Tag Archives: cataracts

Second Sight: Epilogue

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This morning I went for my last appointment with my ophthalmologist, and had a shock when I found all the clinics in the hospital closed. Then I was informed that they had all moved to the new wing of the hospital—man, it’s much bigger than the old wing and navigating my way to it was like walking in a labyrinth. Anyway I managed to find the eye doc’s office, Room 527, got to make a note of that.

So he checked both my eyes, and was pleased that my left eye displayed no more redness, it was normal and that was when I asked him a bit softly when I could resume my swimming. He replied, “Immediately.” Woot!! Returning home, I quickly changed into my swimming trunks and then I was plunging into the water. And OMG, it was fantastic! I thought I’d be tired out after not swimming for three months, but I was surprised to find myself going on and on, with only short pauses. Before long I had clocked 30 laps, my usual amount before the cataract operations. I love it when my body releases endorphins into the system, LOL.

It is with great happiness that I’m closing my Second Sight posts with this final one. Wave

Yup, that's me

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Second Sight: Oh brother

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Today was appointment day with my ophthalmologist. He checked my left eye and confirmed what I had thought for the past few days—the redness had diminished somewhat. However, he was puzzled as to why it had not cleared up completely, after all it had been 3 weeks since my surgery. He laid out some possible factors for me:

  • An allergy to one of the meds
  • A blocked blood vessel or two in the white of my eye
  • Environmental factors such as the hazy weather we’ve been having recently

The second one was the most troubling. As a consequence he changed my eye meds again, this time no more steroid stuff. I have to report back to him in a fortnight’s time, and hopefully all the redness will disappear soon. I’m getting sick and frustrated with it!

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Not my usual blog post

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Those of you who have been following my ramblings so far would know that I had my second cataract operation on my left eye two weeks ago. While it has made a good recovery and my vision has improved, the downer was that a stubborn redness persisted in my eye (read my Second Sight posts) That has consequently dampened my mood and spirits for the past fortnight, so much so that I didn’t really feel like blogging at all.

I was told by the ophthalmologist to take this weekend off from playing at the hotel, so I decided to update my blog, lest my readers desert me (I hope not!) The redness in my left eye clung to me like a dark storm cloud over my head, and I realized I had to snap out of it—after all I was following the doc’s orders with the eye meds, etc. It was just a matter of time for it to heal, and I must learn to be patient.

Anyways, there are so many things I am thankful for, here they are in no particular order:

  • The enormous improvement in my vision after the two surgeries. Even though I have to wear reading glasses now, it sure beats wearing the old thick glasses.
  • The warmth, support, caring, and prayers of my friends (you know who you are) have helped me immensely throughout these past weeks—friends are definitely the best! Oh, and thank you, Windows Live Messenger.
  • My morning and evening walks, something that I not only do for exercise but also a time where I can be by myself, gazing at God’s creation as I walk (lovely), and oftentimes listening to music or a dear friend’s audio book in my MP3 player.
  • I have to smile with this one—I’ve gone back to consuming yogurt. Amazing, because when I tried that years back, the #2’s just kept coming. Not this time though. Yogurt is simply delicious! And my other vice aka coffee—mmmhmmm, one cup in the morning and another in the afternoon, now that’s pure bliss.
  • I’ve also gone back to reading—I like more action stuff, but Same Kind of Different is great too, Crystal! At the moment I’m reading a short novel by Clive Cussler called Treasure of Khan. I’ve also been reading Richard Carlson’s excellent Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff (and it’s all small stuff), it’s a wonderful book.
  • Many of you know I’m thin as a toothpick, but I still enjoy my food (and I do eat like a pig), even the leftovers. Once in a while I give myself a small treat when I’m out, nothing too expensive. But it makes me feel good!
  • Last but not least—I’m going to be 49 next month—woot! And by golly I’m going to treat myself to a nice birthday present, hee hee, wink wink. Suffice to say that I’m thinking of getting myself back to a hobby I loved way back about two decades ago—photography. Just checking with my bank manager before I “splurge,” we shall see.
  • Whoops, this is the absolute last—I never forget to thank God first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Gratitude works miracles for the soul.

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Second Sight (part 2)

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This morning I went for a post-op checkup at the hospital. The ophthalmologist took a look at my recently-operated left eye and confirmed what I had suspected all week—there was inflammation. I was told to increase my eye-drop usage from 4 times a day to 6 times, and will have to pay him another visit a week from now. It doesn’t help much with keeping my spirits up, but these things happen and I did practice good hygiene the past week. Hopefully this inflammation will clear up soon, otherwise I might need to have an antibiotic injection on the next visit.

Nevertheless, one has to look on the bright side too. It’s so nice to wake up in the morning, go over to the window, and peer clearly outside at the foliage, without wearing any glasses. It’s incredible that I couldn’t do this for the last 35 years or so…thank God I opted for the surgery.

