AHB             Failing eyesight                                             10 July 2007with update on Tue 14 Aug 2007

Today is Tuesday.  Last Wednesday I had a phacomulsification of my left eye.  It is the destruction of the lens of the eye using an ultrasonic probe to crumble the material of the lens. While this is going on, the surgeon has a fine tube connected to a suction pump that sucks out the debris of the old lens.  He then inserted a new artificial lens behind the eye.  I'm told that they made a very small incision as the side of the eye to pass the tools into a position behind the eyeball.  According to the optician who referred me to the QMC here in Nottingham, it is a very delicate operation, but one that has been performed successfully thousands of times.  It must have been a tiny opening because I can't find any scar or scab.  Talk about 'keyhole surgery', it must have been a tiny key!

I went to the hospital department on my mobility scooter and used it to travel from the entrance via a lift into the department.  When I asked the nurse where I should put the scooter so as not to be in the way, "By your bed" I was told.  So for the hour or so I was there, I had the scooter for company.

I had a bit of a problem persuading the anaesthetist to give me a general anaesthetic rather than a local one.  I do not like people prodding me around the eye, and my reflexes could have been a problem.  As it was, I was out cold before I entered the theatre, and recovered consciousness before I was back in the ward.  I don't know which type of anaesthetic is the dearer, but I came to with a clear plastic eye patch.  I came home on my scooter and for the following week I put one drop of a fluid I was given into my left eye four times a day.

Before the op my left eye was almost blind on that side.  If I covered my right eye, the clock on the wall was a pale blur in the middle of a dark grey blur around it.  Now, my left eye is far superior to my right eye, and I can almost read the Telegraph without glasses.  I go in tomorrow morning to have a follow-up at the clinic in another part of the hospital.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today is Tuesday 14 August 2007 and I have had the follow-up and seen the optician and had a test for a new pair of specs.  I could manage without specs at all but even the old pair I'm wearing make things a bit easier.  I gave up driving six months ago and miss the car, so I was considering getting an old banger that will allow me a bit more freedom than the mobility scooter.  With Nottingham roads being so terrible, a car springing must be better than the tiny wheels of the scooter.  The optician told me that my sight is well within legal driving limits even without glasses.