December 2, 2015
This post should have been put up long ago, but here we are. I had my cataract surgery on January 15th of 2015. It was the same parking garage, same building, same waiting room, same nervous feeling as I walked in for my cataract surgery. I knew this time around would be much different than my other prior surgeries; the surgery itself was only expected to last about ten minutes. That's just a mere fraction of the time it took for the prior two.
I sat hooked up to an IV again, waiting to be rolled into the OR.
By the time I was feeling the local anesthesia wear off, the doctor was finishing the surgery. I had no concept of time during the other two surgeries, but being under much less anesthesia this time, I was much more aware of time. I was getting a little claustrophobic at the very end (having the drape over my face while they were operating on my eye), since the anesthesia was almost gone and I wasn't as relaxed (that stuff really makes you relax!). But the doctor finished up and I was heading into recovery.
I was pretty much awake and ready to leave when I got into the recovery area. They gave me some water, and some instruction for post-op. My eye felt a little scratchy and irritated, but NOTHING compared to the other surgeries. It was a little red, but I could actually see out of my eye! The lens was so much more clear!
By the next day, it felt like nothing happened. My eye was still dilated so I could see the lens wiggle a little when my eyes moved, and see the curve of it in certain light, but that diminished for the most part once the dilation when down. I needed to wait three months before I could go in to have the second cataract taken out, which would only involve a laser, not nearly as intense as the one that was used to seal the holes from the lattice.
I had the usual post-op appointment the next morning, and then a couple times following that, and it was as if nothing had happened by the end of the first week - except that I could see much better!
One cataract down, one to go!
