farsight.

This is done routinely for some contact wearers and lasik operations.

The key is whether it bothers me to have two different pictures as I do now between the two operations. Do I integrate them naturally? Answer appears to be yes. Especially when I am not thinking about it.

I am still taking it easy. First week. They point out that the results are so quick and successful that people tend to forget they are recuperating and need some time for rest and to stay away from any strenuous activity.

Labels: cataract surgery, eye, eyes

BOUNCING BACK

I am home. I have an eye patch. Dr. Ho said it was a success.

THIS MORNING

It was nothing like I expected. What a surprise, huh? I still think I can predict the future.

I went in and got a prep talk, went and had the anesthesia done. Out for just a few minutes. Sleep. While they numb the eyeball.

Then into the operating room.

I was awake the whole time.

Bright lights while she is working.

Done and out.

No exercise for three days. Nothing over 25 pounds to lift for two weeks. Patch comes off at noon and stays off except for sleep.

The eye patch is not very attractive. Not a Marlboro Man kind, just a regular hospital issue held on with a swatch of tape.

Blahblahblah

Eyedrops. Lots to take. Go in tomorrow for a checkup.

It only took about an hour and a half for the whole thing.

It is an assembly line. Eight others after me.

Now I am going to go eat.

NOON

The patch is off.

As expected, sort of, it is a little blurry and slightly askew. Normal.

I am not sure if I am going to go with no glasses at all or what.

Probably none.

I have none of the oooos and aaaaaaha yet. Too soon.

No pain.

I am already somewhat accustomed to the askew part which is better.

There is no way to anticipate what this is like. None.

But I am going with it.

The eyes are sort of fighting each other. I guess they will come out in the middle somewhere.

Labels: cataract surgery, eye, health

BUSY DAY

A meeting this morning for an hour.

Then I had a setup call about my cataract operation.

I go for the pre-op on July 1st and then have the right eye done on July 18th. The second eye will be done two weeks later on August 1.

I am a little unclear about what and how I do while I only have one eye corrected with a new lens and the other uncorrected, But since this is a routine deal I am sure there is an answer.

By the middle of August when I have my "vacation" in San Diego, I will be done with it. I hope.

Later in the day we ran out of dogfood kibble and made a family run to PetSmart. Fun.

And, I had time to see a favorite gay film

Soundless Wind Chime (2009)

This is a mind bender with one actor playing two roles or is it the same character in a different time zone?

In any case the attraction between the men, one Chinese, the other Swiss, is palpable.

Very touching and one cannot be sure why. I am going to get it and take another few looks. There is no way we would mine seeing the beautiful photography and the jumbled story elements any day and any time.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: eye, films, gay films

THE EYES HAVE IT

As predicted at last year's exam, my cataracts are now ripe for removal.

They take the hardening lens out and replace it with an artificial one.

Both eyes. One at a time. A week apart.

My prognosis is pretty good. I trust Doctor Ho and her advice to get it done sooner rather than later. I need a new prescription now and will have to redo it much more frequently if no work is done.

I will probably need no glasses at all if I have one eye done for close and the other for distance. The lens that replaces is tailor made for me, more or less.

I could get both eyes for distance and use over the counter glasses for closeup.

Actually, she would wait until I have the first eye done to make that decision. After I have had a chance to "see" the effect of the new lens.

They do the ops about one day a month and June is filled, so probably July. They will call me.

I have been apprehensive about this on both sides. One side, I am just surgery averse and it is my eye(s) but one at a time eases my fear of any "accident". On the other side, I am apprehensive about letting it go too long and not being in good shape to have it done. Unlikely. More likely is that I will need this to pass my next driver's renewal test. This time was a bit touch and go.

They give the same anaesthesia that is used for a colonoscopy. I go out, the procedure takes ten minutes, and I am out from under and go home.

Convalescence is easier than in the past. This is not my father's cataract operation.

I will get a patch for three hours and be able to see by the end of the first day. It will take five days to be perfect. There is "no pain". Yeh. OK.

I won't be able to lift more than 30 pounds or bend at the waist. Detached retina worries for a week.

That is it. I am ready to go. A little squeamish but not much. My doctor says it is OK to do. He trusts the office that I go to.

I said that I wouldn't do it until I began to notice the problem. I am noticing it. My left eye has less vision than the right and there is a loss of clarity. Whatever that means, I can feel and see that.

