THE GENIUS AND SURGERY

Yesterday was the big day for the cataract surgery and what a day it was!! So many things went wrong that what could have been somewhat of an ordeal turned into almost a catastrophe.

The day began with a workout for the genius (so what else is new?). Then after having nothing more than water to drink (“seven swallows” he told the nurse. The anesthesiologist who was listening in wanted to know how big the swallows were), he was ready to get prepared for the surgery. Right away he told the doctor he wanted no amnesiacs or sedatives. He wanted to be alert to everything that was going on. When he learned that he would be put under for five minutes while they injected his eye with numbing solution, he said, “I thought it would only be thirty seconds.” You can get an idea from the conversations he had with the medical people what kind of patient he is.

The operating room was scheduled for 12:30, but the one he was signed up for had three different surgeries that morning and all ran late. So he was 1½ hours late going up to the OR. I quickly grabbed a lunch and ran home to let Rufus out, and then it was back to the hospital.

The operation that was to take about forty-five minutes became a two hour nightmare with apparently many things going wrong throughout. The cataract itself was very difficult to break up and get out because it had hardened. Then the nurse couldn’t understand what instruments the ophthalmologist wanted (she usually operates at another hospital but was at this one at the genius’ request because of insurance). And to top it all off, the genius couldn’t see out of his new lens that was dropped into place just before the patch went on. You can imagine what kind of mood he was in when I was finally called back to recovery.

The good news is that this morning he can see much better, even though there is a slight “white haze” over everything. I am sure that will dissipate soon and he will be able to see much better than before.

An added footnote: we just returned from the ophthalmologist and she confirmed that everything was all right.

When the genius told her that he had measured the focal distance of each eye this morning (one was 14 inches, the other was 8), she remarked, “You’re the only patient I have who would check that before you came in.”