08-30-2013, 03:26 PM
My sister had told me that Mom was very confused for maybe a week after the first operation, as if she had trouble emerging from the "twilight sleep" they put her in. This time she emerged much more clear-headed, even remembered the doctor talking to her during the operation, though she wasn't certain what he talked about. She was much more alert in post-op, ate everything they put in front of her, was even hungry when we got back to her apartment.
But the day after has been tough. She's been very tired, slept for a couple of long periods of time, has little appetite, hasn't felt up to walking. A cataract operation is so minor, it hardly seems invasive. Yet for someone 84 years old, even such a minor surgery may be taking a toll on her. Also, she's not noticing any real difference in her vision, though the checkup this morning shows her operated-on eye rising to 20-30. Not certain what that means -- that she's not noticing much difference in her reading.
She does have trouble remembering post-op care -- so I'm making sure she puts the two different drops in every four hours -- separated by five minutes. I also just filled her one-month mega pill box. It's an ominous undertaking, putting the correct pills in the right slots for morning, noon, evening, night over a period of 30 days. Actually we can only do 15 days at a time, because for some of the prescriptions you can't get enough pills for a month. We have tried reducing her pills through a very good family doctor. Now we'd like to do another round, see if we can reduce them even more. It's crazy how she went to some specialist a decade ago and got a prescription for something, and the prescription persists to this day, while we're not certain it's relevant any longer. Sorting through all these medications could be an industry unto itself.
We may go for a walk in a bit, but clearly this is hitting her harder than I was hoping it would.
But the day after has been tough. She's been very tired, slept for a couple of long periods of time, has little appetite, hasn't felt up to walking. A cataract operation is so minor, it hardly seems invasive. Yet for someone 84 years old, even such a minor surgery may be taking a toll on her. Also, she's not noticing any real difference in her vision, though the checkup this morning shows her operated-on eye rising to 20-30. Not certain what that means -- that she's not noticing much difference in her reading.
She does have trouble remembering post-op care -- so I'm making sure she puts the two different drops in every four hours -- separated by five minutes. I also just filled her one-month mega pill box. It's an ominous undertaking, putting the correct pills in the right slots for morning, noon, evening, night over a period of 30 days. Actually we can only do 15 days at a time, because for some of the prescriptions you can't get enough pills for a month. We have tried reducing her pills through a very good family doctor. Now we'd like to do another round, see if we can reduce them even more. It's crazy how she went to some specialist a decade ago and got a prescription for something, and the prescription persists to this day, while we're not certain it's relevant any longer. Sorting through all these medications could be an industry unto itself.
We may go for a walk in a bit, but clearly this is hitting her harder than I was hoping it would.