No money involved. It is all covered by Medicare. If I had astigmatism I would have to get another lens to go without glasses at my own cost. But I have only a little of it.

We went over this at length. It feels right.

Dr. Ho calls me "my dear". That counts for something.

Labels: eye, health

Off to my ophthalmologist this morning. The annual checkup.

Over the past few years they have been telling me that my cataracts are developing faster than they should and that I would need the operation sometime.

It looks as though that time has arrived or is arriving in the next year.

I am beginning to notice it and there is no question that there are changes going on.

It isn't an emergency and we need to wait until they are "ripe" (also wait for them to be bad enough that Medicare will pay for them).

To top it off, nicely, I have a new ophthalmologist. Dr. Ho. A neat woman with a great "bedside" manner.

I have had three docs at the same office. The first one retired out. The second one has moved to Pittsburgh. I can't say that I liked either of them but I trusted their judgement. Now, I like Dr. Ho very much and trust her judgement even more.

The operation now is quite streamlined. No knockout. You get a "cocktail" (the same one used for a colonoscopy) and the cut takes about 15 minutes (both eyes). No pain. No stitches. I will see the first day and see better. Things will improve over five days after that and done.

I might not need glasses after but that is not a guarantee. I am not sure I could be without glasses. Who would I be.

So. She says in a year.

Sooner if I get "bothered" by my vision.

A nice long time to wait and not worry about it.

Labels: eye, health

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

Not even titanium eyeglass frames.

I just put my glasses on and the bow broke off.

No problem really.

I popped my older set of glasses (also titanium) on my face and took off for the optician.

They are close by. Five minutes.

They were out to lunch!

It is summer in Palm Springs. Skeleton crews. Closings for "lunch". I had 15 minutes to wait. No point going home then turning around in three or four minutes.

It wasn't bad. It is hot as hell here today but that was OK. There was shade and that takes the sting out of any heat. I made a few phone calls.

They were a little late but I was first!

And they served me right up. Found a new frame just like the old one and put it together while I waited. Chit chat. Down home talk. Nice.

I was home within the hour.

And, because today's movie was relatively short, I had the time.

Great. Perfect. Synchronicity.

Labels: eye, shopping

ALL REVVED UP AND NO PLACE TO GO

My "new" glasses started to scratch last week. Just like that.

The coating was wearing through. Or something.

My last pair of glasses lasted three or four years before the coating began to wear.

So I went to the optician I got these from. It was my first time with them.

I was ready for bear.

I had the date I bought them, I took the rag I use to clean them--a special Scotch cloth that does not scratch anything--and a story.

I also had their story and a rebuttal.

In short, I had a full rehearsal of outcomes.

Except for the one that happened.

I went in, gave my name, they found my file (they are still all paper), took me to a little chair and table to wait to be seen and here comes the optician.

She took a look and said "oh the coating has failed". We will have to replace it. Under the warranty.

Duh.

OK. No argument, no rebuttal. I am glad I took my old glasses along to wear as I left the place. They aren't too far off.

The new recoated glasses or new glasses, whatever, will be ready in a week.

I sure wish I had a chance to use all my ammunition though. But I will retire from the field. I have met the enemy and he is almost me.

Labels: business, eye, health

MEDITATING CATARACTS

I do want to add one thing.

Last year, when I went to the eye doc, and had about the same adventure I did today, I did have one thing that shook me. I was told that my cataracts had advanced a good deal and that I had lost a line of vision because of it.

I do not want my eye sliced.

So, I began to include a short eye meditation in my daily routine. Nothing special. Not a prayer to be cured, for god sake. Just a focus on the eye for healing.

Today I had no change in the cataracts since last year.

I don't claim anything here but guess what little meditation routine will continue for another year a day at a time?

Labels: eye

IMPATIENT OUTPATIENT

I had to go for my annual eye checkup today.

My ophthalmologist is very good. Actually a group practice. And my own GP likes them because they don't "sell" their wares. They just do their job.

I used to go to an old guy who smelled a bit musty. He retired two years ago and now I have a young, almost callow young Doc who is very earnest but, I think, competent. He is just a bit dim on real life.

They are methodical. A euphemism for slow.

They are also bureaucratic. There is a system and the system will not be broken. Another slowdown.

I am impatient. And I am outspoken.

Today, there were a series of complaints. First, I had to fill out the form again with name, address, and all that. "Why not just ask if there are any changes" I ask. "Well, that is the way we pick them up". A nonsense answer.

