If somebody offers you something that sounds good, Be Careful, Be Very Careful - Never Respond "Cool!" A Story of Eye Surgeries...

 

Hi Everybody,  Aside from sharing the above video for your information, once again showing just how bad it is here in America, I wanted to steal from DJT for the first time in my life, stating, "I hadn't thought about it..."

Yesterday, I had what most people call a "last straw" moment... Do you ever get to a point when you know there is nothing you can do, but you are frustrated so much that you decide I just has to protest! Yes, of course, I've been protesting regarding the administration in the U.S., but this was much more personal...

You see, a number of years ago, I had to have cataracts removed from both of my eyes. But, at the last moment, at least it now seems to me, I was "told" that they would be adding my prescription for my eyes directly into my eyes... Not having time to even think or realize that that might mean for my life, I responded "Cool!" and the procedures were schedule one right after the other.

Now I want to quickly point out that there was NO discussion about the ramifications or possible issues that might arise by placing my prescription, the same as what my glasses were, directly into my eyes, permanently...

Had I had a chance to consider and discuss this, I might have soon realized that my prescription was for "distance..." which I only used for driving. Further, I had become a patient for primary care at this university. I had also had a tumor removed from my brain and a hip replacement surgery, all of which were full of discussions and a developed confidence to proceed...

As I look back I spent more time with students as opposed to the doctor who actually was to do the surgery. This may be the normal process for a teaching hospital, but for me, it has negatively changed my entire life!

So, yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment with my primary care physician. My medical caretaker was driving me to the appointment. Afterward, I just wanted to sit and spend some time with her and her child (she's my great niece) so I decided to go to Bob Evans for breakfast... Once seated, and the baby set up for a while, I turned to the menu. I could not read it. I peered closely and did pick up the price of one thing and thought it was extremely high since the last time I'd been there. So I started looking around just from the standpoint of price and found a small corner of 4 selections. But I could not read any of the descriptions for the meals for any of the options. Restaurants apparently are squeezing more options on fewer pages by decreasing the size of description. I found myself very upset that I could not even have an option of reading and selecting my own choice rather than depending upon somebody reading it to me! Just like with what the government is doing, we who are older or physically impaired are being ignored by corporations who are more concerned about making money than with the needs of the customers. I got a meal that I was very unhappy with--the first one ever at Bob Evans where I'd eaten for half of my life, at least... Was the cheaper deals purposely poorly prepared? Mine was and that was all that mattered to me... I found I had had enough, decided not to do anything else but head home... And later decided to write this opinion piece...

First of all, IF somebody had asked about my personal life, any doctor would have been told that I'm a reader and book reviewer and have been doing this for over 20 years. My NORMAL eyesight did not affect my ability to read on a continuous basis...

The effect to my life was as instaneous as was the removal of the eye patches from my eyes after surgery! I could no longer read a book--any book. I had to switch to ebooks to increase the size of the print... In order to read as I wished, I have to use two readers because the batteries do not last thoughtout my normal daily reading periods. With Kindle, I can sync and move from one reader to another fairly easily. I had to stop accepting requests for reviews since often there is no options other than a print copy.

But that only took care of my love of reading...

I quickly found that I could not read my prescription bottles, I could not read descriptions for food products... Ok, yes, I bought 3 times the size, magnifying glasses which I can never find, but that means that, if I drive myself, I use my prescription glasses with dark lens for sun, which I could then have to remove, to put on other blasses to read a menu, or be able to call in a prescription using a number I cannot now read...

I tried to use the Internet to turn in for refills of medicines. This is what I had to do. I put on my magnifying glasses, read one small item on the label, took off my magnifying glasses, go to the page where I had to submit a request, and HOPE I remembered the number of the specific prescription to enter on my desktop screen... Well, with my memory of numbers not too good these days, I have to repeat this process of putting on glasses, taking them off, typing a little more, then putting on the glasses to verify, verify, verify...

A major problem occurred with my use of a cell phone. I could barely see anything. That was ok because I could use my desktop for just about anything. But phone corporations were not willing to deal with the fact that I did not want all they wanted to provide on that cell phone! The frustration kept mounting... I discarded 3 phones because of this inability to easily use the phone like I had prior to the placement of a "distance prescription" into my eyes permanently.

