steve davis - Posted - 09/27/2024:  12:16:23

I'll be getting my right one done here in Maine on October 15.
The right eye is getting done here at TOGUS because of its ordinary status.
The left eye had a gold weight added to the eyelash in '06,doesn't water on its own and has had the lid sewn 2/3 shut a few years ago.
It will need to be reopened and sewn partially shut again after the C surgery.
These complications make it necessary for Jamaica Plain to do the left one at a future date.
Very excited about this.My bridge work is all but shut down this year with the lack of detail available.
What used to take 1 hour now takes 2 1/2.

Driving a back road to our Thursday night jams is a real chore in the rain after dark.
It'll be great to get that ability back in my comfort zone.

AndrewD - Posted - 09/27/2024:  13:48:22

Just had the first one done. Surprisingly quick and painless. Like getting new brakes at Kwikfit (do you have Kwikfit ?). Blurry for a few days. Then better than before. Took about 3 weeks to completely stabilise. I had to have a spreadsheet stuck to the fridge to manage the 3 sets of eyedrops with different frequencies.
My snooker has definitely improved. Hope you get the same with your pool.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 09/27/2024:  13:58:48

Mine were done 5 and 4 years ago. Instant improvement. No problems since.

steve davis - Posted - 09/27/2024:  14:33:22

Thanks for the positive testimonials,guys.I'll be getting the same doctor I've been seeing for the last couple of years.He's moving on soon and I will be one of his last operations.

I was hoping for a more consistent game,Andrew.
Do you play on a 12' table?

Texasbanjo - Posted - 09/27/2024:  14:37:03

I had both mine done a month apart back in 2015 and as Bill said, instant improvement. Colors brighter, could read street signs without my glasses.

Worst part about the whole thing was putting those drops in every 4 hours. If you have someone who can help with that, please ask them to do so. Makes it so much easier.

steve davis - Posted - 09/27/2024:  15:01:52

Thanks for more encouragement,Sherry.
I've been putting my own drops in for 18 years.It was a bit frustrating at first,but I had to teach myself as I live alone.
I sit in the same office chair the same way with my head at the same angle for all drops.15/day.
Doc told me "You can't OD on eye drops."

AndrewD - Posted - 09/27/2024:  15:07:02

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

Thanks for the positive testimonials,guys.I'll be getting the same doctor I've been seeing for the last couple of years.He's moving on soon and I will be one of his last operations.



I was hoping for a more consistent game,Andrew.

Do you play on a 12' table?

---

I'm lucky enough to have a social club 4 minutes walk away with two full size snooker tables, 12'x6'. I'd occasionally played at various times in my life when a table was available but never seriously. Started again a year or so ago and am getting a bit obsessed.

They've also got a pool table, common in pubs here. But English 8 ball  pool (un-numbered balls - just 8  reds, 8 yellows and  a black) is not my thing. 

banjoT1 - Posted - 09/27/2024:  15:11:10

2 years ago got the new eyes we're talking about. I wasn't struggling mind you, but rather, experienced daily vision annoyances. What greatly concerned me (prior to surgery) was how impaired I was regarding night-time driving. I am an alert and aware driver but night-time driving became increasingly dangerous primarily with oncoming vehicle headlights.



Cataracts, as you've likely experienced, create a blurry and larger undefined light image that, in my case, resulted in a significantly dangerous and life-threatening inability to know or 'feel' where I (i.e., the car) was actually positioned on the roadway relative to the center lane stripe . So, sad to say, often at night (especially real 'black' nights) when approaching oncoming headlights I made best guesses of my position and hoped to get lucky.



Within days after cat surgery [separately that is - first one, then later the other] I could clearly see and resolved the whole issue of impaired night driving. Other than (the normal) need for close-up reading glasses (typically prescribed as 2.25X) the cataract surgery was entirely successful and without complications.



On the other hand, although the wife also had cataract surgery without complications, the improvement of vision was not up to her optimal expectations.

Edited by - banjoT1 on 09/27/2024 15:15:35

steve davis - Posted - 09/27/2024:  15:23:16

If there are strong center and side lines on the road I'm good with night driving,but many secondary roads in Maine have no lines and are narrow to a gravel ditch.
That's where I struggle.Rain on those roads at night is fearsome.

steve davis - Posted - 09/27/2024:  15:24:42

quote:

---

Originally posted by AndrewD

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

Thanks for the positive testimonials,guys.I'll be getting the same doctor I've been seeing for the last couple of years.He's moving on soon and I will be one of his last operations.



I was hoping for a more consistent game,Andrew.

Do you play on a 12' table?

---

I'm lucky enough to have a social club 4 minutes walk away with two full size snooker tables, 12'x6'. I'd occasionally played at various times in my life when a table was available but never seriously. Started again a year or so ago and am getting a bit obsessed.

