Seeing Clearly

 In my last blog post, I talked about my cataract surgery. I am now almost 8 weeks out from the first surgery and 5 weeks out from the second one. Recovery has gone well with no complications. I was only out of work for a total of four days, two for each surgery. I had no struggles with the eye drops, which are now done. I had a return visit to my ophthalmologist today. My eyes are healing well, and they look healthy. That is a blessing.

I have been curious about the fact that most people with cataract surgery experience a significant improvement in their vision, but I have not. I started reading about the surgery, and I found that 95% of people see vision improvement. My vision is still way better WITH my glasses (prescription from before the surgeries) than without. I have a couple of friends who had cataract surgery around the same time as I did. They talk about the ease of life without glasses. I haven’t experienced that, and it’s kind of hard not to be disappointed. I keep saying that I have had glasses all my life, so it isn’t important to me to get rid of my glasses. That is true on at least some level. The major reason I had the surgery was to remedy the glare I was seeing around every light as I drove at night. As of now, the glare is still there. It’s hard to tell if it is less significant than what I saw before the surgeries. So I have been waiting and wondering. 

 As I talked to my ophthalmologist today, he explained things to my satisfaction. He said that there are a couple of factors that impacted me. First, remember that I also have a cornea disease called Fuchs’ Dystrophy.  My doctor is a leading national specialist in the care for that. He said that my cornea disease makes it harder to measure exactly what would correct my vision. Second, and more importantly, my doctor purposely under-corrected my vision in case I do need cornea surgery in the future. That procedure would change my vision, and a complete correction now might mean my eyes would have a positive prescription rather than a negative one at that time. That is something to avoid. The doctor explained that more thoroughly than I can, and I appreciated his expertise in this field. I kind of wish I had heard this explanation before my surgery, but I simply didn’t know the questions to ask in order to hear it. 

My doctor was pleased that my eyes can be corrected to 20/20 with glasses. He is also hopeful that a new prescription, along with more time, will improve the glare at night. My eyes are currently dilated and have numbing drops in them, so my vision is terrible right now, as is typically the case after an eye exam - especially one at Mayo. 😆 I will look forward to glasses-shopping and will hope for the best! (Actually, I usually struggle deeply with glasses shopping….How do I ever decide??) In the meantime, I reminded myself what a gift vision is. I went out into my yard with my eyes all blurry and messed up and took some flower pictures. It’s going to be messy-rainy these next couple of days, so what could I do but appreciate these spring beauties? I love seeing the goodness of God through the lens of my eyes and the lens of my camera. May I never forget that joy.