Second surgery done!

[Coyote Chris]

Second (right) eye done today. The cataracts were getting really bad. Now the patch is off and the double vision is going away. My eye is still dialated but better tomorrow. I have "over the web " bifocals for close up reading as I now have two monofocal lenses set to "far" that can see from the stearing wheel out to way far away. Now its a five week wait before I can get new progressive lenses. Frankly, I dont know why anyone would fool around with reading glasses/bifocals when there are progressive lens available. Cheaters are a real PITA. But they are a necessary crutch. The journey continues. Thankfully we are now in an age where a simple shot in the eye with slow release antibiotics replaces all those drops except lub drops. Hopefully all goes well and I am back at the ralley!

 

[junglejim]

Good to hear of the success so far. I wish had the same thing but my ophthalmologist didn't recommend it. When I asked he said cataract surgery wasn't likely to help my that much and may even make my vision worse. I sure don't want that "worse" part.

But in the meantime my audiologist referred me to get an evaluation for a cochlear implant. If I'm approved for that I'll have to make the decision on going ahead with that or not. Not looking forward to that. Most CI recipients are happy with their implants. It involves surgically inserting an electrode into the cochlea of the ear which causes that ear to be nearly deaf. Then after a few weeks of healing they turn on the "processor" and you must then learn to hear the electronic way. That takes months to a year+ so the rehab time and effort is significant. Some people get one implanmt and some get both ears implanted. And some opt to do nothing. My low frequency hearing is OK but my high frequency hearing loss is down to 100+ and my speech understanding in noise is in the low 30% range. That's why I can't hear any audio queues from my GPS riding or driving. I can hear noise well but my speech understanding sux. Oh well - I'm still upright and mobil.

 

[Frosty]

Good Luck Jim. I am sorting out some tinnitus/hearing/dizziness issues of my own. Balance issues have gone away but I think it is somewhat connected.
Significant other had total left knee replacement at the end of June. She was doing well for the first month and then nothing and now regressing. Revision specialist in Orlando is on the schedule for Mar 4 surgery. Seven months in pain and now wheeling her in a chair to prevent (more?) soft tissue damage. Incorrect spacer during surgery or damage during a fall??? Plus she has a grumpy old care giver ... me.
I hope that it all resolves for you and I look forward to seeing you again (better now after cataract surgery last Aug).

 

[junglejim]

Good Luck Jim. I am sorting out some tinnitus/hearing/dizziness issues of my own. Balance issues have gone away but I think it is somewhat connected.
Significant other had total left knee replacement at the end of June. She was doing well for the first month and then nothing and now regressing. Revision specialist in Orlando is on the schedule for Mar 4 surgery. Seven months in pain and now wheeling her in a chair to prevent (more?) soft tissue damage. Incorrect spacer during surgery or damage during a fall??? Plus she has a grumpy old care giver ... me.
I hope that it all resolves for you and I look forward to seeing you again (better now after cataract surgery last Aug).

Good luck to your significant other. I had TKAs bilaterally in 2024 plus a new hip. All went well but I did all the pre-op preparations and post-op stuff too. My wife’s friend had TKA and is still struggling, but she didn’t do a good job on her end either pre or post op. Makes a difference.
And a friend of mine nearly died from an infection post-op TKA.
There ain’t no guarantees.
And being a caregiver is a big load too. Wishing the best for both of you.

 

[suvcw04]

I friend of mine has had both knees, both hips and a shoulder replaced. I had rotator cuff surgery 5 years ago and it was a TOTAL PITA. It hurt for weeks and took a LOT of rehab. He had his whole shoulder replaced and was running a small chainsaw a month later! He has also had a foot "taken apart" and re-assemble twice due to a motorcycle wreck, on a GoldWing, 40 years ago. He gets around better than I do.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Good to hear of the success so far. I wish had the same thing but my ophthalmologist didn't recommend it. When I asked he said cataract surgery wasn't likely to help my that much and may even make my vision worse. I sure don't want that "worse" part.

But in the meantime my audiologist referred me to get an evaluation for a cochlear implant. If I'm approved for that I'll have to make the decision on going ahead with that or not. Not looking forward to that. Most CI recipients are happy with their implants. It involves surgically inserting an electrode into the cochlea of the ear which causes that ear to be nearly deaf. Then after a few weeks of healing they turn on the "processor" and you must then learn to hear the electronic way. That takes months to a year+ so the rehab time and effort is significant. Some people get one implanmt and some get both ears implanted. And some opt to do nothing. My low frequency hearing is OK but my high frequency hearing loss is down to 100+ and my speech understanding in noise is in the low 30% range. That's why I can't hear any audio queues from my GPS riding or driving. I can hear noise well but my speech understanding sux. Oh well - I'm still upright and mobil.

My hearing sucks in the human voice range so any backround noise and I just nod my head. Gonna try some over the counter noise canceling aids.....I would have to get bad to have a CI.
Wonder what eye conditiion you have?????

