Had my appointment with my retinal specialist this morning. Once again the injection I had last time did what it was supposed to do…removed the swelling and the liquid that seeps from the back of my eye. However, I will be needing cataract surgery in my bad eye in the next 6 months or so.
My doctor told me that this is not an “old person cataract” (that’s exactly what he said). He told me it was caused from the steroid injections. I knew that I already had “baby” cataracts and I knew of the risks from the injections (cataracts being one of the risks).
Now the problem with this is that normally you get cataract surgery in both eyes, but I only need it in one eye. This will cause a vision problem as once you have the surgery, you no longer need to wear glasses, so instead I will have to start wearing a contact lens in my left eye after having the surgery in my right eye. I used to wear contact lenses about 18 years ago, but quit because they were such a bother, having to remove them every night and put them in every morning, but now they do have the ones you can wear for up to a week and they don’t cost as much as they used too. I’ll also have to get the kind that has the “bifocal/trifocal” built in or I’ll still have to use reading glasses, which might be the cheapest way to go because I’ve heard that Medicare does not pay for cataract surgery or contact lenses. Don’t know how true that is.
So he wants to see me again in 3 months to see if the injection is still working and at that time, he will refer me to a Kaiser Cataract surgeon. He said there is one here in Santa Clarita and he thinks they can do the surgery right here in town instead of me having to go down to the hospital in Panorama City, but he’s not sure. I would be better if I could have it down right here in the valley.
I hate to have to go through it, even though I know it’s “no big deal” but I look forward to it so I’ll have some improvement in my vision.
After my appointment, Jean and I came back over to Santa Clarita and hit a few of the stores around town and we had lunch at the Fire House Subs.
No walk for today because my eyes are still dilated and also it got up to 101° here today and Saturday and Sunday are also supposed to be in the triple digits.
I hope that when you have that surgery you will have greatly improved vision. It is never fun to have any surgery,but sometimes it is necessary.
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