Cataract Capsulation

This is the information about the latest procedure that is scheduled for my bum eye...and by the way...one of the side effects from this procedure is a DETACHED RETINA!!! I feel like I am a character in a Laura Numeroff story...A circle story that you just can't get out of....Anyway...this info comes straight from google....

"One of the most common cataract surgery complications is a posterior capsule opacity (also called posterior capsule opacification or PCO). During cataract
surgery, your surgeon will remove the cloudy natural lens of your eye (cataract) and replace it
with an intraocular lens (IOL). When the cataract is removed, your surgeon makes every attempt to maintain the integrity of the lens capsule, and normally your vision after cataract surgery should be very clear. (Should be is the key word)
However, in about 20 percent of patients, which would be ME… the posterior portion of the capsule becomes hazy some time during cataract surgery recovery or even months later,
causing PCO. Posterior capsule opacification occurs because lens epithelial cells remaining after cataract surgery have grown on the capsule. In some cases, if the condition progresses
significantly, your vision may be worse than it was before cataract surgery.

Fortunately, a YAG laser can treat posterior capsule opacity
safely, effectively and painlessly. This procedure, known as YAG laser
capsulotomy, often can be performed in your doctor's office.
The procedure takes only a few minutes and is entirely painless; nor does
discomfort occur post-operatively. You must remain still during the procedure, however. Very
uncooperative patients, such as children and mentally disabled people, may
require sedation.
Although a YAG laser capsulotomy poses slight
additional risk, overall the procedure is extremely safe. The most important
risk is that the retina can become detached from the inner back of
the eye.

"Eye" thought it was over....

today i went to mothershed's office to talk about corrective lenses for my bum eye...20/50...not so shabby for an eye that has been lasered, siliconed, gassed, and fitted with a new lens due to a cataract from all the above...not to mention the hundreds (or thousands) of stinking drops...after a few eye tests with bright lights and lots of small letters on charts it still appears that i have about 20-50 in that eye...things seemed to be okay and i was a little nervous about the style of glasses i would choose...would i go with a sarah palin look or a more sassy look that the young chicks are sporting...maybe some contacts...disposable, flexible, colored...the choices were going to be endless...just the thought of all the choices was making me a little nervous...i hate making decisions like that...wellllll ...when the dr. finished his exam, read the records and letters from dr. meyers he announced that i wouldn't be getting any corrective lenses today...since it had only been a few months since the cataract surgery(Nov. 17) there was still some film on the lens that would need to be cleaned off and that would have to be done and see if my vision improves any more... i didn't remember/understand all of "words that were coming out of his mouth"....capsulation, laser, cataract, insurance, simple procedure were about all that i heard...none of which sounded like really good news...I have since googled cataract capsulation and learned a little more about it...."eye" still don't like the sound of this....

Ain't they grand?!?!?!

The grands all came during Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas...a "grand" time was had by all....Tripp and Garner loved playing together (especially in the pantry), strolling, and digging in the toy basket . Holder and Sims loved opening presents and wrestling...she may have a future...

Red Ribbon Week/We're off to see the Wizard....

Since Red Ribbon Week and Halloween were so close together, my 2nd grade team decided we would dress as the Wizard of Oz characters ...it was hero or celebrity day so we gave it a shot. We planned it at about 3:15 on Wed. afternoon and this is how we turned out on Thursday morning....the kids loved it (and so did the rest of the staff). I had already made Ashley a skirt a few days earlier so I just used her scraps on Thurs. morning to make me one....got the red shoes and wig at walmart on wed. after school.

sick days - part 4 - re check in Tupelo

On sat. morning i trucked on over to dr. mothershed's office to see dr. meyer and his staff...they come to tupelo every so often on a saturday so i didn't have to travel to memphis for the re-check of my bad eye...got there about 11:00 and the place was packed...after i signed in and picked a seat i asked the nice folks beside me just what happens in tupelo...the man had some detached retina issues and was a fishing guide from pickwick/corinth...he says it is the same in memphis and tupelo...lots of drops, tests and waiting , waiting, and more waiting. he was exactly right...the first girl, michelle, called me back after about an hour and a half to check my pressure...eye pressure..not blood pressure because i can assure anyone that my blood pressure was high...i hate sitting and waiting...i read one magazine before i went in to see michelle, but after the numbing drops and dialation drops i could only imagine what was in the magazine. she numbed my eyes and put her magic wand straight onto my eyeball...the bad eye took the test the first time...my good eye took 5-6 tries before it would take...if you haven't had this particular test it doesn't hurt but you can see a tiny tip headed straight for your eyeball and then see some wavy lines through all the drops...she said the pressure was great so just sit outside and wait...i waited in the dark room until i almost fell asleep...i moved to the front, bright room and flipped through some magazines and looked at the pictures the best i could...2 or three people came in with eye injuries...both got patched up and were lucky not to have any laser surgery...some young man finally called my name and all he did was check my pupils...yes they were dialated...and i waited some more...finally around 1:45 or so you could see some people coming out and you knew the doctor was working...the fishing guide had a 10:30 appointment so when he was called in i hoped i would be next...that is exactly how it worked...there was another woman across the hall that got a shot in her eyeball...i don't know exactly what was wrong but she was in some kind of pain and kept being called back and forth. i heard the doctor say "be still and i will let you know when there will be a little pain...i am a good shot giver"...i couldn't watch any more of that so i just laid back and listened...she didn't moan or cry and the doctor said she didn't even blink. she left with a patch on her eye...i then heard him talking to the fishing guide....he got a good report and then some fishing stories were told...something about an 8 year old boy catching an 8 pound crappie...then the doctor came in looked at my eye with his magnifier and said the leak was sealed and the tear was repaired...great job...i was so glad to hear that...next appt. dec . 4 in tupelo...left the office a little before three...starving again and ready to get home...and another round of drops to use 2 times a day for another week.

went back to school today....the morning was fine but i got a little tired after lunch.

