Thoughts From A Tired Soul

Hello to all of you friends :smiley:

I haven't been in for quite a time because I couldn't see the screen to type. I had an eye exam a month or so ago because I was losing my peripheral vision in my right eye and was due for a check up anyway. Doc sent me to the surgeon because she found fast growing compound cataracts in each eye and the one in my right eye was severe and had to come out.

I had it removed on Wednesday and can finally see a bit better today. The multiple dialation drops wore off. lol.
I wish my temporary glasses had that new MetaWorld in them though, lol
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Docs gave me a temporary prescription because I chose the lenses that give me close vision and distance prescription because with all the reading and close work I do with my art it made more sense.....that, and the lenses I needed were expensive out of pocket costs my insurances didn't cover. I am so angry at our Healthcare system rules right now. It was a blessing I had the money, otherwise I'd have been labeled legally blind! Another blessing is the place I get my glasses from made me a "free" pair because I'm navigating my world with long distance corrections that are different in each eye until the surgeon puts the left eye lens in this next Wednesday. To say the least I've caught up on my meditation these two days because watching TV, reading, or just plain looking is straining my eyes and giving me a monster headache. So I've been meditating and listening to podcasts with my eyes closed as much as possible while sporting my new temporary dark shades, lol.

The other blessing in this is that I'm a believer! After my eye surgery I sincerely believe I am connected to the Universe in ways I'd not imagined before. ♡

For those that have had cataract surgery I wonder if they experienced similar...My system was at full tilt Wednesday morning from the nervous and anxious energy. I am quite attached to my vision for many reasons and struggle putting eyedrops in because my eye will Slam shut when anything comes close to it, lol. I've been force holding open the lids to do the post-op drop schedule since surgery, lol, it's getting easier tho.

Anyhoo, to give a better picture of my experience after getting wheeled into the OR the anesthesiologist gave me a shot in the IV. At first I didn't think it was more than sailing, lol, because I didn't feel the normal change when I get sedated. The nurse then had me scoot up the bed until my head was off while another nurse slid this mideval contraption under my head and neck. I was ok until they strapped my head into the cradle! That caused a trigger because I have PTSD and can't handle my head or neck confined...so I started breathing through it and when the nurse put the Jaws of Eye on me I laughed. I shit ya not, that's what they call the contraption that pulls the lids away so the doc can do the surgery.

What happened next was phenomenal! They flooded my eye with iodine and the room turned a piny orange color.
I don't feel a thing.
Afterward, the anesthesiologist told me that the drug cocktail he gave me was indeed a sedative and because I had to be able to communicate with the surgical team it only shuts off part of the brain and how it perceives pain. I thought that was cool because I didn't have that stony hangover feeling I get when they knock me out completely with that happy juice cocktail. I did have mental confusion and mild distortion of my perception of time and space. That lasted until evening hours last night.
Well when the doc cut the pouch to remove the cataract my right eye was seeing all the colors, darkness, and white stars of a space nebula! It only lasted for the 15-minutes if the surgery, however OH MY GOODNESS! That was so wild to 'see'. All the fuchsia, purples, blacks, white stars.....I was in awe. The staff must have thought me bonkers while I sipped my apple juice in recovery and reiterated what I saw, lol.

I can still invision what I saw. Almost like a imprint freeze framed in my mind. ♡ did I say it was a majestic and beautiful thing? lol

While resting after I thought to myself that we must really be made of stardust and light and that 15-minutes of a spectacular light and color show must have been my peek into the world from which we come. I sure believe. And, I hope that peek is where we return to when our spirits are tired of this meat sack of a body we use as a vehicle to navigate our earthly existence.

I hope I can find a picture close to what I saw; otherwise, I'll have to paint one so I can continue to reflect on it long into my old sage.....I mean age. :sweatsmile::tearsofjoy:

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This is close, but missing the white light dots of stars
 
Hey @Sandie33 - you do seem to be working through the whole catalogue of medical conditions at the moment! I'm so glad you've come through this first cataract op OK. My wife had cataracts removed in her 50s - they were caused by a strong topical steroid treatment she had to use to control iritis, at the same time as taking a huge dose of internal steroids to overcome a severe type of nephritis. Anyway, all went well, and she could see far better afterwards than she ever did before.

She didn't describe the sort of visual experience that you had during the operations though - maybe that's just for you! I hope the second one works out as well as the first and you can get some permanent glasses sorted.

One thing to watch for is that my wife's lens prescription changed quite a bit over the following year or so after the operations. Might be worth getting advice about this before spending a lot on top end lenses in the immediate aftermath.
 
