I was just about to write this when I noticed wilsond’s post but thought I wouldn’t hijack it!
On Tuesday I got a call to say there was a cancellation slot available and could I come in for a cataract op early on Wednesday morning. As I was already in a state of stress over various catastrophes I was about to refuse when I realised it was the perfect time to have the op - who knows what the situation might be in six months time when my official turn came up. So I agreed and then realised I was in for a bad episode of IBS / diverticulitis. I had diarrhoea all day then felt sick, panicked in case I had to cancel, couldn’t sleep, dragged myself up and made it in to the spanking new ophthalmology suite. Fortunately third on the list but ops seemed to be taking a very long time. Finally called to find anaesthetist (what?) waiting. Very uncomfortable bed (I have deformed arthritic neck and fused spine with metal rods). Then I realised to my horror I was having a local anaesthetic in my eye (needle phobic 😱). Finally wheeled in to theatre and soon realised a trainee was doing the procedure 😱😱. I now know in detail how to do a cataract operation….He was very slow, of course I didn’t dare move and I was in agony around my neck and shoulders. When finished the porter suddenly shot the back of the bed up which caused more pain. I’d seized up and had great difficulty getting off the bed, at which point I swore a bit 🤬- not my usual style - poor young porter was most concerned!
Eye still totally blurred today but hoping it settles - didn’t happen after what anaesthetist sniffly suggested was ‘third world style’ op last time.
My heart, you ask? Couple of ectopics, some racing the day before, steady as a rock on Wednesday. Bit woozy today but OK.
You just can’t predict it 😂
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Buffafly
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I do hope the neck and spine get more comfortable today. Well done you for going through with it. As a fellow sufferer of IBS I feel for you. Also the arthritis. My spine isn’t fused, unlike daughter, but the knee is bad enough…..All the best for a speedy recovery xx
Hope you feel more comfortable today. Phew it's all over for you now thank goodness. Heres to a good outcome. Great re heart behaving.
I will never understand the state of the heart and what throws it off. Last month i lost my dearly loved first husband. I was devastated even though we hadnt been together for a long time he was still in my life from age 16 and we spoke on birthdays and christmas and at any family trauma time. I assumed my heart would go off into afib or svt with the great sadness of it, but it didnt. Even at his funeral when i was heart broken my heart behaved perfectly. Life is so strange and unfathonable.
Thank you so much. Its a very sad time. Hope all is manageable with you and yours.
Hiya Buff,
So sorry to read ( in between giggles which arose from your writing style) of all your dramas. I hope by now everything is settling down and that the blurry vision is clearing. I had my right eye cataract done on 18th and feel - if I worked in a nice clean air conditioned office - that I'd be back at work by now. Sadly I drive buses and the work environment is the polar opposite.
Nevertheless I was about 3 days before the blurryness subsided.
Did they give you eye drops to take after surgery ? I have three different species to be taken at 8 am, 12 noon, 4 pm and 8 pm ..... each 5 minutes apart, Exocin, Pred Forte and Acular. I have to take these for 3 weeks. A4 size bit of paper with instructions on and lots of boxes to tick after each dose. I am getting quite good at box ticking now.
Now I'm fine and am enjoying life with my new lens. I am totally gobsmacked by the clarity of vision and am beginning to enjoy my Tom Clancy novels once again.
My surgeon was fair dinkum, no trainees for this boy, but even so he was cranky. He discovered that one cranky surgeon pitted against one cranky patient isn't the best work environment ! 😱
He kept telling me to look at the lights, well my whole vision was a bloody light what did he expect ? I said all I could see were 3 light blue glows, ( like the lenses at the back of a smartphone) surrounded by a halo. ( Not my halo). He grunted something and I grunted back thats as good as its gonna get. Thats all I can see.
After that we both settled down, mind you by this time he'd already taken my cheque for £2600.00 !! No heart problems either.
Hopefully, your vision will improve dramatically as the days go on. Despite everything - you did the right thing in accepting the appointment. I'm still waiting to hear about my NHS appointment and am giving up with this bloody "Holby City" NHS service. Thats why I paid the money and went private.
Hope you get mega big improvements soon - may the force be with you.
Thanks John - I just have ‘combi’eye drops four times a day. My leaflet just has a sample box to show how to do your own chart. I guess you have to feel you are getting your money’s worth!
Hope your eyesight soon returns to normal Buff. Panic over now, thank goodness. I was offered a trainee to remove my gallbladder, that was months ago and I said no. Then covid stopped it happening at the start of July and I'm still waiting for the op.
Thinking of you.
Jean
I was with you every minute if that! Hope you are feeling better now.
Oh what a tale! Good luck with the cataract! What a lot you have to contend with…
Miserable day up here in the North today but your post cheered me up no end,😂😂 Just loved the way you turned your dilemmas into comic sketches....the BBC ....and this website...need people like you! Hope your eye recovers ok.👍
I got to the bit where you said needle in the eye...😳 When I had lens replacement I had drops prior to the procedure which did the trick. My Mum had a CT scan where a hard bed is used too, she had severe curvature of her spine and afterwards said she would never have another.
How you retained your sense of humour I don't know, but hope your recovery goes well and the new lens makes it all worthwhile!
Well, I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself because of my first really heavy cold for about three years. Not Covid as I tested today but very sore throat. However when I read your post I realised I had nothing to moan about! Hope you recover quickly.
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