They've also got a pool table, common in pubs here. But English 8 ball  pool (un-numbered balls - just 8  reds, 8 yellows and  a black) is not my thing. 

---

I have a very snooker name,but I've never played.The videos of his perfect games are amazing.

Edited by - steve davis on 09/27/2024 15:25:55

donc - Posted - 09/27/2024:  17:16:12

What a coincidence. 2 days ago I had my right eye done. The next day I went for a morning inspection and the doctor said everything is going well,. The only problem so far [48 hours later] is that my visibility from the right eye remains at about 6 inches. Last week I had impacted wax in my left ear. The doctor at the drop- in clinic did about 25 heavy squirts until he gave up and used a cue tip. That little trick felt like a knife. At the present moment I have a right eye working about 5% and a left ear working about 10%. Most people have better luck than me so I will encourage Steve to get it done.

chuckv97 - Posted - 09/27/2024:  19:25:03

Don, lay on your side and squirt in some hydrogen peroxide,, let it bubble it’s way down through the wax blockage ,, been doing that for years.

donc - Posted - 09/27/2024:  19:51:31

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Don, lay on your side and squirt in some hydrogen peroxide,, let it bubble it’s way down through the wax blockage ,, been doing that for years.

---

That's a good method. I've been doing it for years but this time it was not working. The final thrust at the doctor's office was a hard piece of petrified wax about the size of a b-b pellet from a b-b gun. My only problem with a home treatment is being able to see what is remaining. This has been several years of playing cat and mouse. Most of the time I get something but next year I may just go in and have them check it again. 

chuckv97 - Posted - 09/27/2024:  20:03:46

quote:

---

Originally posted by donc

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

Don, lay on your side and squirt in some hydrogen peroxide,, let it bubble it’s way down through the wax blockage ,, been doing that for years.

---

That's a good method. I've been doing it for years but this time it was not working. The final thrust at the doctor's office was a hard piece of petrified wax about the size of a b-b pellet from a b-b gun. My only problem with a home treatment is being able to see what is remaining. This has been several years of playing cat and mouse. Most of the time I get something but next year I may just go in and have them check it again. 

---

I only have it in my left ear, I think from driving for years with the window down. It gets itchy and the peroxide feels great bubbling away in there.  Someday I'll go get it blown out.

HarleyQ - Posted - 09/27/2024:  20:16:23

Had mine done end of last year for one and first of this year for the other. They use too use drops around here years ago but no drops any more, must be a new method.

writerrad - Posted - 09/27/2024:  20:42:27

funny since I was a kid playing the guitar which I have played since I was 12 in 1959, I have always thought it important to practice whenI can with eyes closed if possible to learn the finger board and eliminate visual interference from listening. I have not had such a big change in my banjo or guitar playing since I had cataract surgery about 3 years ago. I did find accepting I had hearing loss and getting a hearing aid--something an ace bluegrass guitarist, mando player, and luthier suggested after hearing me play sittingnext to him--had a big part in improvinglistening, but never saw the visual to be a factor in my playing.

On the other hand I have recently switched from using the new found digital clicking metronome to an old fashioned mechanical one with a dial and weight because watching after it is more like watching and listening to band mates than electronic beeps

writerrad - Posted - 09/27/2024:  20:47:13

quote:good suggestions, but it is also true the same symptons we can imagine as wax buildup can be hearing loss that comes from the wearing out of the nerves that transmit our hearing to the brain--happened to me and no amount of ear cleaning can help that.   Home remedies like dewaxing are cheaper.  But other medical problems requiring medical action or getting hearing aides may be required instead of in addition to cleaning,  I deluded myself thinking it was wax  and had bad timing especially in bluegrass because I did not want to confront these issues.

---

Originally posted by donc

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

Don, lay on your side and squirt in some hydrogen peroxide,, let it bubble it’s way down through the wax blockage ,, been doing that for years.

---

That's a good method. I've been doing it for years but this time it was not working. The final thrust at the doctor's office was a hard piece of petrified wax about the size of a b-b pellet from a b-b gun. My only problem with a home treatment is being able to see what is remaining. This has been several years of playing cat and mouse. Most of the time I get something but next year I may just go in and have them check it again. 

---

raybob - Posted - 09/27/2024:  21:30:18

Goo luck, Steve. Hope it all goes well.

BobbyE - Posted - 09/28/2024:  05:42:16

I'm making the call regarding my cataracts next week. Hope to start 2025 with far less health issues than me and the missus has had occur this year. Good results to Steve and the rest who still have medical issues needing to be resolved.

