Because cataract operations are performed under local anaesthetic in Asian railway waiting rooms they are sometimes pooh-poohed as minor surgery. But it only requires a 20-word description of the procedure (which I am choosing to omit here) to emphasise how audacious – and thereby horrific – they truly are.As a follow-up to earlier eye surgery, already mentioned, Mrs BB submitted to cataract removal from her left eye yesterday. Her experiences as a state registered nurse in the fifties and sixties increased rather than reduced her apprehensions about surgery and I was impressed by her stoicism, given her fearfulness towards dentistry.
The passage of time favoured her. During training she worked in an eye unit and then the operation (on both eyes) took an hour followed by ten days of immobility. On Monday she had a choice of music (refused) and was back with me in the waiting room in fifteen minutes. A face mask prevented her better right eye from following what was going on inches away – for which much thanks. One of Mrs BB’s jobs during training was to hold the patient’s hand in the theatre; this time someone held hers.
That isn’t the end of the matter, alas, since a further operation will be necessary on the right eye, again followed by cataract removal. But she is reasonably sanguine about this and it was cheering last night to see her reading the Kindle, albeit with the type size wound up.
As we got the paper this morning we reflected on this twentieth century marvel: a procedure so quick and so simple (in surgical terms, anyway) that thousands, if not millions, of poor folk who would previously have had to accept blindness, now see. No miracle needed.
12 comments:
Glad to hear one eye is now cataract free and Mrs BB is reading again. How is her reading list this year, and has it been influenced by her Kindle?
BB, good to hear Mrs BB is halfway through. Glad to hear sh'ell be able to enjoy her reading again.
Regards.
So glad it went well. The best to you both.
Good news. Best wishes to V.
Good news. Best wishes to V.
Bravo to Mrs BB and to her surgeons, glad it went well and she's comfortable and Kindled. Best wishes to you both.
Yeah Mrs. BB!! Isn't it wonderful that we have this procedure available.
Excellent news, imagine reading right away! It sure has changed. A good friend is having it done next week in fact. Best wishes to you both.
Best wishes to Mrs BB. Heal well.
Speedy recovery, Mrs. BB!
All: Mrs BB has asked me to thank you all for your kind and cheerful messages from all sides of the globe. I asked her to summarise her current condition and she said "Chippy!" Persuaded to elaborate she confesses it's a little early to say but as far as she can tell it seems like good news.
I should explain that when I said she was reading her Kindle, the majority of the work was, of course, being done by the other un-de-cataracted eye.
Julia: I asked Mrs BB about whether the Kindle had influenced her reading this year. In terms of numbers she's up to 151 with 25% of the year yet to go. But has it changed what she's read? The answer's yes, since she's presently reading Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and we're obviously going to have an argument at the year-end as to whether that represents one book or eight. I was surprised to learn that her normal ratio of fiction-to-non-fiction is roughly 75/25% and that Kindle has slightly increased the NF percentage.
It is remarkable. Remember the people who had their cataracts removed and who had to wear hideous glasses that only allowed them to see in a limited field of vision? When people bemoan these modern times it is well to remember the blessings of nowadays.
Congratulations to Ms. BB.
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