Cataract means waterfall. Normally, I like waterfalls. I did not connect the idea of cataracts at all to the deterioration of my vision or the fact that I could never seem to keep my glasses clean. I just thought I needed a different prescription or that maybe the anti-glare coating was not all it was cracked up to be.
So when I went to the eye doctor yesterday, I did not expect him to say that I had cataracts. For an eye doctor, I think he is sort of clueless, but maybe that is just because I teach the visually impaired now so I know more. He will ask me if I use my glasses to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or if I can see his face when he is three feet away from me. He asks this because my right eye is a -14 and my left is a -12, which is pretty bad vision-wise. One of the first things I learned as a teacher of the visually impaired is that visually impaired people SEE. They just don't see as clearly as those people who are not. (Maybe I should tell my doctor.)
I am supposed to go to the eye doctor every six months for a field vision test because of one of my RA meds. Since I don't like to have my eyes dilated, I waited a year. I thought maybe I waited too long because my vision is too blurry for me to read much, and reading is something that I enjoy. Also, I have found that I am much more sensitive to the light outside than I used to be. When he was done with my exam and told me I had early lens changes, I thought he meant the presbyopia, and since I already wear bifocals, I wondered why he called the changes early. Turns out he meant cataracts.
I have an evaluation for surgery on May 2. I want to see better, and evidently if the surgery is done, they will replace the lens of my eye with an implant so that I WILL see better. I have worn glasses since first grade. I am not sure how this will feel. I guess it is just one of the many experiences of growing older, but I think it is a strange turn of events for a teacher of the visually impaired. Technically, because of glare, I now AM visually impaired!
So when I went to the eye doctor yesterday, I did not expect him to say that I had cataracts. For an eye doctor, I think he is sort of clueless, but maybe that is just because I teach the visually impaired now so I know more. He will ask me if I use my glasses to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or if I can see his face when he is three feet away from me. He asks this because my right eye is a -14 and my left is a -12, which is pretty bad vision-wise. One of the first things I learned as a teacher of the visually impaired is that visually impaired people SEE. They just don't see as clearly as those people who are not. (Maybe I should tell my doctor.)
I am supposed to go to the eye doctor every six months for a field vision test because of one of my RA meds. Since I don't like to have my eyes dilated, I waited a year. I thought maybe I waited too long because my vision is too blurry for me to read much, and reading is something that I enjoy. Also, I have found that I am much more sensitive to the light outside than I used to be. When he was done with my exam and told me I had early lens changes, I thought he meant the presbyopia, and since I already wear bifocals, I wondered why he called the changes early. Turns out he meant cataracts.
I have an evaluation for surgery on May 2. I want to see better, and evidently if the surgery is done, they will replace the lens of my eye with an implant so that I WILL see better. I have worn glasses since first grade. I am not sure how this will feel. I guess it is just one of the many experiences of growing older, but I think it is a strange turn of events for a teacher of the visually impaired. Technically, because of glare, I now AM visually impaired!
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