I've had to give away all of my print books. Reading a book with magnifying glasses is difficult for a book reviewer... There is no way to legibly write notes in a book. There is no way, to easily sit down to read, leave the book for awhile and then come back and pick up where you were... Putting on and taking off magnifying glasses is not easy on a routine day... Normally I'm moving from doing dishes, then stopping for a chapter or two, and so on... Every time a reader is disrupted for mechanical issues, places a book at a disadvantage for the reader who is trying to keep track of the plot... Some of the print used by some publishers is less than the 12 point standard that is normally used for paperbacks, or at least as they were once printed... Many of th books were written by my favorite authors and kept on a TBR basis when I was "no longer reviewing..." That print was so small and all I used to have to do was move my book closer to my eyes... That was lost when my normal eyesight became a distance prescription that I rarely needed to use... 

What a mess...

Sure, I could go on and give other specific examples, but I hope everybody who reads this will become super conscious when a eye doctor proclaims that he's going to give you a gift... Because that gift may just be the worst disaster that some elders will have happened to them in their lives...  

You know, folks, I am sick and tired of the government and its lies, as well as corporations and their insensitivity to customers/clients so much so that they don't take the time to at least obtain a basic set of issues that would be affected by the medical care given... Or the specifics needed to make a good purchase. I've already told you about the purchase of a door that did not include a handle! I learned that a very small square on the box in which it was purchased said "something" but I would not have even thought to look for what was an important fact of that purchase--that I would have to return to get a handle for that door!

My brain doctor allowed me to ask anything I needed to know and spent the time with me. So did the doctor for the hip replacement, who also provided a complete notebook of the exact step-by-step process that would be used... There was no such thing for one of the most important aspects of our lives--the condition of our eyesight. Sure there were tests, discussion on problems, but not once was the placement of my prescription in my eye brought up in advance of scheduling the surgeries... I call that a significant failure on the part of a teaching hospital. And that's why I'm saying, be very careful what is being "told" related to any eye surgeries you may need in the future...

No, I haven't gone back to the doctor. What could I say? "You should never had done this to me?! 

And, by the way, if you are having an eye surgery, and you can actually see the doctor working on that eye, hold up your hand and ask the question... This happened to me on my first surgery. They had warned me to not move, so I lay there seeing the doctor, pull away the cataract, and then later, add, I guess, the prscription... On the second surgery, the anesthesiologist came to ask how I was doing. I said I'd prefer not to have to again watch the doctor do that surgery. He was shocked and hurried away to make sure that didn't happen...

I want to close with the statement that I did not have problems with the actual surgery, other than not being able to deal with a dry eye problem which I was never able to resolve until Blink was created... And, that I've also had other medicines for incontinence that caused eyesight problems until I learned that the medical was the cause...only to be given difference types which continue with the problem, until I just stopped taking that medication, knowing that my eyesight was more important than the other issue... Still, there is never a day that I do not struggle to do my normal work activity that I had been doing just before those two surgeries... My eyes quickly tire, and I'm still not sure of the reason... Is there some other medication that was prescribed that causes problems to my eyes? All I can tell you is that as I type my vision is blurred for the majority of time.

Let's face it, all of these issues occurred prior to the second term of the republicans now in office. We have seen the devastation to especially women whose healthcare concerns have been ignored or declared as too costly or against some religious belief that was being used to override the constitutional rights of all people.

I am finally speaking out on this issue. Like I said I had the last straw yesterday... When an individual cannot go to a resttaurant and able to see the menu that was quite easy prior to an operation placing a "distance prescription" into eyes that were normal in all ways for daily needs, then I, as the result of that doctor's decision, have a right to declare thaat I am angry, frustrated, disturbed that the doctor did not ensure that my prescription was actually needed as permanent insertions, prior to the time I was told what would be happening, without any discussion of the ramifications whatsoever...

Please begin to realize that this world is no longer the one that had the slogan, "the customer is always right..." We are being abused, used, and thrown aside by, especially men, who are in power for the purpose of making money and if they need to lie or ignore the majority of Americans, then that is what they are willing to do... I just didn't expect this after having 3 caring doctors preceding the last set of surgeries I had been in need of... I can only give a statement that I could see that the doctor had too many patients and too many students under his wing...But that really means little to me, the person who was given (used as a test case) something that I never should have had done based upon my prescription requirements.

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