Cataracts...

Yesterday was a lost day, until dinner.  I went to see an opthamologist--I had been going to an optometrist but decided I should go to an MD, with my aging eyes and the fact that I have only one good eye (I have amblyopia).  My glasses are less than a year old, but I'm having trouble driving at night--can't read any of  the road signs, and driving on I-66 is scary; a blur of lights.  So I learned that I have cataracts in both eyes--not too thick at this point, but with my already-poor vision, my nearsightedness had worsened pretty rapidly (since last May).  I'm really glad I went to an opthamologist--who knows whether the optometrist would have spotted anything.  I could get stronger prescription glasses, but given how quickly my eyes have deteriorated. I'd probabay have to change prescriptions fairly frequently.

So I've decided to have cataract surgery on my good eye in the end of May--they say to wait until the cataract "affects your lifestyle".  Not being able to read road signs, and having difficulty driving at night seem to me more than "lifestyle" inconveniences.  I'm sure I'll be nervous, since it's the only eye I can see out of.  But these operations are done so frequently, I have to believe everything will be fine.  They put in an artifical lens to replace the damaged one, and the lens can correct my astigmatism and my near-sightedness. But not the reading--one lens can't do it all.  The doctor gave me more info on that than I could handle; I took some brochures about the different lens options and will talk to him again before the surgery.  Sound like I'd have to have the new lens and then laser surgery to fix everything.  But I've always been reluctant to have laser surgery, in case something were to go wrong.  Since I have only one eye I can see out of.

I guess I'm on the young side to have cataracts, and I don't have the usual risk factors that I can tell (diabetes, smoking, poor diet).  Another reminder that I'm aging.  My mom's 30 years older than I and just had cataract surgery this past spring.  But then she waited too long--who knows how many years they'd been developing.  In the meantime she also developed macular degeneration, so it's hard to know how much her surgery helped her.   Fortunately, my macula is fine--but I do want to talk to the doctor about preventive measures for that.  Not treatable like cataracts are.

I was wiped out by the time I got home--my (good right) eye was very tired, and the dilation (not to mention the aftermath of the bright lights shining in my eyes) was giving me a headache.  I put sunglasses on inside, lay down and listened to TV.  Took several hours for my eyes to feel better--and I'm sure this is taking an emotional toll, although I'm trying not to dwell on that.  At least it's fixable--I was afraid I had some age-related problem that wasn't correctable.  So I'm grateful that it's just cataracts.