Cataract Surgery

I had my 2nd eye done today and before I forget I want to record what I remember about going through the experience because I remember barely anything about the last one.  Last night I was trying to remember what happened after I was done and it was a complete blank.  I couldn't remember anything about the surgery part either and I know I was awake so while it's fresh in my mind I want to capture it here.  I made a point of staying alert to what was going on and I started to tell Larry so he would remember too when I first came into the recovery room.

My right eye was done first on May 31 and I was supposed to get the other one done the following week but then the London trip came up so we postponed it until today.  Last time my appointment was around 10:20 and they were already running behind when we got there so it was more like an hour later that I was taken in.  This time I was scheduled for 7:40 and everything was right on time.
I was taken into the prep room and put on the bed in the first cubicle.  There I had my blood pressure, pulse and oxygen levels read and I got the first of the goop in my eye.  First it was a numbing gel and then some other numbing as well as antibacterial drops.  I was given a shower cap for my head and a warm blanket, the best part, and a nurse hooked me up for my heart monitors on my arms and put in an IV line with just a little saline to get ready for my real drugs.

Here I am with my shower cap and betadine around my eye, nobody punched me.

I was wheeled into the next cubicle where I would wait for the anesthesiologist and they let Larry come sit with me for about 15 minutes or more until I was wheeled into surgery.  The nurse, Joe (very cute)  who was going to be my nurse in surgery came and introduced himself to me and made sure I knew what I was having done.  I never saw him in surgery because I was lying down and they taped shut my good eye.  Dr. Reed came by and initialed above my eye and checked on the lens I was going to have which was in a box at the end of my bed. When the nurse from the prep room knew that the anesthesiologist was on his way she gave me more of the numbing gel and drops as well as the tubing in my nose for oxygen.

The anesthesiologist came and chatted and mixed my cocktail and then I was wheeled off to the operating room.  I remember the last time Dr Reed mentioned something about holding my eye open with something but I don't remember him saying it this time.  Then he told me that I should watch one of the three lights I saw and follow it around.  To me they looked like marshmallows, one big one and two minis, so I picked the big one and just followed it around with my eye.  I think I was more talkative this time than the last.  After all, it wasn't like when I'm at the dentist and there's always something in my mouth.  After a while I saw what reminded me of a kaleidoscope.  It was mainly pink and baby blue and just moved and swirled around.  Someone asked me what colors and I told them, it must have been Dr Reed because then he said that he was removing the cataract.  I asked if it was in one piece or pieces and I think he said it was one piece but it had to be removed in pieces.  Then he said he was halfway done and was going to put the lens in (I think).  After the pretty colors were gone the marshmallows came back and I followed the big one around again but this time they looked like they were going into a cone shaped cave.

Then I was done and with no mercy lots of tape was pulled off my face and before I knew it I was in the recovery room with a cup of coffee, Lorna Doones (my favorite cookie after giving blood too) and Larry.  Got my instructions about taking it easy today (no problem!!), no alcohol and got my appointment for tomorrow confirmed and we were home by 10:12 (according to life360).

I still had Dr Reed's initials on my forehead until I scrubbed them off after dinner.

Unplanned hospital visit

I repeated this so many times on Monday, Dec 11 when I went to the Emergency Dept at RGH but I'll just document it here for my reference.

Here is the whole story.

On Saturday Larry was going to heat up the last of the Moroccan Stew that I made and before he put it in the microwave I grabbed a spoon, took a taste and started to cough because something went down the wrong way.  I didn't cough it up but after awhile I couldn't feel it anymore to cough up, but my throat was a little sore.  

The next day I noticed a shortness of breath.  I couldn't understand why it happened but it felt like back in the old days if I had too many cigarettes and it was hard to do an inhale without coughing.  We took our usual 2 mile neighborhood walk and life seemed normal.

