That was the question my 97 year old paternal grandmother (yes, God bless her) was confronted with a month ago when she was diagnosed with pretty severe cataracts that rendered her quite handicapped from her daily activities (basically she couldn’t see with her right eye, everything appeared cloudy). Apparently it has been quite a few years since she felt her vision deteriorated but never said a thing! She at first refused to have cataract surgery, arguing that at her advanced age, why bothered? There was an element of fear, what if the surgery went wrong? She assumed someone will take a sharp knife and cut out the cloudy film from her eyeball and she may go blind!! Ultimately some of us in the family were able to persuade her to take a chance – on the grounds that it is better to see than not to see. I could not imagine life without sight.
I learned so much about the surgery; the types of lens to be inserted afterwards (Monofocal vs. Multifocal); insurance coverage of the first and not the latter; etc. I even watched a Youtube video on the surgery; this is NOT for the squeamish!!
Yesterday she had the surgery; today the doctor took the bandage off, voila, what a whole new world!!!! She can now see the floral pattern on her bed sheets, she can distinguished the sidewalk steps without someone telling her to step up or down while crossing the street; she even walked down the staircase by herself without anyone holding onto her arm!!!
I can not tell you how much her quality of life must have improved! And most importantly, she is pleased with her decision and the ultimate outcome.
Posts
Reflecting on Haiti
5 hours ago
5 comments:
Know how she must feel- my 70+ year old mum has cataract and has been pushing back the op..need to cajole her to have it dne !
See what great courage and decision can bring to Grandma's life! The world now is more clear, more colorful and more intersting to her again.
sue
Thanks Spacifix and Sue for your comments. I am still learning my way around the esoteric world of blogging and figuring out how to reply to comments. My grandma will have her left eye done next week, I can't wait for her to see the world clearly again!!!
I think she is seeing everything for the first time since 4 years ago. The other day she saw that I had more than 1 piercing on my ears 0.0 , that my hair was no longer the light brown it was four years ago and that I had tweezed my eye brows!!!!!
We joke about how she has to have surgery for her hearing and then she will be as good as a 20 year old! LOL
Yun: Soon she will be able to see 20/20 after her left eye is done. I will have to worry that she can see my wrinkles! She told me the other day to stop losing weight because my face is no longer round, and she likes it round!!!!
Post a Comment