Thursday, December 14, 2017

Wednesday - Dec 6/17

Hi Everyone! I am starting the blog up again for this season.

We were delayed in departing for Olde Mill Stream RV Resort in Umatilla, FL this year. I had to wait for laser surgery (both eyes) on Dec 6th. I was lucky and got the last available appointment for this treatment year. Canadian Health care is generally cost free; however, non-critical procedures usually involve a wait. Our departure south for the winter was delayed by several weeks.

I was one of the about 20 percent of patients in which vision becomes hazy some time after cataract surgery. This took several months before the PCO became noticeable. Posterior Capsule Opacification occurs because lens epithelial cells remaining after cataract surgery grow on the capsule (artificial lens replaced during cataract surgery).

Treating Posterior Capsule Opacity

Fortunately, a YAG laser can treat posterior capsule opacity safely, effectively and painlessly. This procedure, known as YAG laser capsulotomy, was performed at the out-patient clinic at the Riverside Hospital in Ottawa. It only took a few minutes to do both eyes.
YAG laser capsulotomy involves just a few simple steps: The eyes were dilated before the procedure, with eye drops. I required extra doses of extra strength drops due to medication I was taking. A laser removes the hazy posterior capsule from your line of sight without making an incision or "touching" the eye. The only treatment required by the ophthalmologist was anti-inflammatory eye drops following the procedure (4 x per day for 5 days).

The procedure took only a few minutes and was entirely painless with no post-operative discomfort. The only requirement was to remain extremely still during the procedure. Normal activities can by resumed immediately afterwards. As predicted, normal clear vision returned within a half hour - the time required for the dilated eyes to return to normal.

As we were unsure about driving restrictions my daughter KAT (and Gord) drove myself and Charlotte to Ottawa. This was good. It gave us the chance to treat them to dinner at "Mandarin" (a great Chinese buffet).

Now it was time to start preparing for departure.




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