Autumn is slowly creeping upon us, with weather still too mild. I am walking around with my new eye.
There is a choice on the NHS between distance and reading, so I opted for distance and to have reading glasses. So now at present I can just about read with the old eye…
What happens when you get home? For two weeks no heavy lifting, gardening, keep fit classes or housework? For four weeks drops four times a day. What a surprise, the drops are Dexamethasone, the same steroid as in the tablets they give you with chemotherapy. This is to prevent inflammation. For people with other eye conditions like glaucoma there are all sorts of drops which they probably have to take for ever, so mustn’t complain about four weeks. The focus on eyes has given others the opportunity to tell me all about their eye drops, when they take them, which ones have to be kept in the fridge…
A reader in Australia enjoying a Halloween story in Pandemonica.
What revelations and story ideas has my new lens brought? I could be a better police witness. With cataracts and other eyesight problems, how many people are wandering around not seeing properly? That blind person with a long cane is actually someone walking their little dog on a long lead… the man with a baby strapped to his chest is actually carrying a parcel, the man standing over a body on the pavement is actually standing with his luggage waiting for a taxi. I also have a brand new television set which appears to be in 3D. I can read the straplines and hopefully those messages on the characters’ phones vital to the plot.
Of course I still rely on my phone’s lens…
Have you ever not recognised your friend walking towards you or misinterpreted what you were seeing in the distance?
Preview of the coming attraction for me!
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I can still see distance OK without glasses, but if I’m not wearing my reading glasses, I can’t distinguish pictures of items in hardware store advertising flyers. Is that a small refrigerator or a storage bin? A torque wrench or a coffee frother?
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Yes why do they make leaflets so hard to read, goodness knows what you might buy… Imagine the size they would be if they made them large enough for us to read without our glasses.
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I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror.
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Nor do I, big shock when i looked in the mirror with my new eye.
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My distance vision is still good, but I need reading glasses for everything else, except watching TV. But when those annoying text messages pop up that are integral to the plot of a film or drama, I have to rely on my wife to quickly read them and tell me what they say.
Best wishes, Pete.
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… and there is often little time to read them!
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Hi Janet, I had eye drops for a few weeks post surgery. Now I use them for dryness and air pollutants.
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Like Pete my distance vision is good however I need reading glasses the damm print I swear is getting smaller …
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When I collected new driving glasses from the opticians the lady adjusting them said cheerfully ‘wear them when you are walking around town – you will recognise people much sooner’ and without engaging brain I responded ‘So I will have more time to dodge if they usually rabbit on for ages’ and everyone in the shop giggled!
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I just had reading glasses to start with, then at one check up the optician said I needed glasses for driving. I said ‘That’s okay, I don’t drive.’ She said well you could still have the glasses. I asked what would be the point and she replied I would be able to see better!
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Having always been incredibly short-sighted, when I could choose to be long-sighted when my cataracts were done I jumped at the chance. Three years later I’m still delighted by how well I can see WITHOUT GLASSES!
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How brilliant Mick, which begs the question can one just be given new lenses without waiting for the cataracts!
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A good question. In theory, I suppose so. I doubt the NHS would do it, though, unless there was a very good reason.
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My distance vision is terrible. I have driving glasses, and now, I’m noticing that I have to enlarge the print on my computer screen more and more. Guess it’s time for a visit to the optometrist!
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We can’t enlarge the print on paper, though I have been known to snap tiny labels with my phone and transfer the picture to my desk top to see an enlarged view.
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I was so excited when that two weeks of activity restriction was over! And elated when the month of eye drops was finished.
I’ve heard there are issues with NIH or NHS? BUT, my senior coverage in the United States does not pay for corrective lenses. The ones I needed (I am far-sighted, near-sighted, and have an astigmatism) cost $5,000, a piece! I decided I wasn’t going to spend $10K in glasses for the rest of my life, so I just got the new lenses, with no correction. They still helped as the cataracts had indeed, clouded my vision.
I think your ideas about seeing things accurately is a great point though. I appreciate being back to 20/20 vision, even though I need glasses to have it. For instance, being able to see down a long store aisle again. It’s great!
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