Bobby

steve davis - Posted - 09/28/2024:  06:13:14

Concerning ears and q-tips my ear nose and throat doctor uses a tiny pressure washer to clean my ears thoroughly with no contact of any hard instrument.No pain or digging around.

Thanks for the good wishes,everyone.

steve davis - Posted - 09/28/2024:  06:51:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by AndrewD

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

Thanks for the positive testimonials,guys.I'll be getting the same doctor I've been seeing for the last couple of years.He's moving on soon and I will be one of his last operations.



I was hoping for a more consistent game,Andrew.

Do you play on a 12' table?

---

I'm lucky enough to have a social club 4 minutes walk away with two full size snooker tables, 12'x6'. I'd occasionally played at various times in my life when a table was available but never seriously. Started again a year or so ago and am getting a bit obsessed.

They've also got a pool table, common in pubs here. But English 8 ball  pool (un-numbered balls - just 8  reds, 8 yellows and  a black) is not my thing. 

---

My favorite games are 9 ball,rotation  and 41.

41 is one shot per turn where the number on the ball is your score and the first person to add up to exactly 41 wins.

If your score goes over 41 you must start over,again.Making 2 balls with one shot can be very helpful.

I love my BBC 9' table with Olehausen "Accu-Fast" cushions added in 2003.Gum rubber from 1895 can have many dead-spots.Newly covered last June.Narrow "2 ball" pockets.

Effren Reyes is my pool shooting hero.

Paul R - Posted - 09/28/2024:  21:07:13

Good luck with the surgeries, Steve.

I just gets me that you go through months of waiting and various appointments and then the actual thing takes fifteen/twenty minutes. My left eye got done on 3 Sept. My only bother is the eyedrops. I was supposed to get the right eye done this past Tuesday, but it's been postponed 'cause I had a fever. The procedure is free through our medicare.

The distance vision is amazingly better. I just need the right done to even things out.

AndrewD - Posted - 09/29/2024:  04:35:06

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

 

....Effren Reyes is my pool shooting hero.

---

Have you seen the match between your snooker playing namesake and Efren on youtube? Seems that if you are used to a 12' table, tighter pockets and 21 balls pool comes pretty easy.

One (temporary) problem you will have is during the short period when you have had one eye done so your glasses no longer work.  Recommendation here was that I waited 6 weeks post-op to go to the optician for a re-test. Glasses on and my new eye didn't work, glasses off my undone eye wasn't the best. Big problems with judging long distance shots with a rest (do pool players use rests ? certainly not the 96" ones we sometimes need). I stuck with playing glasses off and my brain seems to have compensated. Just had the 'new eye' lens replaced on my glasses so I'll have to decide whether to stick with this or not. Even though I went with a distance lens it seems to be good enough for a nearby cue ball on a well lit table. I suppose this depends on whether you are a very dominant eye player or not.

Looking forward to when I have both eyes done and I'll be unbeatable (for a very local value of 'unbeatable').

steve davis - Posted - 09/29/2024:  06:58:42

My doctors are all in line for associated glasses updates and post-op exams.
I've seen some competitions between Reyes and Davis in world 9 and 10 ball games.
I didn't know Efren played snooker,but I'm not surprised.

steve davis - Posted - 09/29/2024:  07:06:44

Even after both eyes are done my left will end up being resewn 2/3 shut with no power to blink so I'll still be shooting pool with one eye and no depth perception.
My biggest challenge is inconsistent "top English" placement and not being able to be forceful with that.
Bottom English left and right are good because I can rest the tip on the table and know where I'm starting from.

banjoT1 - Posted - 09/29/2024:  13:51:19

Regarding post-surgery recovery ....my doc said that that will take some time for sight and clarity to rebalance and settle in and that typically, reading glasses would be necessary but to hang loose for awhile and be patient.

The settleing in process took almost 1 year. That is, for the first year, post-surgery, I DID need reading glasses but it was not practical or necessarily a smart thing to do prematurely until the healing did what it had to do.
So, if you get glasses too soon then logically, or likely, you'll need a revised prescription later anyway. This = frustration, annoyance, and a wrong-headed conclusion and kavetching that your doc didn't tell you the whole story- or more likely....YOU didn't ask enough questions beforehand.

steve davis - Posted - 09/29/2024:  14:34:41

I love my communications with all my doctors.They make sure I am on top of my scripts and thoroughly explain everything that's going on.

I've already had talks about when they'll be testing for new glasses.They don't miss anything.

I get phone calls with new or changing plans,whether an upcoming appointment is convenient.They tell me stuff that I didn't even know was an issue.

They tell me where to go and why.

Edited by - steve davis on 09/29/2024 14:38:10

dflowers - Posted - 09/29/2024:  18:17:45

Steve, glad to hear every is working out fine for you