Hey @Sandie33 - you do seem to be working through the whole catalogue of medical conditions at the moment! I'm so glad you've come through this first cataract op OK. My wife had cataracts removed in her 50s - they were caused by a strong topical steroid treatment she had to use to control iritis, at the same time as taking a huge dose of internal steroids to overcome a severe type of nephritis. Anyway, all went well, and she could see far better afterwards than she ever did before.

She didn't describe the sort of visual experience that you had during the operations though - maybe that's just for you! I hope the second one works out as well as the first and you can get some permanent glasses sorted.

One thing to watch for is that my wife's lens prescription changed quite a bit over the following year or so after the operations. Might be worth getting advice about this before spending a lot on top end lenses in the immediate aftermath.
Hi John!
Yes, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I've been having my fair share of medical things happening concurrently. It's all good though. I'm thinking by next year at this time I'll be a whole new woman and maintenance free for a time, lol.
A few friends tease with comments that with all the added parts and pieces of equipment I'll live a hundred more years.
The root cause is diabetes. I can't stress enough to anyone that will listen how important it is to take care of oneself, diabetic or not. Informed is best. I look back on what my elders said about diabetes and how it 'skips a generation'...no, it doesn't. Anyone can develop diabetes at any age. I do take part responsibility for my current condition. My not taking good care of me in lieu of always saying yes to caring for others has been a deep lesson indeed.
As a result I've learned that my saying No does not cause irrevocable calamities for others. lol. Some of the folk in my circle have disappeared because I've been saying "apologies, but No, I am not able to do that for you." That was a shock to my system the first couple of times I said it without explanation of why I cannot, or should I say will not, do the thing.
I'm also adjusting to being the cared for rather than the carer too. I have a few good friends that have been very helpful to me these past few months. Learning repreprosity or equal give and receive is a strong lesson in not only enforcing boundaries of giving, but in loosening the boundaries of receiving. However, I'm learning.

Wow! Has your wife's vision leveled out for her now? Ot sounds like she went through quite a time of it. Does she experience a more 'crystal clarity' now? As I mentioned, I chose close up correction over distance. When I cover my left eye, and remove my glasses I can see a remarkable difference in clarity between the eye lens and the bifocal lens.
She didn't have any experience during her surgery? I asked others too, and their answers weren't as extraordinary an experience as mine. Perhaps you're correct in that being an experience for me. it certainly was quite the show, lol. I'm hoping tomorrow's surgery goes as well. I'm feeling a bit anxious but not near as disruptive as last week was. it will be a relief to have both eyes functioning as a unit again though, lol. The strain has been giving me intermittent headaches that resemble my days dealing with migraine. I'm running out of interesting podcasts to listen to while I sit around in the dim room with my eyes closed.....watch my ears crap out on me next from over use, lol.
In all honesty, I'm enjoying the rest. However, chores and packing have had to wait. I fear I'll need a threshing machine to mow my grass next week. lol.

We've put a halt on new glasses for now. Hope is the fouled interim pair works after Thursday or else I'll be two weeks not driving or doing much until they're in.
Here's to hoping though!

