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True Colors

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that’s why I love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show
Your true colors,
True colors, are beautiful,
Like a rainbow.

I had my first cataract surgery yesterday and wow!, I was not prepared for the difference in how I would see my world. Driving home from the hospital, with my sunglasses on, I closed my non-surgical eye and with my new eye, I saw a beautiful blue sky and white clouds as in the first photo. When I closed my new eye and looked at the sky with my old eye, I saw a gray-blue sky and gray clouds.

Mr C thought I had gone nuts, but it was so dramatic. When I got home, I felt as if new brighter light bulb had been put in every room of our home. I was told it would be dramatic, but I had no idea.

The whole procedure was quite painless and seamless. Kaiser Permanente, our health care provider, has a wonderful system for their ambulatory surgery. Everyone has a job and does  it well. I left home at 10:30 and was back home at 1 pm. I have had no scratchiness or pain in the eye.

When I went in for my post-op visit today, I had 20/2o vision already. He told me that I was a star patient.

Today, I did some research about artists and cataracts. It seems that many of the impressionists suffered from them. Mary Cassatt stopped painting. Monet even had cataract surgery done with many complications. Imagine what it must have been like back then. Here is a link to his story. More information about how cataracts affect vision and art, here is a link.

I am noticing things I have done in the house since we moved here that are interesting to see with my new eyes. Most of it is good. I realize the kitchen tile is not as green as I thought it was and am not sure it goes with paint color. Mr C says that we can change that. I would like to do red, green and black glass tiles.

I went downstairs to look at my quilts. That was a trip, as I checked each one with my new and old eye.

I can no longer wear my bi-focals. Everything is blurry when I wear them. I went out and bought some magnifiers for reading and computer work. My vision is supposed to improve as the week progresses, but so far I am very happy even though I have to put 3 different drops in my eyes 4 times a day and have to shampoo my hair without letting any water get in my eyes!!

10 Responses to “True Colors”

  1. Mary from California says:

    Delighted to hear that your surgery went well. My first eye was immediately better. When I had my second eye done, there was some swelling. I was worried because there was so little improvement but after a couple of weeks, the second eye was even better than the first! So it varies, in case you have plans to do the other eye.

    I was running around looking at everything, too. I found that the makeup I was using in no way matched my skin color – so I had a fun trip to Sephora to take care of that!

  2. Judy says:

    I’m so glad it all went well. Isn’t it just amazing what you can see now? I had mine done just about this same time a couple of years ago and it blew my mind to see how yellow the Golden Rod really was! And then came the very blue Asters. You are going to love your new eye. When do you have the second one done?

    xo

  3. Leigh says:

    Godd that it went well. Enjoy the new view!

    Your mention of Monet reminded me – I was just reading in Bill Bryson’s book At Home, that artists as well as house painters in general back in the late 1800s early 1900s had terrible eye problems as a result of lead-based paint. They ground the lead for the paint base themselves and got lead poisoning from the dust. It gives a blurry, halo effect around objects. Who knew?

  4. rayna says:

    Glad it went well. Been there/done that but strangely, I saw no difference in color between the before and after. I’m wearing drugstore readers now and still have an astigmatism but it is much milder, and I can get by during the day without driving glasses if I need to. All in all – much better.

    The best part is being able to read the digtal clock across the room without my glasses!

  5. Diane says:

    I’m so glad it went well!

  6. Elisabeth B says:

    Your experience is exactly what mine was last December…even down to Kaiser. When I came home after the first eye was done I just walked around my house with tears in my eyes because everything was so colorful and clear and beautiful.
    Enjoy.

  7. Diane says:

    Good for you and hooray for your medical team! After my MIL had hers done, she didn’t recognize anything in her closet. She couldn’t imagine who had bought clothes in such ugly colors… What she bought as red turned out to be hot pink. She wondered why we hadn’t told her it was pink, but we all assumed she knew that and it actually looked good with her white hair.

    Truly an eye-opening experience, I guess.

  8. dee says:

    I ‘m so happy for you-and to read how smoothly it went. Must be exciting to see the world through clear eyes.

  9. Fascinating! I am so happy for you.

  10. Jeannie says:

    Yippeeeee!!! It is a colorful, full spectrum world! Wishing you a beautiful and color filled weekend.