Trying to see clearly

First day of the New Year and I’m full of hope and happiness. And complete and utter frustration. If I cover my right eye, the possibility of excellent vision, gorgeous colours and clear lines is there. I can see it and I can reach for it. When I cover my left eye, I see a murky mess where colours are dull, lines are blurred and there is no such thing as white – just yellowing gloom. And when I look out of both eyes I see a mismatch. With a headache. This is the reality of life between cataract surgeries.

One of the gorgeous women I work with bedazzled me up an eye patch!

The good news is that the first surgery was a success. To say that I was stressed is an understatement. I was anxious and nervous and prepared to walk away and simply put up with my eyes as they were. Even as I was waiting for the anaesthetist to administer drugs, thoughts of jumping off the table and running away, surgical gown open at the back and flying in the wind, into the car of my waiting chauffeur played in my mind.

But in less than 30 minutes of being knocked out (yep – I got my general anaesthetic!), I was awake with one eye patched. There was no pain, just grogginess from the anaesthetic. And the next morning, I sat in my ophthalmologist’s room as he gently removed the patch, gingerly cleaned out the eye and then….then I could see. The sharpness of my vision startled me. Outside, the blue of the sky and the green of the trees had me gasping. Everything was in focus. At least, it was out of the ‘good eye’. I was equally startled by how horrendous the vision is in my right eye.

The downside of cataract surgery is that the synthetic lens that has replaced my own milky lens can’t focus. So while my distance vision is great, I need glasses to read now. It’s a new world of trying to remember where I left my glasses (usually on top of my head) and every time I so much as want to check the time on my phone, I need to put them on. But I’m getting used to this and once the other cataract is removed, I’ll be able to spend hours upon hours finding the perfect pair of glasses. You can hear the disappointment in my words at the thought of adding further accessory shopping to my list.

I love a new beginning as much as the next gal and I’ve done a lot of things lately so that things really do feel new and full of possiblities. But until I get the second cataract removed I feel a little in limbo. In the meantime, it’s reading in very limited stints, napping in the afternoons and doing everything possible to deal with the ‘mismatch’ headache. And counting down until the next eye gets done!

Happy New Year folks.

Reading glasses.