Cataract operation

[tobee]

My dm, 86, is due in for a cataract op on one eye next week. I'm going to take her and pick her up.

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect as her helper that day? Anything I might need to anticipate?

Thank you

Just wanted to ask something and I don't want to make you worry but why does she want you to go and sit with your DF?

My DF had far more care needs than they were letting on, could they be masking what's happening at home?

Had both eyes done this year- life changing- almost like my eyes were reborn! However, although my long distance vision is great, I cannot see well close up. I loved reading but have to wear glasses nowadays. My mum, 82 has found her poor close vision devastating following surgery, as she can no longer see to read.
I had sedation and would advise it, esp if mum older mu mum didn’t have any and has PTSD following the op..

Yes as I mentioned, the replacement lens mean you are either short or long sighted, at least on the NHS. But overall the results are fantastic and wearing glasses to read is a small price to pay. Glasses don't treat cataracts.

Good luck to your mum. One of the best things I did.

It explains why here, near the top of the article

www.hey.nhs.uk/patient-leaflet/risks-benefits-cataract-surgery/

I had mine done in my 50s.
Didn't have sedation, just the anaesthetic drops. Didn't feel any pain, although staring into a really bright light with no way to look away wasn't pleasant.
I took a train home afterwards on my own (had to travel to get them done as locally had huge waiting list) with taxi either end.
I was able to put the drops in myself, but was handy if one of my sons was around to help.

I was very short sighted before having them done, but chose to have long sight afterwards which is amazing in that I can do activities like swimming without having to wear glasses, but I do a little bit miss being able to read really tiny text by taking my glasses off.
I had each eye done separately which was difficult to adjust to in terms of having one short and one long sighted.
I was quite disoriented and a bit vertigo for the first day.
I then took the lens out of my old glasses so I could still read with the eye that hadn't been done yet, and see long distance with the new.
I couldn't have varifocals made while waiting for the second eye to be done as they said it would be too different and I wouldn't adjust.

Eyesight is amazing once both had been done. Can see myself in the mirror without glasses. Can watch film at cinema with no glasses. I do wear varifocals now as I work with computers and need to switch between close and medium distance, but they're super thin naturally rather than having to pay a fortune for extra thin lenses when I was myopic.

Thank you for all these new replies; very helpful!

Thanks for your concern @PritiPatelsMaker. I think my d parents are telling me everything about my df. He has had 6 major health issues since 2020 and they've always been pretty open about it all. I've been involved in taking them to and from lots of their health check ups etc. Df is in early stages of dementia but not too bad at the moment. They've also got personal alarm bracelets just set up for them etc. I try to talk to dm a lot to see how he is and how she is and how she's coping with him.

Thank you to the pp who mentioned the choice between close up and distance vision. My Dad doesn't seem to have been asked this, although he is very, very forgetful these days, so who knows. But my Mum has also got cataracts, she is a lot younger, very active and can afford private treatment, so I'll mention multifocal lenses to her, as I think it will be an issue for her.

DH had his done privately, a good few years ago. We I did loads of research. Things may well have changed since then but at the time, the only 'difficult' results were from multi focal lenses.

My parent had their first eye done 18 months ago then got lost in the system 😖 and had her second the other week. She has mobility issues and was worried about staying still. Happily there were no issues at all either time. So much so I think it should be referred to as a procedure rather than operation. First time was 4.5 hours, next slightly shorter. First time, I had to remove a lens from her old glasses. To be honest she had problems reading until the second one was done. There was no choice of lens offered.

I had one done nearly two years ago and am on the waiting list for the second. I was not warned about the possibility of pain when the anaesthetic wore off and not offered a choice of lens. I am still juggling two pairs of glasses, one for reading and one for distance just as I was before and as I appear to have some sort of distance lens in the corrected eye, I can no longer see to apply eye make up, which is something else I was not warned about.

Ahhh! My dm just rang ti say the operation tomorrow has been cancelled and she needs to re arrange.

It doesn't really make any difference but she's disappointed and I was all geared up and ready.

That's life I suppose. It'll be another day.