I’ll be blunt about it: the staff here at ExhaustNotes is getting a bit long in the tooth. Oh, we still ride motorcycles and punch holes in paper. We still pour concrete like we pour gin & tonics but we are falling apart gracefully. Luckily, decrepit old men are perfectly matched to the motorcycle consumer demographic.
My eyes have never been all that good and the last ten or so years have seen (or more accurately, not seen) degradation in my left eye. What the hell, we have two eyes, right? I adapted by curtailing my night driving and learned to accept a less precise representation of the world around me. I kind of knew what everything looked like anyway so my mind could fill in the details.
Time marched on and I could no longer use corrective lenses on the left eye due to the blurring: The eye wasn’t out of focus it was clouded. Things look yellower in the left eye compared to the right. It’s not a big deal. I can see fairly well in the daytime. The left eye still contributed to stereovision. Driving in the daytime is pretty easy. I can read signs and move about well.
Due to light refraction through the cataract driving at night is a harrowing experience with each point of light replicated five times. One oncoming motorcycle looks like a ring of five oncoming motorcycles and as the gang gets closer the lights combine into one. You can imagine the scene at a busy intersection with multiple lanes and traffic signals. A double yellow line looks like four yellow lines that merge in front of the bike. It’s more than I care to deal with.
But I like riding at night. I finally decided to do something about the problem last year but then Covid hit and everything was put on hold. Things are getting better covid-wise so CT decided we need to move on the cataract before I start running into walls while carrying scissors.
Southwestern Eye Clinic is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico and is a hotbed of retirees. The oldsters come for the sunshine and mild winters. The whole damn town is set up for end care, if you get my drift, so cataract surgery is routine here. At least as routine as any surgery can be.
The whole thing is so fast! I went in for an exam and found out the right eye has a smaller cataract also. The team at Southwestern ran a battery of tests (12-volt, deep cycle) and electronically measured my eyeball for the lens needed. I had the option of seeing far or up close and one other choice: A multi focus Panoptix lens that supposedly works like bifocals.
You know how I feel about new technology so the bifocal was out. You only get one chance at this and I didn’t want an eye that was constantly messing with my head. I’ve always been nearsighted so I opted for distance vision. My right eye has actually gotten better at distance over the years so I figured two distance eyes would match up better. I’ll probably still need glasses anyway. It’s ok, I’ve worn them since first grade.
The next step is surgery. I have some eye drops I’m supposed to start putting in four days before the operation. The surgery itself is out patient. You come and go the same day. After that I go back the next day to have the job checked over and then again a week later. It’s all so amazing and not that much more than an expensive pair of glasses.
I’ll file an ExhaustNotes follow up report after the surgery is completed and my eye has had time to heal. One downside is I have to rest for a while afterwards. I have a hard time resting. That means no lifting bags of concrete until the doctor gives the eye an all clear.
Good timing for my family. My 84 year old father-in-law is going through the process now. He’s worn glasses for as long as I’ve known him, but about a month ago he suddenly announced he couldn’t see to drive. He knew he had cataracts, but he’d concealed how bad they’d gotten until he was afraid to drive. He had one eye done last Wednesday and the other this Wednesday. His first eye is now better than 20/20 and we’re waiting to see how the other tests out. The first procedure went off without a hitch, but the second was a little tougher for him. He’s ok, but the doctor had to do a little more stitching on the second one. Based on his experience, I wouldn’t hesitate if I needed the surgery. Hope yours go well. Now if he’d do something about his hearing…
Hi Joe, looks like we all R going through live in a certain point with eye issues. I have kind of similar of what U explained and I need to replace the lenses in both eyes. I was hopeful just to be a candidate for Lasik that is way inexpensive than basically replacing the lenses of my eyes, but it is what it is; sometimes whether like it or not if U want to improve the quality of yr health we have to go through to make repairs as we do in the motorcycles. Living in AZ I went to an eye surgeon doctor in Tijuana referred by many Anericans an international people overseas. I got my diagnosis & my quote to work on it and get it done. For me it’s going to be a bit of waiting because of money and time, but I can’t wait to go back & see normal & get rid of every year putting so much money in prescription glasses & contacts that no longer seems to work well. I’ll pray for you and keep us posted with your results.
How in the world have you been doing carburetor work like that?
Good luck with the surgery Joe, although I felt sure that you would choose a rose colored lens to magnify your outlook on life. My eyes are approaching the need for cataract surgery, but having had Lasix over 20 years ago, I would have no hesitation in going for it. I did choose monovision, where they focused one eye for reading and the other for distance, and haven’t needed glasses since.
Getting cataract lenses will be like a new lease on life and you’ll wonder why you didn’t get it done sooner. Colors will be more vibrant, details like ants on the sidewalk , seeing individual grass stalks opens up the world again. I’ve worn glasses since 7th grade. I see better now then I have in my entire life. That’s after 2 detached retinas and cataracts in both eyes. Wear safety glasses when your working out in the shop Joe. All it takes is one accident and you loose . I have impact damage on the front of my glasses and probably would of lost the eye if the glasses didn’t stop the projectile thingy.
This is a good story. I, ummm, know a guy who may need this. Yeah, a friend of mine.