The eyes have it

Having announced I was having eye surgery about a week ago, I feel an obligation to bring you up to date.

After the surgery, you get cool shades for free. (Notify Bernie Sanders.)

The glasses are to be worn outdoors and in bright light. That is easy. Harder is putting four types of drops in my eye, several times a day.

The operation was to remove cataracts from both eyes, left and right. The surgery typically is done two or more weeks apart, so at no point are both eyes “blind.” (You are never actually blind.)

After announcing the surgery, I suddenly learned how many people I know have had the procedure. The actual surgery takes about a half hour, but you will be at the hospital for four or more hours and you need someone to escort you home, mostly because of the small amount of anesthesia still in your system. You are put into a light sleep.

There is no pain before or after the surgery.

For many people, the immediate result is startling. For me, it was minimal. Two reasons, explains Dr. Robert Bailey. First, some people get the result over a few days. Second, and more to the point, I also have glaucoma in my left eye, which has damaged my optic nerve. During surgery, in addition to removing the cataracts, Dr. Bailey placed a couple of stents, to relieve pressure on the nerve. Glaucoma can’t be reversed, but it can be slowed. That’s what the doctor did for me, although vision in my left eye has been damaged in the southeast quadrant of my eye.

Learning that was stressful, disappointing and, frankly, a little frightening. So now I am aware of that, but there is no physical manifestation, unlike a headache or a back spasm.

As they often say today, it is what it is.

Next report will come after the right eye gets taken care of, week after next.