 

[Coyote Chris]

I friend of mine has had both knees, both hips and a shoulder replaced. I had rotator cuff surgery 5 years ago and it was a TOTAL PITA. It hurt for weeks and took a LOT of rehab. He had his whole shoulder replaced and was running a small chainsaw a month later! He has also had a foot "taken apart" and re-assemble twice due to a motorcycle wreck, on a GoldWing, 40 years ago. He gets around better than I do.

I hope I never need shoulder, hip or knee surgery...too many horor stories....Phil had 5 knees?

 

[Yoda]

When traveling by air, TSA agents always sound incredulous that at age 77 I don’t have any non-original parts when going thru magnetometers.
I realize how very fortunate and blessed I am.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I hope I never need shoulder, hip or knee surgery...too many horor stories....Phil had 5 knees?

I've had six knees. The first two were done about a week after my 60th birthday in February, 63. In August of that year, I rode to Missoula for the end of the Iron Butt Rally. That's where I met Eldon Cannon and he and I spent most of a day standing around in the concrete parking lot. On my way home, by the time I got to Sheridan, my left knee was really hurting. My doc gave me some prednizone but it didn't help a lot. A month later, I had a clergy meeting to attend near Granby. Ieft Ft Morgan at 6AM and managed to ride 177 miles through Greeley, Loveland, RMNP, and Granby without having to make a single stop until I reached the parking lot where my 3-day meeting was to be held. When I stepped off the bike, I came close to falling and barely managed to get inside. I couldn't make it to any of the meeting and called my doc that afternoon. He couldn't see me till late the next afternoon. I managed to ride from my meeting back to Ft Collins. He withdrew fluid from both knees and learned that I had an infection (we never did figure out where it came from). I had my left knee replaced the day before Thanksgiving, and the right knees replaced a year after the first surgery.

The third knee came five years later when the implant was causing my tibia to become thin. The fourth was two years after that. #5 was in '13 and #6 in '15.

Knee replacement has come a long way since then -- 3D printed implants, new materials, new surgical methods. Doing the work before and after still needed.

 

[junglejim]

My hearing sucks in the human voice range so any backround noise and I just nod my head. Gonna try some over the counter noise canceling aids....

Proceed with caution. When the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the sale of over the counter hearing aids they specifically said that they were for mild to moderate hearing loss only. What you describe is probably beyond mild and well into the moderate or higher category. The performance of OTC hearing aids ranges widely from useless to OK.

I highly recommend seeing an audiologist (Doctor of Audiology) and get tested. Don't expect that hearing aids will fix your hearing like glasses correct vision. They won't. Hearing aids only improve hearing. The microphones they use are the limiting factor. They are incapable of discriminating well enough to pick speech our of noise regardless of what advertisements may say. And it takes time to get used to hearing aids because when your brain has not been receiving proper signals from the ears it forgets what those signals are and one must re-learn. Typically that may be from a few weeks to months. The other thing that digital hearing aids do is take a frequency that we can't hear and change Ito one that we can hear. That confuses the brain too.

You most likely have sensorineural hearing loss. That typically affects the ability to hear the higher frequencies. Those are the frequencies where the hearing clarity lies. And it is one of the most difficult to treat.

*** Smiling and nodding, bluffing, and ignoring hearing loss is more than just an inconvenience, there are serious consequences. Hearing loss is known to cause stress, anxiety, fatigue, confusion, and misunderstanding. It can lead to early onset dementia (50%), depression (40%), reduced cognitive capacity, memory loss, divorce, social isolation, and withdrawal.

So I recommend to get tested. If hearing aids are prescribed try them. Return them within the trail period and you won't have to pay for them. Make sure they are fitted and adjusted with using Real Ear Measurements (REM). That measures the sound being derived to inside the ear, not just on the computer. This is not commonly done other than in an audiologists office. And it is thei only way hearing aids can be properly fitted.

 

[Coyote Chris]

When traveling by air, TSA agents always sound incredulous that at age 77 I don’t have any non-original parts when going thru magnetometers.
I realize how very fortunate and blessed I am.

Me too.....

 

[Coyote Chris]

Proceed with caution. When the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the sale of over the counter hearing aids they specifically said that they were for mild to moderate hearing loss only. What you describe is probably beyond mild and well into the moderate or higher category. The performance of OTC hearing aids ranges widely from useless to OK.

I highly recommend seeing an audiologist (Doctor of Audiology) and get tested. Don't expect that hearing aids will fix your hearing like glasses correct vision. They won't. Hearing aids only improve hearing. The microphones they use are the limiting factor. They are incapable of discriminating well enough to pick speech our of noise regardless of what advertisements may say. And it takes time to get used to hearing aids because when your brain has not been receiving proper signals from the ears it forgets what those signals are and one must re-learn. Typically that may be from a few weeks to months. The other thing that digital hearing aids do is take a frequency that we can't hear and change Ito one that we can hear. That confuses the brain too.

You most likely have sensorineural hearing loss. That typically affects the ability to hear the higher frequencies. Those are the frequencies where the hearing clarity lies. And it is one of the most difficult to treat.

