Here a drop, there a drop, everywhere a drop…

Today my dearly beloved had an operation to remove the cataract in his left eye that developed rapidly after the procedure he had in March 2012 to repair a “tent” in the macula. In this procedure, a gas was injected that was supposed to push the tent back level with the rest of the macula. Cataract is a adverse effect of this treatment, and sure enough, a large one developed in that eye. Unfortunately, the treatment was only partially successful, so his vision was already not quite right in that eye before the cataract began to grow.

 

The procedure he had 3 years ago involved intensive eye-drop therapy with extremely expensive eye drops – $194 for a teeny tiny bottle – and we were not very successful in getting the drops in the eye. I say “we’ but actually, I was not very successful. Richard could not administer the drops himself, so I had do it. But I also had to try to keep his eye open, or make a “pouch” with the lower lid and put the drop in there, and inevitably I either missed his eye entirely or the drop seemed to run out the side. It was very frustrating.

And so I was not entirely enthusiastic at once again being recruited to administer antibiotic drops, which began yesterday every 2 hours. The expensive drop (now $220 a bottle) only had to go in once. However, the main difference this time was that he held his eye open so I could put the drop right on top of his eye without it running out. It worked beautifully.

Today I got to watch the procedure on a monitor that showed what the doctor was seeing through his operating microscope. And even better, the surgery center provided a person to sit next to me who explained everything that was being done. There were “jackhammer” tools and “vacuum tools” and I watched them pulverize the cataract and then suck the bits out and put the new lens in.

The slight gap in the tape that holds the patch over his eye has allowed him to see out the sides, and already he has noticed that that the whites are whiter. He may be seeing things in a whole new light tomorrow.