Always good to hear from you John, best to you and your family ♡
 
Yes, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I've been having my fair share of medical things happening concurrently. It's all good though. I'm thinking by next year at this time I'll be a whole new woman and maintenance free for a time, lol.
A few friends tease with comments that with all the added parts and pieces of equipment I'll live a hundred more years.
The root cause is diabetes. I can't stress enough to anyone that will listen how important it is to take care of oneself, diabetic or not. Informed is best. I look back on what my elders said about diabetes and how it 'skips a generation'...no, it doesn't. Anyone can develop diabetes at any age. I do take part responsibility for my current condition. My not taking good care of me in lieu of always saying yes to caring for others has been a deep lesson indeed.
As a result I've learned that my saying No does not cause irrevocable calamities for others. lol. Some of the folk in my circle have disappeared because I've been saying "apologies, but No, I am not able to do that for you." That was a shock to my system the first couple of times I said it without explanation of why I cannot, or should I say will not, do the thing.
I'm also adjusting to being the cared for rather than the carer too. I have a few good friends that have been very helpful to me these past few months. Learning repreprosity or equal give and receive is a strong lesson in not only enforcing boundaries of giving, but in loosening the boundaries of receiving. However, I'm learning.
I think you are right - it's so very important to take care of yourself as much as others, or we are no use either to them or to ourselves! It's great that you have some good friends who are looking out for you, that's such a precious thing. About time you had someone care for you a bit.
Wow! Has your wife's vision leveled out for her now? Ot sounds like she went through quite a time of it. Does she experience a more 'crystal clarity' now? As I mentioned, I chose close up correction over distance. When I cover my left eye, and remove my glasses I can see a remarkable difference in clarity between the eye lens and the bifocal lens.
She didn't have any experience during her surgery? I asked others too, and their answers weren't as extraordinary an experience as mine. Perhaps you're correct in that being an experience for me. it certainly was quite the show, lol. I'm hoping tomorrow's surgery goes as well. I'm feeling a bit anxious but not near as disruptive as last week was. it will be a relief to have both eyes functioning as a unit again though, lol. The strain has been giving me intermittent headaches that resemble my days dealing with migraine. I'm running out of interesting podcasts to listen to while I sit around in the dim room with my eyes closed.....watch my ears crap out on me next from over use, lol.
All the very best for your op tomorrow Sandie - I hope it goes as smoothly as the first one. Won't be long now before you'll be able to see properly again and can start getting back to normal. I just double checked and my wife had nothing like the light show that you experienced - she's quite envious LOL! What happened with her is that she developed after cataracts the following year - these are when the seat of the lens below the new synthetic ones starts to cloud over. I think it's quite common, and the treatment is easy - they use a laser to clear it up. Her glasses prescription changed over this time and after the laser treatment, but settled down once the final steps had been taken. When she had the main cataract operations she was pretty amazed at how clear everything seemed and she only needed glasses for reading and close work at first, but afterwards she needed varifocals.

You must be having quite a time living with very differently behaving eyes - I'm not surprised you are getting headaches. I have a divergent cast in my right eye and don't have binocular vision - my left eye is pretty short-sighted and my right is moderately long-sighted so I've lived with it since childhood. I used to get the most awful double vision and eyestrain headaches, but as I grew up I learnt to ignore my right eye, and only use it for peripheral vision unless I consciously choose to use it. If I try and use them both together to focus on a single thing, I soon get headaches again.
Always good to hear from you John, best to you and your family ♡
And you Sandie - I'm glad you are still hanging on in here. Let us know how you get on after the op
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All the very best for your op tomorrow Sandie - I hope it goes as smoothly as the first one. Won't be long now before you'll be able to see properly again and can start getting back to normal
Thank you John :) I had to take yesterday off from the screens of phone, tablet, and TV, however, today is better with my lovely UVV shades.
All was well the doc said at my follow-up this morning. One more visit on the 21st and I'll have my final script. The interim glasses are working okay. They dual dilated both eyes to check their progress this morning so the afternoon has been curtains drawn again until it wears off by tomorrow. She said I could try driving after Sunday which will be worth waiting for, lol. I simply abhor being stuck in the house for days on end.

When she had the main cataract operations she was pretty amazed at how clear everything seemed
I would agree with her here. Everything seems so much sharper, crisp, and the colors are beyond words. The distinction between the shades, tints and hues are going to help me out in my art works for sure.
Is she doing okay with her sight now? Docs say I may have cataract syndrome as they called it a year or so from now. I wonder if it's similar to what she experienced?
You can let her know that the left eye was not the same show as my right. Doc had said it would be a bit different and he was correct. The left eye was mostly white and gray cloud formations rather that the beautiful colors of my right. To say the least I was disappointed, lol. The anesthesiologist gave me a different sedative than what I had last week. I chalked it up to my perception difference between the drug cocktail and the cataract not being equal weight as in the right eye.

You must be having quite a time living with very differently behaving eyes - I'm not surprised you are getting headaches. I have a divergent cast in my right eye and don't have binocular vision - my left eye is pretty short-sighted and my right is moderately long-sighted so I've lived with it since childhood. I used to get the most awful double vision and eyestrain headaches, but as I grew up I learnt to ignore my right eye, and only use it for peripheral vision unless I consciously choose to use it. If I try and use them both together to focus on a single thing, I soon get headaches again.
OH geeish, that must be a bear. I can relate to shutting off one eye to another. That helped over the past week to use my left eye over the right with the old prescription. I wore the new interim glasses home after surgery yesterday because the old script wouldn't have worked with either eye, lol. I reckoned I wasn't taking any chances.

Anyhoo, thank you again for the well wishes. I'm excited to have a workable prescription for now and the final one to come so I can move into the next adventure :grinning:
 
Fantastic that everything went off so well Sandie. Judging by other people who've had it done, you'll be back to normal in a few days. Sorry you didn't get the psychedelic light show this time!

