It's not that before the surgery I was blind. Years of increasingly blurry vision and last year's postponement of surgery due to the COVID pandemic had left me unable to drive, read magazines or enjoy television. Having to be driven to appointments and grocery stores was giving me an Old Lady Complex.
The morning after the surgery I thanked the surgeon for the miracle she had provided. She seemed somewhat taken aback by my enthusiasm. "I can see the bark on trees!" I told her. "Even the individual leaves on trees! I can read the titles of books on their spines from across the room! I've never in my life seen at a distance like this! I can read street signs!"
Once I calmed down, the surgeon seemed happy that restored sight meant so much to me. I think I will begin contributing to charities that provide this treatment for the poor.
Truthfully, I haven't seen so well since Seventh Grade when I got my first pair of glasses. Even then my right eye required a heavy thick lens, but I was just happy to see from that eye. Now that same eye is my far distance eye! My left eye is my middle distance eye for working on the computer.
The downside is that I literally cannot see up close at all, and instead of holding my cell phone up to my nose, my arm has to stretch out to the max. I know, I know, you can expand the text on a cell phone, but you cannot magically expand magazines, books or embroidery hoops. Since the cataract surgery I've been wearing drugstore "readers," those flimsy half-moon glasses, to work my crossword puzzles.
I wanted one eye to have a distance focus, one eye up close, but the doctor thought the gap might make me uncomfortable, even a fall risk. And I am doing more writing on the computer, so the middle distance eye makes sense.
Yesterday Abi went with me to pick out a new pair of frames for the new prescription. These will be progressive trifocals; hence, the lenses needed to be a good size. As Abi is an artist and designer, I wanted her take on what the look for this chapter of my life should be. In a locked cabinet we found shiny black frames with a touch of bling. I'll post a photo when I get them--it will be three weeks, they said, so a new look for Christmas!