Cake

A lady from our church called me back several months ago and asked if i could make a 60th birthday cake for her sister...I agreed to do it and couldn't believe i hurt my eye one week before the date. I guess it worked out that i was home and able to cook a layer at a time and started icing it on saturday after my re-check visit. it turned out really nice.

sick days - part 3- Dr. Meyers visit

On Tuesday morning we took off to memphis to visit the meyer (meyer) clinic... that is what their signs says...We arrived for the 11:00 appt. at about 10:30 or so...filled out the forms, gave them the insurance card and drivers license and only had to wait a few minutes until a nice guy, Eric, called me back...he was very funny and charasmatic...i later learned he was a minister...well, in this room he checked my vision on two different machines. the next machine checked my peripheral vision. it was a white concave machine that had some small dots in the center. he gave me a mouse-like clicker and said each time i saw a flash i needed to click. he said some flashes were bright and some were dim and some were farther out than others. it took 3-5 minutes until the timer went off and the tunnel went dark. on my left (bad ) eye it was just the same but by then my eyes were tired and my a.d.d. kicked in...i sort of drifted off during that test but he said I did fine. and by the way he added 3 different kinds of drops to my eyes. then i had to sit outside this room in the hall and waited until a woman called my name...i went into her room and all she wanted was more information about the accident and to check all of my information that was on her screen. Granted nothing had changed since i gave it to the first lady...then she said just wait in the hall...i was beginning to get hungry since i have lunch at 11:40 everyday...i was too scared from the warning about not eating after 7:00. Dennis was hungry too, so he bought some snack mix and i had one tiinnnny bite...a good while later another man (stanley) called my to yet another room. He did some tests that looked like nuclear symbols and signs twirling all around...i didn't do anything but just stare at them...then they took some more x-ray kind of pictures of my eye...they added two kinds of drops and made me look up, down, left, right, and every direction in between. They couldn't find the tear so I was hoping that my prayers had worked and it had healed itself over night...the girl told stanley that he was going to get called in if the doctor found a tear...so they did a sonogram of my eye...this time it was a closed eyelid sonogram. still not very pleasant since they covered my bad eyelid with slimy, cold goop and then decided their machine was not plugged in correctly...after a few adjustments she got a good view of the tear. she helped wipe off the goop and sent me back to the hallway....this wait was longer than the rest. I was getting more hungry, tired and scared...there were people everywhere...the lights were very dim and not one person was headed back to see the doctor....at a little after 1:00 a woman came out and called 5-6 of us back. We were placed in little cubicles side by side and were instructed to lay down when the doctor came in...I could finally hear his voice next door and he told that woman her ailment had improved so he didn't have to do surgery...i was still hopeful at this point. he came in and looked at stanley's x rays and called him back just like the girl said. He told him the photos were beautiful but not one picture of the tear. He got out his magnifying glass and turned on his miners hat light and found the tear in no time flat...he then proceeded to talk into his tape machine and was sending dr. mothershed a message about my eye...he thanked him for his wonderful diagnosis. he then said that the tear was somewhat larger than was reported and he hoped he could get the laser to fix the tear. if not, he said, we will put in an air bubble and have her back next week for surgery. I was just hearing this by eavesdropping and it made me nervous again. He said just go around the corner and they'll get you ready for the laser...so off to another room...they had an elderly lady that was being set up in the head gear for the laser...the nurse said that she felt like the dr. would put me before the 3 other lasers but that you never know...all of a sudden another nurse popped in and said...put the retinal tear in front. i was glad because i was hungry and ready to go...
the procedure involved a funnel like plastic thing placed under the eyelid to hold my bad eye open ...it had some salt stuff on it that kept the eye from moving around...my head was against a metal bar and my chin on a ledge and the nurse pushed the back of my head to keep me from pulling back. all the time he is aiming and shooting the laser all around my eye saying "this is great, this is perfect...great job"...i had to keep my good eye straight, my head still and my mouth shut...i let out a small moan when he put in the funnel (my eyeball is bruised) and another small moan when he lasered close to the places that were bruised....sort of like having a filling in a tooth and it not being deadened all the way. Not real pain but not real good either...i forgot to mention that she put in at least 3 sets of drops for numbing and dialation...

it probably took 15 minutes to get it set up until it was over....i had a grip on the handlebars that were manly...my shoulders were arched up and so tight...the nurse even said...just loosen up a bit..."easier said then done" ...when that ended and they pulled out the funnel, all i could see was purple goo. the nurse used some eye wash and got most of it out but had to lead me by the arm back to stanley for more pictures...and you know you can't take pictures without....DROPS...to get good pictures this time the girl pulled my eyelid from the corner and stanley pushed my nose and then placed the camera right where he needed it and he got some great shots...all the while i had my bad eye looking up as high as possible to the left...

we went to the last station, check out, and the girl made my re check appt. for 11:00 sat. in tupelo...she gave me a tiny bottle of DROPS to use twice a day for inflammation.
Couldn't wait to get some food... i really think i could have eaten a sandwich while he did the procedure...

i didn't check my spelling or grammar...just trying to get it typed