Today, I am having my right eye amputated. Not really. I’m just having the lens in my right eye removed and replaced with a bionic lens. That is, I’m having cataract surgery.
When I first went to the ophthalmologist early this year, I thought I was having a recurrence of corneal map dot fingerprint dystrophy, which is a sort of epithelial erosion treated with eye drops. Several years ago, when I had chronic itching of my right eye, that was the diagnosis. It was treated and cleared up. But the symptoms this time seemed the same; itching and a slight blur in my vision. The doctor said, no, it’s not a recurrence of that disorder, it’s early-onset cataract.
He advised giving it six months to see if it developed enough to be a real bother. It did. The vision in my right eye declined; it was especially noticeable, from time to time, while driving. I returned for my checkup and he said it’s time to do the surgery. Then, he said, the developing cataract in my left eye should be addressed about a month later.
For the past three days, in preparation for the surgery, I’ve been instilling two eye drops in my right eye, three times a day: Ketorolac Tromethamine Ophthalmic Solution and Tobramycin Ophthalmic Solution.
If all goes well, as I expect it will, I’ll have much better vision in my right eye in short order. This early-onset cataract really annoys me, though, inasmuch as Medicare would have covered it if it waited a few years to develop. Instead, I’m spending money out of pocket to meet my $6,000 deductible on my health insurance. For an additional $900 (not covered by insurance), I could have opted to get a lens implant that would correct my astigmatism; inasmuch as I wasn’t even prepared to have to fork over $6,000, I decided to forego the upgrade and live with slightly less clarity. I best not start talking about health insurance; my blood pressure will rise to unsafe level.
I’m looking forward to seeing things more clearly in the near-term.
