@JENGOSMonkey I WAS THERE FOR '89! I was a kid, but I remember the water coming out of the swimming pool in huge waves and everything falling from the shelves! I was actually born in San Jose, but moved around a lot later LOL I hear the wildfires are more of a concern for you guys now? That's scarier than quakes for me...
To Clear Vision and Fast Healing...
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Great news that it went well. Once you get the other eye done you'll be able to see all the things that need to be done around the house! (That was my father's complaint BTW).
Seriously, glad you are doing well. I can imagine how frightening the needle would be. Rationally you know that it's OK but ... it's a needle coming for you eye!
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@donc said in To Clear Vision and Fast Healing...:
... Rationally you know that it's OK but ... it's a needle coming for you eye!
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Thank you all for your good wishes. I can see but it is all very blurry yet and there is double vision to an extent, especially looking at the computer screen so although I am a very fast touch typist I won't be working on the database for a couple of days until it clears. For fear of errors.
Sue will walk Mku around the fields - well she will walk, he and Maisie the Border Terrier will race and tear and get very muddy. She lives in the village and lost both her old rescue dogs just before Christmas so enjoys canine company and walks them Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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I wish you well. Eyesight is very precious and so glad yours is coming along.
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I am in despair. Until the second eye is done my eyes are out of balance and I can't see anything really properly. With the corrective lens in the specs for the non-operated eye, I get double vision and with no glasses on at all I can't see to cook, read or do anything much. Close-up work is off.
The hospital just phoned. The National Health Service has, as of last night, taken over all private hospitals where insurance work is done and nothing can happen. All private and insurance procedures cancelled. It could be months before they allow them again and then there will be a back-log.
OK, I am probably being selfish, but I need to be able to SEE. I am so worried.
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Hang in there, Sally. It will get better as your brain adjusts to the change. Would it help to wear a patch over one eye or the other when you need a break from being "unbalanced"? Sure, that will mess with your binocular vision, but it sounds like that is off kilter anyhow....
"In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"
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@zande Oh Sally, so sorry. I can feel your frustration. I think we're all just about fed up with COVID and all that it's affected. I'm not a doctor, so you should check with yours. Maybe something can be done.
That said, having had cataracts removed myself, I'd be tempted to self adjust in the short term. My IOLs (Inter Ocular Lenses) gave me farsighted vision meaning I'm unable to focus my eyes on near objects. This requires me to wear readers, or cheaters as some of us call them, also known as magnifiers. So, for instance I wear X150 readers. I'd get a pair of readers and tape over the lens in front of the eye that hasn't been corrected yet, or wear a patch over that eye. I'd use only the the good corrected eye if doing things that required better vision. This might eliminate the double vision you are experiencing. Just a thought...
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Sorry to hear this Sally, what a "pain in the butt"... for you. Hope things improve and you can get your other eye done quickly! Take care
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@eeeefarm Binocular vision, if you mean being able to focus on any given object and touch it accurately, has gone anyway, I have been trying patches but whichever eye is blacked out takes ages to recover once it gets the light again.
Paul has banned me from driving until the second eye is fixed and I can balance them again. It would be nice to think I will be able to mentally adjust myself. Cos Mku needs to go to the woods, and so do I. I need exercise cos I keep (almost) falling as things are never quite where I think they are. That includes my feet !!!
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@jengosmonkey The standard lens (and you don't get to choose in this country unless you are paying megabucks for the whole procedure) is distance. So working at the computer is difficult. I did email my optician asking him to stick a pair of cheaters in the post and I would phone him my credit card details but nary a response.
If I can't drive, I can't get to a pharmacy or place that sells them. Could I get some one line - do they just magnify ? cos I can try that tomorrow. Paul works from 7.30 in the morning so I can't impose on him to drive me and we are forbidden, covid laws, from riding with a neighbour.
I must get a pair, or several if they are different. On line. Good thinking.
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Sally, did you take the lens out of your glasses on the side that has had the operation? Then wear them and be looking through your prescription only on the unoperated side. My sister, who has had her cataracts done, recommended that, and also said your brain will start sorting things out.
"In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"
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@eeeefarm Yes, I did that very first thing, having learned from Marvin that that was the thing to do. But that is when the double vision starts. The surgeon warned me it would happen but also said to remove one lens immediately.
