August 3, 2017

Well my cataract surgery took place on July 23.  All went well with the surgery, although I had a bad night the first night.  A lot of stinging and pain in the eye and head.  I had to remove the bandage as every time I moved it pulled at my eye lid causing a whole lot of irritation.

Here I am in recovery listening to audiobooks.  My first every selfie.

The hospital experience was not too bad.  The first room they took me to was so dirty that I had them send up a cleaner to at least sweep and mop the floor.  The mattress was coir and the pillows were lumpy.  At least the washroom was clean, at least the first time I used it.

The first room.  Looked like something out of colonial times.

The cleaner doing at least a cursory cleaning.

The second room where I was immediately pre surgery and for recovery was much better.  Semi-private with its own bath.  I was the only one in there, so it was OK.

The second room which even had a TV.

The hospital staff were reasonably good but god help you if you were unconscious or otherwise incapable.  The only one outside the operating room that even had a vague idea of what she was doing was the matron.  Otherwise, I had to tell them what to do.  She took me for the pre-surgery exam which consisted of a meeting with a doctor who noted my weight (I won't reveal that, but suffice to say, I am on a diet), blood pressure and pulse.  Later the matron did an ECG using equipment that looked like it really was installed by the British.  They wanted to take my blood sugar, but there was no way I was going let them pierce my skin.

I had to remind them to dilate my eye so that it would be sufficiently open for the surgery.  The operating room was a different story.  The equipment was state of the art, although the scrubs and gurneys were very old fashioned.  There was even an anesthesiologist and two nurses all for a 15 minute operation.  The anesthesiologist wanted to place and IV canula in my hand, but again, I wouldn't allow it.  I have heard horror stories of them not being able to find a vein.  It was a bit uncomfortable what with them poking a needle into my eye about 10 minutes in.

Recovery has been swift, but the bad news is that they implanted a 24D lens which is a huge overcorrection.  They were not able to determine the proper power for the lens because of the PRK correction I had 20 years ago.  They needed the configuration of my original cornea and the clinic in Victoria that did the PRK had thrown out the records.  A word of warning to any undergoing LASIK or PRK correction to keep your original scans as you will need them if you ever have a cataract removed.  The upshot is that the vision in my right eye is worse than with the cataract.  I have now been fitted with glasses which allows me to see clearly through my left eye and with only a little blurring in the right.  After a couple of months I should be able to get contact lenses that correct completely.

Needless to say, I am not happy with the idea of having to wear glasses/contacts after all this time, but at least I had good 20+ year run without.

Having come out of that relatively unscathed, I went off to the dentist with a tooth ache only to find out that now I need dental surgery.  One of my molars has two deep cavities below the gum line, one of which is right through to the root.  A root canal would be useless, so it is extraction, a bone graft and eventually an implant.  It sucks getting old.

Apart from that, I have been feeding 3 cats.  My lovely Patches, and two boys.

Patches and Buddy Boy

Buddy Boy has moved right in

Eating

Sleeping on one of my armchairs

Patches and Aya (Brother in Sinhalese) as he is Buddy Boy's brother

Buddy Boy is very friendly even to the point of being underfoot all the time rubbing himself between my legs.  I live in fear of tripping over him.  He has not been around in the last couple of days.  I am hoping this means that the people who own him have decided to take care of him and not that something bad has happened.

Since Buddy Boy has disappeared, Aya, who is much more reticent has moved right in.  He is asleep on an armchair as we speak.  Patches on the other hand is sitting on my desk supervising my typing.

Feeding them bagged cat food is proving a bit expensive, so for the first time yesterday, I had Veenitha flag down the fish tuktuk that goes by almost every day yelling "mallu, mallu, mallu" over the loudspeaker to announce his presence.  She bought enough fish when mixed with left over noodles and rice to last all cats for 3 or 4 days for only LKR.250.  A hell of a lot cheaper than cat food at LKR.1400 a bag.

This month's hair tattoo was inspired by some pictures that Monica Power sent me.  Unfortunately, I do not have enough hair to do them as depicted, but my guy did a good job sticking to the spirit of the thing.

Inspiration 1

Inspiration 2.  I am sure that this Chinese hair.  Very thick and straight.

Our version.  The young fellow that does my pedicure did the drawing and my hair guy executed the tattoo.  Pretty good, I think.