May – A Wrap-Up

This month the temperature shot up beyond forty degrees and felt like one or two degrees more, as predicted by IMD (Indian Meteorological Department), however,  intercepted by sudden dust storms, spurts of rain and just a cloudy day or two in between to give us a breather from the scorching heat. 

My month was dominated by the much awaited cataract surgery in the left eye. Usually, cataract surgeries are a breeze these days but not for me. Even the simplest of procedure, in my case, leads to unforeseeable complications. It has always been like that.

This time the pressure of the operated eye shot up (which happens at times) , post surgery, coupled with unusual dryness on the surface of both the eyes. As a result, I had  severe headaches, pain in the operated eye and unclear vision. The headache caused incessant retching for two days, loss of appetite and terrible weakness. I lost four kgs in just two days followed by dizzy spells and blackouts. However, supported by an excellent team of doctors I am better now though follow up treatment and consultation with the doctors are still on and would likely continue for a month or so.

Being highly myopic, optical coordination between the operated eye and the unoperated one is very difficult. The former has zero power while the latter has high power. The solution is to get the other eye operated too soon after this eye heals.

As per the surgeon’s advice I have to use the operated eye as much as possible, watch TV, read, work on laptop, do household chores and lead a normal life. Going out of the house is not totally recommended but I can with protective glasses on. Not that easy without spectacles. I have still not tried watching TV because at a distance the vision is blurred in one eye. At first, the glare prevented me from working on the laptop or mobile but with regular medication I am getting over it though slowly. Working around the house is more on memory and less on vision.

Every experience, good or bad, makes you learn and unlearn. As per the surgeon, myopic people stop using certain eye muscles. He insists that I start using them. I also came to know the causes of unusual dryness in both my eyes, though it’s a generic problem these days with many. The causes are :

Environment

Pollution

Dust

Menopause and consequent

Hormonal changes in women

Use of air-condition

Prolonged screentime

In my case, the gut surgeries I underwent last year could also be an additional cause. The way out is constant lubrication or hydration of the eyes through prescribed eye drops. I also learnt that our eyes are the most to get affected by any other ailment suffered in any other part(s) of the body.

During these sessions with the doctors, I realised that every profession has its dedicated lingo. It was interesting to note how the doctors described my eyes during check ups. According to them my eyes are “quiet” which actually implies that there is no infection, irregularity, inflammation or reaction in the eyes and the lens is in the right place.

Incidentally, I underwent a Minimal Invasive Cataract Surgery or MICS. It’s also a drop-less surgery that is while operating medicines are put inside the eye itself so that in case the patient is unable or unmindful of external  medication the eye is still adequately medicated. The surgeon elaborated that this procedure also takes care of the illiterate patients who being less aware or for any other reasons skip oral medicines after the surgery.

In literature, we wouldn’t use the word quiet with eyes , would we ? Nor in the case of guts which may mean something entirely different. 😊

The hospital I have to visit is at the other end of the city and takes a minimum of one to two hours to reach. It’s a very old one about which I have heard a lot. But it fell short of my expectations on many scores. I am more used to the multi-speciality hospital near home but unfortunately it does not have an Opthalmology Department.

So not much there this month though my respect for visually impaired people have increased thousandfold during this period of my own impairment. Every faculty that God has endowed us with is so precious and we must take care of these at all cost.