Encouraging News

When the rain passed, I did go for a short walk yesterday, just around a couple blocks. As I neared the end of the second block, I had been out only 7 minutes or so and thought, I can probably go another block, but when I got to the corner my body just turned the corner. Evidently I had done enough for one day and indeed by the time I was back to the house, having walked only 15 minutes, I was glad to be back.

The shield for my eye that they sent me home with was put on with some tape that nearly ripped the skin off my face when we removed it - at least that's what it felt like. The skin on my face may have already been sensitized by all the adhesive they put on it during surgery. Anyway it was painful. So today when we went for my check-up, I was happy to learn that I could use any adhesive I wanted and I went directly to the pharmacy and got different tape. Last night I piled pillows on my bed to prevent myself from rolling in sleep onto my right side, my preferred sleeping position, which the nurse suggested I avoid. The pillows worked well.

This morning we went back to Dr. Lass' office and I reported that my eye felt better this morning, no scratchiness. He and his intern did a thorough examination and decreed that the pressure in the eye was normal and it was healing well. Dr. Lass said that the Fuchs did not seem to have been affected by the surgery. That was good news! Let's hope it stays that way. Keep on with the drops, keep using the shield at night and after next week, if all goes well, I can remove the right lens from my glasses or replace it with plain glass and I should be able to drive - in the daylight, he specified. It will not hurt to use my current glasses while the eye is healing. The healing eye is less fuzzy today but has a way to go to improve over what it had been before. This is different from what most people report; usually when cataracts are removed, improvement is quickly noticable. I will have to be more patient.

My body must be also recovering. After Dr. Lass' visit today, Amy and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Just walking to and from and around in the grocery store was my "walk" for today. When we got home, I laid down to put in my eye drops and fell asleep and slept for an hour and a half. This is unusual for me; it seems my normal stamina has not returned yet. But I have no complaints.

I'm pleased to "see" that I can manage to read with my left eye well enough to use the computer and Mary in post-op had said there were no restrictions on using the computer. That is good news, too, as TV palls quickly. Amy and I have been engaging in a short game of Boggle, a word game, in the evenings and she is beating me all the time. Now, those results are a real challenge which I shall work diligently to reverse. I have to keep up my reputation, after all.

Be "seeing" you soon.