Eye surgery update

Well, it's been about four and a half months since our Christmas Day eye surgery took place.

For any new blog readers, the procedure we both had done is called Intraocular Lens Replacement. It's essentially the same surgery that people have done when they have cataracts, except we didn't have cataracts. We did it simply to get rid of having to wear glasses all the time.

At the time, when I was doing all the research necessary to come to an educated decision as to whether or not to get it done, I had read that some people can take up to six months for their brain to actually adjust to their new eyes.

For me, the doctor purposely put a different lens in each eye. One geared towards close up vision, and one geared towards distance. He told me at the time, prior to doing the job, that my vision after the procedure would not be perfect... but that it would be good enough to get rid off wearing glasses "in most situations".

And it turns out he was exactly correct.

My right eye is the "up close" eye. It's the one that does most of the work when I am reading, doing computer work, or using the smartphone. On its own, things are super clear for doing any up close work. I can hold something six inches from my face and it is clear as a bell. The fact that the left eye is fuzzy at the same time doesn't seem to matter any more. It did bother me a bit for the first couple of months, but I can honestly say that I simply don't notice it any more.

My left eye is the distance eye. So when looking at something far away, it is doing most of the work. 

When the job was complete, he gave me a prescription for glasses. The glasses have a zero lens on the left eye, and a corrective lens on the right eye, for distance. He said the only time I should need to wear them is for driving long distances. I had these glasses made with auto darkening lenses, and so they are also my sunglasses. I find that I wear them whenever I am driving now just because I feel more comfortable that way. 

My night vision is not great. I definitely have a lot of the "halo effect" that I was warned about. And it does bother me when driving at night. But fortunately it's so rare that I would drive at night that it's not an issue. I didn't like driving at night even before the surgery.

So, bottom line is that I only need to wear glasses when driving, and when you consider that I would probably be wearing non prescription sunglasses most of the time when driving anyhow, it's not a hardship at all. Otherwise, no more glasses! And the doctor said that my eyes should remain that way for the rest of my life. And of course we will never experience cataracts and will never have to have a cataract operation later in life. Very pleased with the outcome.

Ruth is about the same, although she still needs reading glasses for anything up close. She's fine without any glasses for computer work, and general day to day activities. She also has prescription auto darkening sunglasses that have very minor corrective lenses for distance, but she only wears them as sunglasses. Also very pleased.

I noticed when we were doing the zoom trivia with my friends the other night that every one of the men was wearing glasses. So glad I don't have to bother with them any more!

We didn't do too much yesterday. We had walked a total of 19 kms (12 miles) over the two previous days and figured we could use a rest. Although, we needed to pick up a few groceries, and ended up walking 5 kms (3 miles) in the process!

I snapped a couple of photos along the way...

Pedestrian walkway.

That's the 10 storey observation tower here in Korca.

And then in the evening we went out for a stroll again. For a Sunday evening it was really pretty busy. The restaurants and cafes were all open and there were lots of people about.

The cathedral lit up at night.

This plaza is surrounded by busy restaurant patios.

The structure in this park will be a shade structure. They have planted vine type plants that will grow up the support wires between the tubes. It might take a year or two to have the desired effect.

On another note, I had mentioned the other day that Albania's Covid numbers are really low. And of course we are wanting to get to Germany to pick up our new motorhome. Well Germany has recognized Albania's low numbers, and by their standards Albania is no longer classified as a risk area. This means that anybody arriving in Germany from a long stay in Albania does not have to quarantine. Although Germany remains closed to non essential travel, this is a good sign that things are going in the right direction. We are becoming cautiously optimistic that we will be able to pick up our motorhome next month.

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