Making Adjustments

I went to my one-day followup examination with Dr. Liu yesterday, and no problems were evident. I told him that my only complaint was about the protective eye goggles that I have to wear at night. He suggested cutting off the elastic and using surgical tape to position one goggle over my left eye. I tried it last night and got a much better night's sleep.

My other challenge has been working on the computer and reading at my desk. I tried popping out the left lens of my glasses, but the combination of ReZOOM in the left eye and glasses over the right eye was too distracting. The two eyes were sending different signals to my brain, because the images produced by glasses are smaller and somewhat distorted compared to images transmitted to the brain by an intraocular lens (IOL) like ReZOOM. It was like seeing double. I tried working without glasses, but the sharpness of my near vision was not good enough with one corrected eye and one uncorrected eye. Today I tried a new tactic: putting the left lens back in my glasses and covering it with a piece of cardboard cut to fit over the lens. I can wear the glasses to see with my right eye and give my left eye a rest. It works OK, but Tom keeps teasing me about looking like a pirate wearing an eye patch: "Ahoy, Matey! It's the one-eyed editor!"

At my followup appointment, Dr. Liu talked about the symptoms of retinal detachment: floaters, flashing lights, sudden changes in vision. I went home and Googled "detached retina." I learned that the risk of retinal detachment is much higher for very nearsighted people than for the general population: 1 in 20 lifetime risk versus 1 in 10,000. I'm focusing on the fact that 95% of highly nearsighted people DON'T experience retinal detachment, but if I do have symptoms I will seek treatment immediately.

A Whole New World!

"A whole new world... a new fantastic point of view!"

When I woke up this morning, the theme from Disney's Aladdin was going through my head. My left eye has its new "bionic" reZoom multifocal lens, and I can actually function without glasses or contact lenses most of the time. My right eye will get its reZoom lens on May 3. Until then, my vision will be half clear and half blurry. This morning my husband Tom asked, "Can you see me?", and I told him, "Yes, but you're not in high-definition mode yet!"

Having surgery under anesthesia was a new experience for me. Scary, because I didn't know what to expect. My blood pressure was higher than usual (140/80 instead of 120/70) as I was being prepped, and the nurse asked if I was nervous. "Yes!" I replied. She asked if I wanted her to bring my husband in from the waiting room, I said, "No, because then he'll think something's wrong and he'll get nervous, and I'll be more nervous because HE is." When my doctor (Dr. James Liu) stopped by my bed before the surgery to ask if I had any questions, I asked him what I would feel or see when he was operating on my eye. He said I might feel some pressure but no pain, and depending on how awake I was, I might see bright lights and colors.

When my bed was wheeled into the operating room, I had my eyes shut. The left eye was taped shut to keep the eyedrops in place, but I had my right eye shut on purpose. The anesthesiologist, Lou, asked me if I was nervous. "Yes!" I said. "Do you want sedation?" he inquired. "Yes!" (I thought: Bring it on!) Lou did a good job. I was asleep throughout the procedure, which was fine with me! Let's save the bright colorful lights for the Fourth of July.

No pain during or after the procedure. During my pre-operative Internet research on cataract surgery, I learned that it's normal for everything to have a pinkish cast as the eye is healing. Yesterday evening the sky was the most amazing shade of violet!

This morning I carefully took a shower, making sure that no water got in my eyes. (Fresh water after eye surgery can cause infection or irritation.) It was startling to be able to notice details inside the shower stall, like a piece of sock lint. I might be forced to clean the shower more often from now on.

So far, the worst part (besides the cost and the anxiety) has been wearing protective goggles at night. They're cumbersome, and they leave red rings around both my eyes. My close-up vision with the new lens could be better, but it's not bad. It will be interesting to see if the visual clarity increases over the next couple of weeks as the eye heals.

April 14, 2007 Five days pre-op

Am I scared? Yes. Excited? Yes, that too.

Here are my biggest fears (realistic or not):

• I'll lose part or all of my vision.
• We won't be able to make the payments for the surgery.
• I won't wake up from the anesthesia.
• It will hurt a lot.

Here are my hopes:

• I'll be able to see well without glasses or contact lenses FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
• I will look better, feel better about myself, and enjoy life more without glasses.
• I will actually make more money because of my higher level of confidence.

Hope outweighs fear, but it doesn't erase fear altogether.

April 12, 2007 One week pre-op

Today is my 49th birthday. One week from today, the lens of my left eye will be suctioned out of my eye and replaced with a multifocal lens implant (trade name: ReZOOM) in a procedure called a clear lensectomy. Two weeks later (May 3), the lens of my right eye will be replaced with a ReZOOM lens.

Basically, I will undergo cataract surgery about 25 years earlier than the average cataract patient. The goal: life without glasses or contact lenses.

This morning I had a preoperative medical exam to ensure that I will be able to tolerate the anesthesia.