Now let me start with the fact that I would never change my mind about getting Cataract surgery. My vision the very next day in my right eye was incredible. It was like a prism of colors I had never seen before as well as a crystal-clear vision that was startling. I learned at my 2 weeks follow up appointment, my eyesight is BETTER than 20-20 now. So….I highly recommend Cataract Surgery.
BUT everyone told me it would be “easy peasy.” My Doctor was excited to let me know he had done thousands of cataract surgeries and it was so simple. Plus, it was only 10 minutes long.
Well this was very good news. After a year of colonoscopies, Colon Cancer Surgery, Pet Scan and Cat Scans and Chemotherapy, I was ready for “easy peasy” and fast.
But there is a GREAT DEAL more to deal with than a 10-minute little surgery. With that in mind, here is everything you need to know about before and after surgery and how it will affect your everyday life.
Pre-surgery is pretty simple. I had to wash my eyelashes with baby shampoo twice a day 7 days prior to surgery. Then I needed to put antibiotic drops in my eyes 3 times a day starting 2 days before surgery. And, of course the old ‘can’t eat for twelve hours before surgery’ routine.
I was more than ready for the pre-op surgery intake at the hospital that morning. I had done this a LOT in the past year. I wore comfy clothes. A large soft sweater with a loose cowl neck to remove and put back on over my head so it would not touch my eye. I remembered to take off ALL jewelry and leave at home. In this case I had to keep all makeup off my face of course.
I knew the nurse would come in for a long discussion of my meds and health history. She would put in the IV. Next the Anesthesiologist would come in.
OH yay! I wanted to talk to him in particular. I wanted to be KNOCKED OUT. I had been told I would have to be awake for the surgery but would be “relaxed” and many people don’t remember a thing.
But lets be clear about my anxiety driven personality. I can take an entire Xanax on a plane to Europe and never sleep a wink.
I needed more than “relaxed.”
I informed the Anesthesiologist of the situation and he let me know in no uncertain terms that he could not put me under. That I must be awake. But he would indeed relax me.
At this point, IV installed and sitting in the surgical bed, I could not exactly run away.
BUT I COULD NOT DO THIS awake and only “relaxed.”
But of course, as it works in all these out-patient visits, I was out of time as they began wheeling me into the surgical room. Which, by the way, looks nothing like the colonoscopy room which is warm and cozy with plenty of people and machines close by you. In this room, it was large and cool with minimal people and equipment. I mentioned that this was not the same room as the colonoscopy room and everyone burst into laughter. “I hope not” said a nurse.
Did I feel relaxed? Looking back on it I suppose so. But I feel I was plenty aware of everything going on. I feel like I maybe drifted into very light dreamy states, but I also remember many parts of the quick surgery. I felt no pain. There simply is none. But I did feel pressure on my eye several times. One time it was definitely uncomfortable pressure, but I swear to you it lasted all of two seconds.
My doctor and his office staff are extremely professional and do incredible pre-surgery work with the patient including having you watch a short movie of the surgery. It was done tastefully with drawings and animation, so it was not like you watch the actual eye being opened up in surgery. But it was enough that I understood each step of the 10-minute surgery.
With that in mind, I felt like I knew just where we were in the surgery process. And it was so true that it was moving fast. A little pressure, a lot of fluid, and then suddenly an explosion of colors.
That’s what I felt and remember from the surgery.
But I also remember I was anxious whenever I felt I was too aware and started clenching my hand on the sheet. Did I really do that? Who knows? But that’s what I recall. I was trying to message the Anesthesiologist to relax me MORE. Did he do it? I’ll never know.
And then it’s over.
A few minutes in post op where I may have actually drifted off. Then I sat up to leave with an eye patch. My lovely doctor came in to tell me everything went beautifully.
Then he and every other nurse I saw told me the most important things to remember. DO not bend over for a solid week. Do not shower for 24 hours. Do not sleep on my right side for a week. Wear dark glasses both inside and out for 72 hours.
I had already been told these things and they were all written up extensively in a “Cataract Surgery Patient Guide” booklet the doctor’s office had given me several weeks earlier. But I had not understood how they would affect my daily living.
“Yeah, yeah.” I thought. Get me out of here. And always my first thought after out-patient surgery – “I’m starving.”
So, here are the facts about post-surgery and what you need to know before the surgery so you are prepared. You will have disabilities for a week or more and you need to be ready to handle it.
