Mom is having her eyes fixed. She's had cataracts, at some level or other, for years now. They finally got bad enough that we made an appointment, had her check and confirmed, and now they're being fixed. (I even got to look at them through actual doctor office instruments/microscopes!) She had surgery on her non-dominant eye on the 7th, and her dominant eye yesterday. They like at least a week in between, so that they can be sure the correction level they attempt in the lens implant they create and put in is good enough to work. It's not like contacts, y'can't pull 'em out and start over. Or at least, you don't really want to. She's doing very well, and today we go in for her first follow-up.
Now, MOST people, when they have this done, are corrected for distance. This is because it often happens to people later in life, who are used to wearing reading glasses anyway (or are at least mentally prepared for it) and they don't want to wear glasses to do other day to day things (like drive, play golf, go to the store, whatever). Now, mom has had to wear glasses since she was 10. Her range of sight is better than mine, which is truly dreadful, but she still had to get things pretty close to her nose to deal with them. Her hobbies include a lot of reading, computer work, cross stitch, cross word puzzles, and basically indoor stuff on tables. (Planting/potting houseplants, hanging baskets, etc.) She doesn't 100% hate the great outdoors, but she distrusts them a good deal unless many different criteria are in perfect alignment. So, the doctor agreed that it would be more comfortable for her to be corrected for close-up. (She always wears prescription driving sunglasses, cuz the glare is EvilTM, so she's gonna have to wear something ANYWAY.)
So far, things seem to work really well. All this past week, she was having to remember to take her glasses OFF to read something, but other than that.. she can see much better, and the nasty sepia tone fog is basically gone. But it means her current prescription lenses are utterly useless. Which makes her feel trapped, because she has to ask for help with getting anywhere outside her own home. (Maybe down to the mailbox on the street corner, but no further than that.) ... It doesn't matter how much I reassure her, she's not gonna be happy this way, and until her eyes are completely settled down (3 weeks from yesterday), she really can't be fitted for her final progressive lenses. So, hopefully, after the follow-up today, she'll get a scrip for single-vision distance lenses. They'll be $70, but really, it's worth it to have the backup glasses for her in case she does something dreadful to her normal glasses. And, if everything goes well, by the 2nd week of May, she should be able to travel, which she really wants to do.
I've been updating my sisters by email (occasionally including other family members as it's seemed logical), of what's going on, but last night I twittered: Kinda almost exhausted after having mostly passed out at mom's app't. Why must I have this aversion to hollow needles intended for veins? Followed by: OTHER than that, very good day. Mom doing well after final surgery. Ate Kowloon's yumminess. Sipping jasmine tea now. Pretty quickly after that, I got a startled direct message from one friend, afraid I'd had surgery and done something bad with a needle, and an instant message in chat from another, also worried. So I had to correct perceptions. MOM'S surgery. MOM being punctured. Me fainting. Feh.
Sometime when I was pre-teen (or early teen) I developed a thing about needles, specifically them entering/leaving human bodies. (Sometimes even them being used on pets tweaks me out, but not as often. I think thick fur helps obscure what's going on.) I remember having absolutely no problem with needles when one of my sisters was getting allergy shots very regularly, and then sometime shortly after that? No good. I'd say that 60% of the time I get woozy and actually pass out. This can be affected by having eaten, not being dehydrated, being well-rested, and my body temperature being pretty level.
Yesterday I had eaten, drank fluids and slept well. But I was way way way too hot. And mom was in pain. That particular nurse was not listening to what she was being told, and kept trying veins even though mom had told her that her veins are tiny, roll, and move out of the way regularly. I saw the needle come out of mom's arm from the 2nd try, saw/heard pain in mom's voice, and started having that vague dark-fog effect at the outside of my vision. I'd been trying NOT to look, but it seemed like it should've been long enough and... I did. Dumb me. So I looked away, immediately, and tried to focus on what I was reading:
So. THAT covers THAT. ;) I suppose I should cross-post this to the blog where my cousins read... for informational stuff on mom, and amusement factor on me. (Which this is... crossposted from livejournal)
