Keeping An Eye On The Ball

Tomorrow I’m having cataract surgery. I’m a little nervous, which I didn’t think I’d be. It’s that same feeling—so maybe I can’t see perfectly, but I can see pretty well—I can see enough. Why the hell am I playing around with my sight? I really depend on my eyes—reading, writing and my grandkids are my life. Why take a chance I won’t be able to see any of them? I made the mistake of reading the whole consent form—I was bored and had nothing else to do. Geez, some bad stuff can happen. And having a very active imagination, I can imagine them all happening to me!

I just got up from the computer to put eye drops in my left eye. I’m supposed to put them in every two hours. The first two hours went slowly—I was hyper aware. But just now, it had been 2 and a half hours and I didn’t realize it. (Now, my sight is a little blurry. Oy vey!)

So, I’ll keep doing this until I go to bed. Then nothing to eat after midnight and get to the surgery center at 6:30 AM. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, I’m not very assertive about these kinds of things. I don’t know what kind of lens or what vision it will give me. I talked to the doctor and now I’m leaving it in his more educated hands. He’s a world-renowned ophthalmologist and has just returned from a week in India doing corneal implants. Also, my husband says he’s a great golfer.

A funny thing happened on my way to getting a cleared Pre-Op. My EKG was abnormal. It turns out my heart beats way too slowly. So the cardiologist adjusted my meds. Hopefully that will all turn out well too. I’m taking it as a gift—to know something was wrong before something happened is like getting a free-bee. I’ll wear a monitor and have some tests in August. A pacemaker may be in my future—I wouldn’t be surprised as it runs in the family. (no pun intended! HA)

I’m grateful that modern science offers solutions to these glitches. But, I’m telling you—once you hit 70, it’s double time patch, patch patch.