I went in for the first exam by a techie. She was a bit more lively than others I have had. She smiled and had a reasonably good sense of humor. We went into a new room and followed a different procedure. I asked why. I think that she didn't know so she gave me a non-answer. "We have to see if your prescription needs to be changed".

Now, I know when I am being patronized. I also know when I am being treated as a simple minded geezer. These are all answers that you give to the faltering, the feeble, the almost but not quite demented.

This cranks me up a little.

We do OK though. She thinks she is humoring me through it. I think that she is on the wrong wave length.

We get the dilation drops and then she takes me outside to the lobby to wait for the doctor. I get a phone call. I take it.

Now the sign says "Please do not use cellphones in examining rooms".

I am waiting in the lobby.

Two people at the desk in unison tell me that it is not allowed. I keep talking. Fuck'em.

It was a short conversation.

When I get done I tell them that I wasn't really talking to anyone, but I wouldn't do it again. They were not amused.

Then they came to get me to go to the second examining room. The doc was in the hall. I say "hi". He "hi's" back. And then goes into the other room. I sit. I meditate. He comes out. He takes a call outside my room. Then he goes into another fucking room!

I go out and complain about waiting.

I am burning up my political capital here but I can't help myself.

The two phone-banners in the lobby tell me that while I am out in the lobby he could be looking for me out in the exam room. I know this isn't the case. He is still in the other room.

Finally, he gets to me. I complain. He says it is a system and takes some time. They always blame the dilations which, of course, is bullshit.

Then I get the exam. I am fine. No glaucoma, no change in my cataract status, no need for a new prescription. Done for another year.

I am glad to be done. They are glad to be rid of me. By next year no one will remember what happened today. I will have to fill out the same forms again, I will go into one room then wait before going in another, I will sit and wait and wait. If I am lucky I will get a phone call and I will be able to break a rule and cause a sensation.

No one ever breaks rules in these places. No one ever complains. That is because most of the patients are actually the faltering, the feeble, and the almost but not quite demented.

I have made everyone's day by providing some adrenaline and a power of example in resisting the encroaching medical bureaucracy. I have entertained myself through an otherwise boring experience and will do it again in 2010.

Labels: eye, life

GOGGLY

I haven't had a new pair of glasses in four years.

There were mild changes to my prescription but nothing enough to go out and spend 400 bucks and more.

But the old glasses were beginning to lose their coating. Peeling off. They were getting annoyingly hazy.

So, I bit the bullet, got my prescription from the Doc (you can only fill a prescription that is two years old or less--guess who backed that law), and went to the optician at Palm Springs Mall.

Now, 460 bucks later, I have my new lenses. Previous frame. Titanium. Lasts forever. The last titanium frame will go on standby and be the next frame.

I forgot the the prescription would be a little different.

And, these are progressive lenses so I have to relearn my "spots".

Progressive lenses require head adjustments to get the right part of the lens on the right part of the scene you are beholding.

So. Change. Adaptation. I am doing fine although it feels as though I might be waving my head around a bit it is really micro-waving.

The key is to keep doing it and, before I know it, there will be automatic matching. Experience tells me so.

Labels: eye, health

THE EYES HAVE IT

I went for my annual eye exam today.

I go to an opthalmologist. I figure that if there is something wrong, I am right where I need to be to get it fixed.

The good news is that I do not need a new eyeglass prescription.

This is the third year going on this set of specs.

The other good news is that my eyes are very healthy. No macular degeneration, no sign of glaucoma or anything else.

A little less happy is the fact that the cataract in the left eye is a little more developed than it was last year.

But, using the 21st century yardstick for severity, I do not yet qualify for insurance coverage to have the cataract fixed.

Never mind if it would be a good idea to do it now. Just that I would have to foot the bill myself.

The whole system runs on insurance, huh?

Anyway, I am surgery averse. So I wouldn't do it until I have no choice.

Which could be years. Or never.

I have had a diagnosis for cataracts for four or five years now. He says that I have lost a line of sight, meaning that I have had to move up to a bigger line in the visual examination.

Oddly, there seems to be now absolute test for the severity other than a reading of the standard eye chart.

Most people get to find there is a problem when they fail a driver's eye test.

I will try not to get that far. I don't want to get fucked with by the DMV.

My Dad had cataracts removed. He had a major surprise when he could see stuff well for the first in a long time.

Maybe I will get the same way. But not yet.

Labels: eye, health