Is she doing okay with her sight now?
Sure - it was 20 years ago she had hers done, and they've been fine apart from the mid-course correction to deal with the after clouding. I gather that quite a lot of our light focusing comes from the cornea as well as the lens, and that has changed over the years, so she's needed glasses for both near and far vision for quite a long time now. I would imaging that lens technology has improved a lot over this time, so things may be different now.

It can be a bit weird when a bright directed light catches her at a particular angle though - it reflects off the surface of the lenses and it can look a bit demonic LOL She hasn't driven for quite a long time now, so I don't know what they are like for night driving - they may flare more than ordinary eyes with oncoming headlights, but again that might be different these days if the new lenses have anti-flaring treatment.
 
Sharing this too.....I hadn't realized my friend took my picture after the doc wrote on my eye! I told her the doc should have wrote hurrah instead of just RA lol :tearsofjoy:
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one looks a bit evil compared to the other when dilated, lol

Sure - it was 20 years ago she had hers done, and they've been fine apart from the mid-course correction to deal with the after clouding.
Yeah, I assumed such with ages given. I just wondered with the fix. Doc tells me that because I'm my age that later in life I may have to have a laser correction should the pouch that holds the lens start to sag.
The eye docs have been doing this sort of thing since the 1800's and it would be a fun research to learn how the advancements over time have occurred with the technology.

it can look a bit demonic LOL
lol, I am experiencing a bit of that with the drops and dialations. As long as it doesn't change my actual eye color I'm not bothered. The doc did say the color will darken as they heal.

night driving
The doc's nurse told me night driving should be much easier now as the cataracts catch the glare more easily. I will let you know, lol. I've been advised not to drive for a few more days.
 
Whooty whoot toot too!
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this looks like the doc and I walking down the hall at my 32 week check in for the abdominal surgery.

**Pat's self on forehead, screaming I'm healed! :tearsofjoy:

It has been a long road, however I am thankful, grateful, and blessed today!

A few more weeks of taking things easy to let the scar tissue toughen up, but hell, after the past 32 weeks it ain't nuthin:D
 
Congrats @Sandie33

Some come to realize healing is not a given, and cannot be guaranteed, yet heal, regardless. You are now among them.

How fortunate that is. For you, of course, but also for all who think kindly of you.

Those who do not will in time come to appreciate your mettle. You are not so easily undone, are you? No, you are not.

Blesséd Be,
Ian
 
Do we now have a new format here in the forum? I'm liking it.

What a blessing and curse these past few days, weeks? Have been.

I have been busy trying to sort the mess of many years stash, lol.
It would seem I've inherited a 'hoard'. I cannot understand the sense of keeping every scrap of paper and parcel one aquites in a lifetime. However, things are progressing slowly. I'm grateful for the time to get it done.....if I'd had to do it immediately under the circumstances, I would have taken what I thought I wanted, unhooked the gas and electric, and dropped the whole thing in its own cellar. I'm thankful I didn't have to do that.
 
Do we now have a new format here in the forum? I'm liking it.

What a blessing and curse these past few days, weeks? Have been.

I have been busy trying to sort the mess of many years stash, lol.
It would seem I've inherited a 'hoard'. I cannot understand the sense of keeping every scrap of paper and parcel one aquites in a lifetime. However, things are progressing slowly. I'm grateful for the time to get it done.....if I'd had to do it immediately under the circumstances, I would have taken what I thought I wanted, unhooked the gas and electric, and dropped the whole thing in its own cellar. I'm thankful I didn't have to do that.


Yes, it is cleaner. I like it, too.

I've been there with sorting out stashes and it gives me pre-emptive motivation to minimize my belongs and eradicate clutter in my home.
Good luck sorting through it.

Congratulations on healing well!!!! This is such great news!!!!
 
Yes, it is cleaner. I like it, too.

I've been there with sorting out stashes and it gives me pre-emptive motivation to minimize my belongs and eradicate clutter in my home.
Good luck sorting through it.

Congratulations on healing well!!!! This is such great news!!!!
Thank you @Asa. I'm thrilled that I'm feeling better finally. I've delegated much of my yard work to others so I can get the stash sorted. I've been taking pictures of some of the things for a scrap book and then just tossed it in the dumpster pile.
I'm not into looking all over the internet for a value and surely I have no energy for a yard sale, lol. If I think it's usable though I have a donate pile and reckon they can sort it out.
I dream for the days when I can merely dust the ceiling and walls and run the vacuum.
 

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