On Monday Larry wanted to go for a walk but I didn't want to because it was COLD.  Eventually I changed my mind and we set out.  As we came around the block and up Ensign (small hill)  I couldn't catch my breath.  I was breathing so hard and I checked my heartbeat on my apple watch and it was over 140.  We walked down another block and stopped to talk to a neighbor and I caught my breath.  We finished the rest of the walk but I didn't have my usual energy.  After we got home I kept checking my pulse rate and it never went below 115.  Usually it's resting rate is in the 60s or less.  

So of course I looked up my symptoms on the internet and I decided we needed to go to Emergency.  Before I made the final decision I took a shower and washed my hair just in case.

On the way to the hospital we stopped at the doctor's office which we were driving right by and they also said "Head over to ED."

Good thing we did.  After an X-ray and CT scan I was told that based on the story starting Saturday I had aspirated food into my lung.  They wanted me to stay overnight and I was scheduled for a bronchoscopy the next day.  It was supposed to happen in the morning but didn't until the afternoon.

Fortuantely I brought my iPad and iPhone and portable charging device with me.

I stayed awake for most of the bronchoscopy but I think I must have dozed or just don't remember them removing the food that went into my lung.  They told me it was a potato but I knew there weren't any potatoes in the recipe and when I looked up the recipe I saw that the culprit was probably a garbanzo bean.  After some more hanging around I finally got to go home.  For the next couple of days I was really cautious about what I ate, mainly yogurt and smooth foods.  I'm also being kind of vigilant about making sure I chew everything really well now too.

I spent the afternoon in the hall watching all the activity

My CT scan machine

missed dinner but this was good except for the white bread

My overnight and 2nd day stay room in MCO - Observation

P.S.  12/27/17 - When I went home, I was told I should make an appointment with my personal physician within 3 days.  I actually got one for the next day.  The reason they wanted me to go was so that she could tell me they found "an ill-defined area of low attenuation within the periphery of the right lobe of the liver" and it was advised that I go for a follow-up CT scan.  I don't know why they couldn't have done it while I was already in the hospital.  Anyway I got an appointment for Dec 22 and went to the imaging lab over by RGH, a really nice, quiet space.  And for $60 I had my CT scan and then had to wait for the results.  I sort of remembered that 14 years earlier when I went to emergency for some complication  I thought I was having right before I was leaving to go to Greta's before Myles was born they found something on my liver but checked it out then and it was nothing.  Anyway, of course, I had to worry that I probably had cancer although in researching spots on livers they usually turn out to be nothing - but that didn't matter - I was giving myself 2 months.  On Tuesday, 12/26 I got a call from the doctors office and put a name to what it was - a benign liver hemangioma.  It's nothing and probably something I was born with - Happy New Year!!!!

First Dental Procedure

Well, I was going to have my half tooth pulled as my first procedure at the Eastman Dental clinic today.  Half tooth, what's that?  That's the half of the tooth that was left after my bridge was removed when I had to have 2 teeth extracted this winter in Florida.  However, since I had taken 6 alendronate (generic Fosamax) pills over the previouse 12 weeks (one every other week) I have to wait 2 months.  Back when I had a tooth pulled around 2007 there was a conern about Fosamax and tooth extractions, then 2 years later when I had another tooth pulled the concern was gone.  Well it seems that since 2014 the concern is back again.  I went there already knowing this.

Since I'm having issues with this tooth and we're going to be out of the country for almost a month before the two month critical period passes I had a procedure done to take out any living material in there.  It wasn't exactly a root canal.  The dentist had to go into my tooth with these tiny little files and dig out whatever was in there.  It was a very tedious procedure and his assistant was washing with some bleach stuff as he did it, therefore the precautions they took in the set-up so that none of the material would touch any other part of me.

Don't I look cute?

Foot and Mouth

Today I had my second appointment at the Eastman Dental clinic in an attempt to figure out options of what to do with my teeth, or lack of, that makes the most sense.  As alluded to in previous posts I had a winter devoted to my teeth and wound up with two bridges less by the end of March.  One lower right which fell off before we went away for the winter and couldn't be glued back because there was nothing left to glue onto.  The other upper left afater getting two teeth pulled that were under the bridge.