1. Bending Over – Oh you may think this is the least difficult restriction. I know I did. But it turned out the be the most debilitating. You cannot bend over from the waist for a full 7 days. They want no pressure on that eye at all. Which you do indeed cause pressure whenever you bend over. Try it…..I’ll wait…..you see. Pressure on the eyes!
I could not lean over to put the halters on the dogs and walk them. That was a biggie I had not thought about. I could not lean down to pick up the soap I dropped in the shower at least twice that first week. Turns out I drop a lot of things in the natural course of a day. I also could not empty or fill the dishwasher. I could not lean in to put anything in the oven or get something out of the vegetable drawers in the refrigerator. And perhaps worst of all, I could not pick up my pug Truffle who cannot get into our bed without help. Nor could I feed the dogs! Their bowls are all on the floor!
If I was to tell you the thing to be most ready for during post op it’s the disability of not being able to bend over. I wish I had had one of those claw-like things that you use to reach things. Actually, a friend told me you always need two of those, so that if you drop one you have the other to pick up the first. HA! So, I share that information with you too. Also, it’s helpful to have all your meals prepared so that all you need is your microwave to keep from bending over.
2. Showering – You are not allowed to shower for the first 24 hours. This means, it will probably be about 48 hours until you shower again after surgery. I was SO glad I had showered the morning of the surgery and washed my hair. Because I NEED to wash my hair every few days. My scalp was ready for that first shower. But you have to keep water away from your eyes for that entire first week. Therefore, I used Telfa pads taped around that eye PLUS I put the dark glasses they had given me over that to shower. But washing my hair was another type of shower and I had to let Stephen help. AND it meant I didn’t let the water get near the roots of my hair around my face. It was a bit complicated, but we managed to keep the water out of that eye by taking all these precautions. I was glad we had Telfa pads and tape and also that I had help that first few days. (And by the way, you cannot swim, get into a jacuzzi, do a steam room or anything like that for a month post-surgery.)
3. Sleeping – You are not allowed to sleep on the side of the face you had the surgery on for 7 days. That meant my right side. After colon cancer surgery I was pretty adept to sleeping on my sides and back. So, this was not too much of a problem. BUT once the eyepatch is removed (only 24 hours after surgery!) you have to tape it back on in order to sleep or nap. And I love a good nap but they always happen naturally without my planning ahead. The purpose of the eye patch while sleeping is to be sure you don’t accidently touch that eye in your sleep. And to keep you from laying on that side. So….I had to plan taking a nap and get that eye patch taped in place. And about the medical tape. Just a warning, that type of tape is sticky and hurts to pull off. So, I really wanted to KNOW I was going to sleep before I put it on. As an aside, I did catch my hand at my eye patch when I was sleeping and it woke me up with a start. I was so glad I had on that eye patch. I didn’t know I unconsciously touch my face during sleep.
Also, you must sleep that first week with your head elevated. I used three pillows to get the elevation correct. A little sore for my neck all the time, but heh, I was going to have perfect vision.
4. Dark Glasses – You must wear the dark glasses they provide all day both INSIDE and outside for the first 72 hours. And then sunglasses have to be worn every time you go outside for the remainder of the week. Since my old sunglasses had a prescription in them, I had to use the medical dark glasses that wrap around and made me look like Robocop for the entire week. It turned out that I needed them much longer as the sun bothered my eye. A lot of bright indoor lighting still bothered me 2-weeks post-surgery although it slowly improved. You can just SEE so much after the surgery.
Most of all, be prepared to walk around in your house in the evening with dark glasses. It was SO dark for me at night. Even with the lamps on. I had to be very careful so that I didn’t trip. Just have clear paths everywhere for yourself before surgery. That was a big help.
I also wore them while on the computer. The light from both the computer and TV is strong. I was more comfortable with the dark glasses on even inside watching those screens for almost a week.
5. Activities – You are not allowed to do any form of vigorous exercise (at first I read that as “sex.”) including yard work or sports or work outs for a week. However general walking is ok for short periods. I assumed this was so that no additional pressure was put on the eye. Which is why not bending over is so important. I was happy to put off any vigorous exercise, which meant Zumba for me, for a week.
6. Not Washing Your Eye – This was for the entire first week in my case. That meant all the drops I had to put in 3 times a day would clump up in my eyelashes and drive me crazy. I sooooo wanted to take a washcloth and rub my eye. But I was good. Very, very good. And I did not wash around that eye until a week had passed.
