Monday, November 28, 2016

I can see clearly now, almost

This being 39 stuff is for the birds.

In November, 2015, I had an eye exam. The prescription for my right eye (just the nitty-gritty here) was -0.75 -0.75. I bought a new pair of glasses.

By August of this year my glasses just weren't doing the job anymore, so I got a new eye exam. This time the prescription of my right eye was -2.00 -0.50. The left eye did not change that much, but the optometrist said my best corrected vision in it was 20/40.

I have known for about four years that I had cataracts in the making. I was then told I would  not have to worry about them for 20 years. Last year I was told 2-3 years. In August I was told "Dang, you got some nasty cataracts there, son." I was actually told that it was not really safe for me to drive at night.

On November 3 I had surgery to replace the lens in my left eye. The doctor told me that the cataract was so dense he had to crank up the ultrasound to dissolve it. Unfortunately, that causes corneal swelling, which takes a bit longer to heal.

When I got home, my eye was bothering me so I decided to take a nap -- hoping my eye would feel better when I woke up. As I lay on the bed, I looked at the ceiling.  I could not really see anything with my left eye because of the swelling and because I was wearing a clear plastic patch to protect the eye. While I could not see clear images, I could see color -- and I wondered why someone was shining a blue light on the ceiling.

The next day I had a 24-hour follow-up. I picked a shirt to wear out of my closet. This shirt had something of a plaid pattern, with a beige main color and some wide brownish lines. I was shocked. There was not a speck of brown on the shirt. What I thought was a creamy beige was in reality pure white. The brown lines were gray. When I went to work on Saturday, I chose a shirt that had a small pattern of black and white -- except now it was white and a bluer-than-blue pattern.

To put it in perspective, here is a picture of the curtain in our bedroom with sunlight shining through it. This is an unretouched photo and reflects how my left eye now sees it.


Here is an approximation of how my right eye sees it.


The ceilings that I thought were beige were, in fact pure white. I mentioned this to the doctor at my check-up, and he said one patient asked him why he put in a blue lens.

Right now I am doing what is called "mono vision." I use my left eye for distance and my right eye for reading. I have been reading a book and using a yellow highlighter. I thought the highlighter was drying out as I could barely see it on the page. Then I happened to look at it with my left eye: it almost looked neon against the -- you guessed it -- white page. Against the brownish page, it was hard to see.

On December 8, I get the other eye done. There will be some recovery time after that and I will again have to wear reading glasses. I must say that I have enjoyed the past few weeks of not wearing anything but sunglasses, but getting 20/20 again and seeing the full spectrum of colors is well worth it.


16 comments:

  1. My worst nightmare came true! Now you can see that I am not, actually, 29!

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    1. Who cares? You are still the most beautiful lady I have ever seen!

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    2. Fay, LMAO!!! You are too funny!

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  2. You will ALWAYS be 29 Fay, and you're beautiful!

    Matt, I'm so glad you're in the process of having this done. It will open up a whole new world! Your Christmas tree will be especially bright and colorful. Good stuff! :)

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    1. Now Fay will HAVE to believe me when I tell her!

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  3. Matt, even at the advanced age of 39(ish) you are a bit young for cataract surgery, yes?

    My wife (a mere 29(ish)) was told she was exceptionally young. That she grew up in Hawaii likely had something to do with it, but still...

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    1. I wonder about that myself, although there are fast developing types of cataracts.

      However, I used to go out in the sun when I was young without any sunglasses (it was a yearly occurrence to have my back peel from sunburn). Considering my baby bluest, that makes sense. I had one prescription where my ADD (what I need to read) was +2.50. The Doctor commented that I was a bit young to have that high of an add, although the last couple of prescriptions were back down to +2.25.

      I plan on pushing for my grandchildren to make heavy use of sunglasses. I wonder if that would help both the cataracts and reading situation in later years.

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  4. ...anyway glad you came through it, and yes, mrs lewy14 totally noticed that the colors were different.

    Worse, she had picked out paints / finishes / carpeting etc over the two years we'd been in the house.

    When she had the first eye done she was almost in a panic, wandering around the house looking through one eye, then the other... fortunately all the colors "worked" for her still (even though they were markedly different).

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    1. I have wondered about photos I have touched up in Photo shop, although I think the change has come about rather quickly and I have not done that many lately.

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  5. Matt, I'm so glad you've had your cataract taken care of. Hopefully you'll have the same success with your other eye, and then you can enjoy the blinding beauty of your wife! :)

    Your story reminds me of my father in law who was complaining that his TV wasn't working properly because the colours aren't bright enough. We kept reassuring him that it was fine. Eventually he went to the eye doctor, had a cataract operation, and then couldn't stop exclaiming how bright everything was. He was like a little boy with a new toy.

    Meanwhile my own eye doc has told me that I have the beginnings of a cataract. yeah, at my very unadvanced age... Possibly the sunny climate here plays a part though I always wear sunglasses outdoors.

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    1. I understand the "little boy" feeling completely. I think Fay and my co-workers are tired of me talking about it.

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    2. "He was like a little boy with a new toy." LOL Anne, exactly!

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  6. I'm so glad you can have this fixed, Matt (and being an eye doc, you understand what is wrong and the repair!). Saying a prayer for your next procedure and for getting back to 100%.

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  7. I found my last three prescriptions prior to the one from August. Not counting the astigmatism (which has been relatively constant:

    April 2014: +0.25/-0.25
    May 2015: -0.25/-0.50
    Nov 2015: -0.75/-1.25
    Aug 2016: -2.00/-1.50

    I'd say I was about due.

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    1. See (no pun intended) I told you it was all downhill once you hit the 60 :)

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