Replacement Body Parts

Like the hazy yellowed plastic headlight covers on an old car, the lenses in my eyes have been getting worse and worse, especially over the past couple of years. Granted, they've suffered a lot of abuse, first with years of swimming during the chlorine and pre-goggles era, and then more years of riding in the pre-cycling-glasses era.  My left eye had gotten so bad that oncoming car headlights were blinding me and I was seeing things in the distance in double-vision, so it was time for some replacement parts.

On Monday morning I got up early and headed over to Baptist Hospital, which is now Ochsner Baptist Hospital or maybe Baptist Ochsner hospital, to get a lens replacement, aka cataract surgery. I'd been born at that hospital over six decades earlier while my dad was eating pasta across the street and my mom was, no doubt, unconscious, which was the way they did it back then. Things moved quickly, and after someone put a series of about ten different drops in my eye and someone hooked me up for some mild narcotics, it took about fifteen minutes, tops, to remove the old lens and stick in the new plastic one. I was out of there in time for breakfast, wearing a pair of gigantic sunglasses, and with a follow-up appointment for the next day. There was remarkably little to no discomfort, but according to instructions I spent most of the rest of the day taking it easy, lying on the couch, and generally bored out of my mind. I wasn't supposed to work on the computer, which proved to be infinitely more difficult than I would have thought.

I have a pair of prescription Oakley sunglasses with an assortment of lenses, so I put a non-prescription lens on the left and my most recent progressive lens on the right. That was a lot more comfortable than what I'd come home from the hospital with, plus I could see where I was going a lot better.

At night I have to tape a clear shield over that eye. The biggest issue with that is the tape, not the shield. Taking off the sunglasses I was rather amazed at the difference between the "new" eye and the old one. It's like the difference between old incandescent lighting and a new LED lighting. White things are now actually white again rather than some shade of antique white. I'll probably get the other eye, which isn't nearly so bad, done next year so I have a matching set.

My followup appointment this morning went fine and things are as they should be, which is to say the vision in the "new" eye is somewhere between 20:40 and 20:20. It will be a little while before the eye calms down, which is apparently normal for the day after surgery. On the plus side, I'm clear to work on the computer and drive, and in general it's already a lot better than it was before. On the down side, I'll be putting drops in that eye three times a day for another couple of weeks, wearing sunglasses when outside, and refraining from "strenuous" exercise. I asked what they meant by "strenuous" but didn't get a useful answer. I think they're thinking of sudden intense efforts, like weight-lifting. At any rate, I think I would be well-advised to take it easy on the bike, especially if it's cold and windy, until that eye is fully recovered.

Forecast for tomorrow:  47 degrees with a 16 mph north wind.  Of course.