*** Smiling and nodding, bluffing, and ignoring hearing loss is more than just an inconvenience, there are serious consequences. Hearing loss is known to cause stress, anxiety, fatigue, confusion, and misunderstanding. It can lead to early onset dementia (50%), depression (40%), reduced cognitive capacity, memory loss, divorce, social isolation, and withdrawal.

So I recommend to get tested. If hearing aids are prescribed try them. Return them within the trail period and you won't have to pay for them. Make sure they are fitted and adjusted with using Real Ear Measurements (REM). That measures the sound being derived to inside the ear, not just on the computer. This is not commonly done other than in an audiologists office. And it is thei only way hearing aids can be properly fitted.

Way ahead of you! Since I am an electronic tech, I actually understand the frequency response charts my ear guys give me. There has been a notch filter in the speech range since college. I go into a bar or other noisy place in college...I had issues. My audiologist told me a couple years ago that I was a borderline candidate for hearing aids, but not to believe all my friends who were constantly putting them in and taking them out....you have to be married to them and adaptation takes time....
I told him I was not ready yet....
A few years ago, I put on a pair of electronic shooting ear muffs with gain control....they actually work well for hearing people talk about you 20 yards away! LOL!
Just to say I did I am going to try an over the counter pair in a high noise environment like some cruise ship dining rooms.....
But you are correct....those with severe hearing loss do get social isolation, depression, dementia....

 

[suvcw04]

I hope I never need shoulder, hip or knee surgery...too many horor stories....Phil had 5 knees?

I had the rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder 5 years ago. It took A L O N G time to recover. Like I said, my friend had his replaced and was running a chain saw a couple of weeks later. I wore a sling for 6 weeks. Plus, months of physical rehab to get it to move again.

 

[junglejim]

Way ahead of you! Since I am an electronic tech, I actually understand ……..

But you are correct....those with severe hearing loss do get social isolation, depression, dementia....

Sorry for overreacting. I thought it was “out of character” for you to be under informed on any health issue involving Hz, dB, channels, sound compression, and the “speech banana”.

Go for it. And let me know how it works out for you.

When traveling by air, TSA agents always sound incredulous that at age 77 I don’t have any non-original parts when going thru magnetometers.
I realize how very fortunate and blessed I am.

I didn’t have any either ……. until I was 80. Then I got a new hip and 2 new knees in one year. They’re not as good a OEM but they do work.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Sorry for overreacting. I thought it was “out of character” for you to be under informed on any health issue involving Hz, dB, channels, sound compression, and the “speech banana”.

Go for it. And let me know how it works out for you.

I didn’t have any either ……. until I was 80. Then I got a new hip and 2 new knees in one year. They’re not as good a OEM but they do work.

Nothing beats OEM eyes either but If I can keep my sanity for a month with these reading glasses, I will get my new progressive lenses and then watch out for YAG.

 

[Warren]

Nothing beats OEM eyes either but If I can keep my sanity for a month with these reading glasses, I will get my new progressive lenses and then watch out for YAG.

Chris
After my cataract surgery I went the progressive glasses route. I also got them with Transition lenses so I don’t have to mess with sun glasses. I was surprised by how thin the polycarbonate lenses were. I guess since they do not have to correct for distance that is the result. Combined with titanium frames the glasses are light as a feather and I hardly even know I am wearing them.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Chris
After my cataract surgery I went the progressive glasses route. I also got them with Transition lenses so I don’t have to mess with sun glasses. I was surprised by how thin the polycarbonate lenses were. I guess since they do not have to correct for distance that is the result. Combined with titanium frames the glasses are light as a feather and I hardly even know I am wearing them.

I love progressives and have worn them for 20 years and more. (Paul Harvey talked me into them) Now I just have to wait out the month of healing to get my new lenses ordered. Yes, I get the polycarconate lenses. Many do opt for transition lenses. I prefer to get a second pair of sun glasses made with polorized progressive lenses. I havent used mine much due to the development of the cataracts but will need them now. I have heard of people talking about the "weight" of the glasses. For some reason , that has not ever bothered me. I get the biggest pilot glasses I can find with special heavy duty replaceable nose pieces for my narrow nose.
Before I got smart about helmets and riding gear.

 

[Coyote Chris]

$20 sun glasses with bifocals. I have sunk this low.

 

[Warren]

I love progressives and have worn them for 20 years and more. (Paul Harvey talked me into them) Now I just have to wait out the month of healing to get my new lenses ordered. Yes, I get the polycarconate lenses. Many do opt for transition lenses. I prefer to get a second pair of sun glasses made with polorized progressive lenses. I havent used mine much due to the development of the cataracts but will need them now. I have heard of people talking about the "weight" of the glasses. For some reason , that has not ever bothered me. I get the biggest pilot glasses I can find with special heavy duty replaceable nose pieces for my narrow nose.
Before I got smart about helmets and riding gear.
View attachment 22555

You look like a maniacal motorcycle cop out of a Clint Eastwood movie.

 

[Coyote Chris]

You look like a maniacal motorcycle cop out of a Clint Eastwood movie.

Magnum Force. "All our heros are dead"