That’s all the news I have for the time being. Tomorrow I resume work at the hotel (I must remember to bring my reading glasses along, heh)

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Second Sight

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It has been four days since I had the cataract surgery performed on my left eye. It has healed well, but as I’ve mentioned in my Eye to Eye posts, my eyesight has now gone over to the other camp—the far-sighted camp. I’m able to see far clearly, but nearby things become a blurry mess. It was near impossible for me to read anything, I had to sit something like 4 feet away from my computer monitor screen and use unusually large fonts. My ophthalmologist had already told me about this, and so I needed to get some reading glasses made, badly.

So two days ago, I went to my optometrist to get a prescription reading done on both eyes. Just as my doc had predicted, I was far-sighted now. I told Ms. Valerie (my optometrist) about my frustration in not being able to read, and surprise, surprise, she said my glasses would be ready for collection on the next day.

Yesterday I went to collect them. Tried them on at the shop, and wow! Everything nearby snapped into sharp focus—I was like a kid who had been given his dream toy. It was fantabulous—I went home and devoured a week’s worth of newspapers in one sitting. Plus, I got rid of those humongous fonts in Windows, and went back to the normal ones.

I’ll have to see the eye doc next week for a post-op checkup, and also the optometrist in a month’s time, just to make sure my power has stabilized.

That’s all my eye talk for now.

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Eye to Eye: Epilogue (Part 5)

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Two days have passed since I had cataract surgery performed on my left eye. Suffice to say that it was more or less a repeat of what I went through last month with my right eye—yes, they made me wear that disgusting gown, and no, I wasn’t allowed any coffee during my hospital stay. Yeppers, that’s life huh.

I’m presently on medical leave and am writing this blog post in Word with a humongous 20-point font (reason being I went from severe near-sightedness to far-sighted after the surgeries). I’ll have to copy and paste this into Windows Live Writer before I publish it to my blog—where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I’d like to thank the following people who helped me through this testing period of my life:

  • My optometrist, Ms. Valerie, for urging me to get cataract surgery done on my eyes rather than be saddled with a new and even thicker pair of glasses.
  • Mr. Lee, my ophthalmologist, for working his magic on both my eyes. His calm and reassuring demeanor certainly minimized my fears about the surgery.
  • The staff of Loh Guan Lye Specialists’ Center for their friendly yet professional manner in making sure everything went well for me during my stay there.
  • My American friends, especially Crystal, Leisa, Doris, Heather, and Kelly for rallying me through with their thoughts, prayers, and their love. I couldn’t have done it without you wonderful ladies (yes, they love me, what can I say)
  • Last but not least, all my students and friends for their support and prayers.

I will be able to adjust all the fonts back to a normal size after I get my reading glasses. At least they won’t resemble Coke bottles!

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Eye to Eye (Part 4)

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My, how time flies. I can’t believe that five weeks have gone by since I had cataract surgery performed on my right eye. Since then I’ve been wearing a contact lens in my left eye (underpowered, shows you how intense my near-sightedness is) This morning I went to see my eye doctor for a check-up before surgery on my left eye this coming July 29th. I was told prior to this that I should not wear my contact lens, so it was with some trepidation that I got behind the wheel of my car and started driving off to the hospital, half-blind.

OK, it wasn’t too bad just trying to see with my right eye. I managed pretty well, being very careful on the road and driving at a slightly slower speed than I normally do. I reach the hospital, and in a short while, I’m ushered into the eye doc’s office. The good news is that my right eye’s fully recovered—no need for the special eye drops, no need for the pirate eye patch, I can sleep on my right side, but still no swimming allowed. Three out of four ain’t bad.

Then he drops the clunker—“I’ll have to dilate your left eye for a final check,” he says. Oops, I have to drive home, doc. Anyway, he’s got to do what he’s got to do, right? I have to spend another 45 minutes waiting for my pupil to dilate, and then I’m ushered back in again. The doc makes a final check, and gives the thumbs up for the surgery next week. Well here we go again, except this time it’s for my left eye—I’m so glad we humans don’t have more eyes, I don’t think I could go through this more than twice. I’m not scared or whatever about the surgery; I’ll be completely knocked out anyway. But (and this is going to make someone laugh—you know who you are) I am not keen about that disgusting gown they make you wear prior to surgery. Ugh, makes me feel so—uncovered. Yikes.

All I can say is, I will be glad when all this is over, and then it’ll be like having a pair of new eyes. Granted I will have to make some prescription glasses for reading, but the power will be very minimal. And speaking of reading, I’d like to get back to it—I haven’t been reading much like I used to in the past. And thank goodness those thick glasses and contact lenses will be history.

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