I was checked and prodded for bone condition, full mouth x-rays, photos taken with a torture contraption held in place by the assistant as the dentist took the photos, that hurt my stretched lips more than anything.  The lips need to be well moistened and stretching exercises should be done beforehand, if only I knew.  Then I had a 360 X-Ray.  This whole process took 2 hours.  My next appointment is July 14th when I will get the results.

Then when I got to read my emails I saw that Gerry sent out a note that he was having surgery on his foot similar to one he had in 1992 but on the opposite foot.  Of course, I had a picture of that and sent it.

Then also sent the update.

For my Doctor

~ ~ A Note for the Doctor  ~ ~
Just like every other thing in my life, I was going to start this a lot sooner.  Now I had only 4 days until my appointment so let me try to list all the things I can complain about.

Having never been a sick or achy person I am finding that having to deal with all these issues is not something I am used to.  However, I am grateful that these are what they are when I see all the things around me that are so much worse.  I have no cause for complaint but I can still list them.

And yet another pain

I can't believe this year.  Just when I thought I was starting to feel good one more pain came on the scene.  We played some mild tennis the day after we got to the villages.  Just hit back and forth.  No games, no score, no competition.  I felt fine when done but the next morning I woke with some tennis elbow as well as neck and upper back pain.  It still hasn't gone away and I can barely turn my neck.  This neck pain is nothing new but we always blamed it to spending too much time knitting or crocheting when we were driving long distances.  I didn't do that this time.

I have self diagnosed myself and think that I have misaligned my spine.  According to this website http://hrgroups.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2131108:BlogPost:4631  you can do that from anything, and this is my year.

I also feel like it's having a big impact on my nerves, pressing on them or something.  I've been doing my favorite neck and shoulder yoga which usually always helps but I don't feel so many bones rearranging themselves this time.  From this website, http://www.neworleanschiropractic.net/chiropractic/effects-of-misalignment.html,  I deduced that I have a C6 Verterbrae misalignment.  I hope it aligns itself soon!!!

Meniscus Tear

So now I know the cause of my latest pain. I have a torn Meniscus. I wish I could say I was doing some extreme sport that caused the problem but I'm not really sure what did it. I know I felt stiff when moving my leg after sitting on it (a usual sitting position for me) and that may have done it.

According to the literature and the doctor, it can just happen from standing up after sitting down. We're hoping it's going to heal by itself so I don't need surgery. It was the worst on Monday but yesterday it felt better and hopefully I'll continue to improve. This looks like some good information about the tear - http://www.health.com/health/library/topic/0,,te7345_te7346,00.html

Pain of the Month Club

Probably no one would want to join this with me.  I don't even want to belong to it.  I don't know how I even became a member but I want out!

It was a year ago June that I injured my shoulder doing Yoga.  After waiting for it to get better for a few months I finally went to the doctor, physical therapy, got a cortisone shot and by December I noticed that as long as I kept doing my PT exercises, my shoulder was feeling pretty good.  However also in December I started getting dull headaches which grew into the Migraine Madness already mentioned near the end of January.

Now the latest.  I came back from Greta's Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning I woke up with a funny feeling on the inside of my left knee.  I didn't know what it was but it didn't stop me from taking our 2 mile walk.  On Thursday it was a little worse, meaning I could just feel it a little more but not enough to stop me from doing anything.  Friday it was a little more obvious but I was still able to do a 2 mile walk before work without any pain.  Saturday I knew that I didn't feel up for a walk but I was able to go out and do some shopping and I made soup and oatmeal cookies.  When I woke up Sunday it was much worse.  It hurt to move the knee from straight to a bent position.  Later on I couldn't even put weight on it without first letting it get used to being in a straigtened position and keeping it stiff.  Later that night Larry found a cane in the basement and this morning he dug up a walker which makes it easier to move around.  Once I'm standing for a while it is easier to remain standing and without assistance for moving around.

A call to the orthopedist is coming up, just waiting for the office to open.  Update:  have an appointment for 3:00 PM tomorrow.