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@zande Yes, you are farsighted like just like me, so readers are what you're after. You might consider Amazon and have them delivered? I punched in Amazon UK and went there. Then searched 1.50 readers and this pops up...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=1.50+readers&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I use 1.50, but you may need less or more magnification. You probably won't know till you try one. I'd send you a pair but they won't get there till late the first week of February from what I could learn. There are some sites that recommend getting more magnification than you need at first. That said my wife uses 2.25. That much gives me a splitting head ache. 1.75 is about as much magnification as I can stand. If you order them online, I'd consider starting with both 1.5 and 1.75.
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@jengosmonkey tomorrow morning first thing ! That is very helpful. It won't get me driving but I will work on getting what little brain I have left to adjust and adapt.
The surgeon phoned me. He is not best pleased. He would not have done the first eye if he had known he would be unable to do the second.
He will try to fit me in as a private patient at an NHS eye hospital before the end of the month. Insurance won't pay unless it is done at the Spire which is one of their hospitals even if the same surgeon does it. But I have to find the money somehow. He will waive part of his fee which will bring the total cost down a bit.
I am not young enough to have time to be patient and eyes are so precious.
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@zande said in To Clear Vision and Fast Healing...:
OK, I am probably being selfish,
Not at all! Vision is priceless! Is there no appeal process that would allow you to get permission for the second surgery in a timely manner?
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Absolutely none. This happened in the first lockdown. The NHS simply took over all private hospitals and clinics in March. By July they started allowing private patients consultation but only in August did they release operating theatres for use evenings and weekends. I was lucky to get my knee replaced on a Saturday.
The obscenity was that in a 25 bed private hospital there were just two overnight patients my first night and for the 2nd and 3rd nights I was the only person in the entire hospital.
If the same thing happens again, months of total takeover. . . It doesn't bear thinking about
So I will argue with the insurance company this morning, but don't expect them to pay anything, even though it will be the same surgeon.
Fingers tightly crossed for a successful, if expensive, outcome quite soon.
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@jengosmonkey Just ordered both 1.5 and 1.75. Amazon Prime means delivery tomorrow !
Thank you for the suggestion
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@zande oh good. I hope one of them works for you. The good part, for me, is that cheaters are cheap. I destroy, lose, scratch, smash and step on mine all the time. I usually get them in three packs. Although, shocking as it seems, I haven’t lost a pair to a Basenji yet.
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@Zande Just curious if your new cheaters were delivered and if you can see well enough to trim a Basenjis toe nail? I sure hope so.
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@jengosmonkey They arrived on time and I found the 1.5 totally useless at the moment for both eyes. Even with magnification my arms are simply not long enough and anyway, they work at different distances for each eye which makes things a bit difficult !
The 1.75 is SUPER for the operated eye, but useless for the unoperated one. Whereas the computer glasses I have under prescription work for the unoperated eye and are useless for the operated one.
And again, they work at different distances for each eye.
What I am doing is using the 1.75 and my prescription computer glasses by turn and shutting or otherwise covering up the other eye. This way I avoid headaches.
The operated eye is becoming more settled and (to make this Basenji relevant) my son drove me to pick up Kito - my new puppy, Mku's half brother, and I wore only wrap around sunglasses designed to go over normal spectacles. No double vision and much more clarity.
So far (it is almost 6 pm here) the hospital has not carried out its threat to cancel my post-op checkup tomorrow. So I HOPE to find out more about when the second eye will be fixed and I can have my eyes tested for glasses to correct the astigmatism. Bifocals seem to be indicated.
Kito is divine ! He wriggled on my lap all the way home until he found my bait pouch. We had walked Mku in the woods on the way to pick him up. I tried to get a photo of his wee head right inside the pouch as he served himself lunch from Mku's kibble.
They have been curled up asleep in the same bed this afternoon and - touch wood VERY hard - I have managed to get him outside in time. Once he appear to ask to go out - or perhaps I read the signs correctly (!). Anyway, out into the garden and he emptied on the grass.
He is a food orientated, astute, self assured little monkey who is going to fit in here very easily and quickly. Mku is still slightly apprehensive but playing gently with the puppy.
Recall training starts tomorrow - or Tuesday - cos of the hoped for hospital visit.