7. Lifting – You must not lift anything 10 pounds or over for that first week. That definitely meant no dog lifting. But think through what your daily activities are and be sure you have a plan in place if you lift things over 10 pounds. This includes laundry, groceries, a vacuum, etc.
8. House cleaning – While this was not spelled out in the patient guide, I realize most cleaning either broke the rule about lifting, bending over and in general would drag up dust that could end up in my eye. So, I elected to be a pretty lazy that first week. You should too.
9. Travel – You should not travel long distances and certainly not by plane for at least 30 days. I had carefully timed my surgery to be within 7 weeks of my trip to Europe so I had plenty of time to get my new glasses before we left. I would still need to wear glasses for long distance. But remember you are not supposed to leave on long driving trips either. So, plan your surgery around that.
10. Driving – the doctors say you can drive whenever you feel comfortable. And I thought I would right away. I had only taken one day off from work. I ended up taking three days off work and didn’t start driving for about 4 days. Even then I was uncomfortable. It was probably most about wearing the dark Robocop glasses over my ‘one lens’ prescription glasses. But I didn’t want to be in the sun or worry about seeing peripherally too.
11. Glasses – it didn’t seem like it would be that much of an inconvenience to wear my glasses with only one lens. But it was more of a hassle than I had considered. To begin with, until you have a new lens and a brand new set of glasses with the new prescription, you have to remove the lens for the new cataract, leaving in the old lens so the other eye can still see. I work with the public and was sure everyone could see I was wearing only one lens in my glasses, but when I mentioned it, no one had noticed.
And you cannot get a new prescription for the other eye until your new eye has “settled down”. So, I was teaching myself to leave off any glasses for the first time while at the computer But then putting the old one lens glasses was confusing my brain as they only helped the one eye see better long distance, but it was fighting with my new eye since there was not a prescription to make them work together. That month is a bit tedious. And I really wanted to see better long distance right away, but I could live with that for a month.
12. Post Surgery Side Effects- I had them all. Discomfort that only needed some ibuprofen. Slight blurring and fluctuation of eyesight. Redness of that eye for a few days. Mostly I did experience a gritty/sandy feeling often which is natural. I blinked a lot and used drops.
There were a lot of little things I had not planned for during that first week. I was supposed to go to a college Italian class. But driving in the dark, and then sitting in the dark glasses trying to read the long distance to the board my teacher used extensively in class, was going to be too depilating. So I didn’t go until 2 weeks later.
At my two weeks follow up my doctor declared that I had better vision in the right eye than he had. I was better than 20-20 vision. Yay!! It was definitely worth any post-surgical limitations to hear that news!
And then a month passed, and I went back to the good Dr. and get the new prescription and pick out new glasses. Oh my gosh I was so excited as I would be wearing these in all my photos while in London and Florence and Rome for our trip in 2 weeks.
I took my beautiful flowery Kate Spade sunglasses into the Dr.’s office and had the new prescription filled as sunglasses again.
And then…..well I don’t think it’s my little secret anymore, but then we went to Costco. Now we have 3 Costco’s within 20 miles in either direction so in the past I’ve been known to drive to all 3 to pick out the perfect new frames. But I found several that were perfect at the first Costco. And they were all about $100 each! AND if you buy one pair the second pair is $40 off at Costco. Well that did it. I picked out a pair of dark blue frames with colorful pink and dark blue arms. And then Stephen did something he never does – he picked out a pair HE liked on me. Life never fails to surprise. AFTER I agreed to get them too, I found out they were also Kate Spade glasses. I guess we have a “type.” They are thin tortoise shell frames in teals and browns.
Knowing I had dealt with cancer this year and had to postpone my European vacation in March and was finally going in December, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE jumped through hoops to make this surgery possible. First of all, my personal doctor who had to rush an EKG for me to do the surgery and held up every other patient in the office to make it happen. Most importantly the ophthalmologist and his entire staff who rushed to fit me into his schedule. I know he is overbooked as it is as he’s quite well known, but they did indeed find a way to get me in for the actual surgery, but also for every pre-appointment training and post appointment follow-ups necessary. They were incredible. And then to the eye glass companies who also worked overtime to get me the glasses before we left.
Like I said, I would definitely do it again and may do the other eye one day too. (He said it wasn’t bad enough yet.) I highly recommend you do it too if you need to. I hope you will go into it knowing better how to be prepared for the few weeks post op. Take care of yourself and it will all be worth it!
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