November 2025 – My Eyes

It’s been two years and a few months since I last posted. I have continued to work on the Lodge but have not been really focused. I shared with you that I was having my first cataract surgery in April (2023). I had that surgery and could see great with my lens implant – 20/20 distance vision for life! Awesome!

However, within three months my vision had deteriorated to 20/40. Not knowing if it was going to keep getting worse, I canceled the cataract surgery for the other eye, feeling the need to “wait and see”.

I’d been doing monovision for years. My left eye was my distance eye, requiring a contact lens. With my plain ole right eyeball I could see my phone, computer, and car dashboard – the near things. So the surgery plan was to keep doing monovision. Getting an implant in my right eye that would limit my vision to the near things was 100% dependent on my left eye being able to see the far away things.

So I waited. All the while that cataract in my right eye kept getting worse and worse very quickly. Soon the only thing I could see was my phone if I held it 5″ from face. At my next appointment with my regular eye doctor we discussed a different surgeon and possibly doing a multi-focal lens in my right eye so I didn’t have to rely only on the other eye for the distance. AND she also saw that my left eye had developed Posterior Capsular Opacification. This is common after cataract surgery and easily fixed with a YAG procedure. (Quick and painless zapping with a laser.)

I had the YAG procedure in July (2024) and could see 20/20 again with my left eye! That perfect vision lasted for 6 weeks and then, for no apparent reason, my retina detached. I had emergency surgery the following day where my retina was reattached and a retinal tear was found and repaired.

I had to keep my face down 55 out of every 60 minutes – for one day. Some people have to remain like that for weeks so I count my lucky stars I didn’t have to endure more than one day.

The dilation in my pupil lasted for months and my vision was extremely distorted. Everything appeared slanted and looked smaller and in a different location than with my blurry right eye – making me see double. My depth perception was totally off. I had to be really careful going down steps and even walking on our gravel lane.

I was not able to do …really anything. I had to close one or the other eye because the double vision drove me nuts! I couldn’t work or drive for 8 months. I couldn’t even watch tv. I got through my days by closing my eyes and listening to A LOT of audio books. That and taking the dogs out to (very carefully) walk back and forth on our gravel lane.

I would get so stir crazy that I periodically would TRY to do some non-dangerous work like; refinishing the pantry countertops, installing door casings, and doing touch up painting. (One out of those three projects I attempted turned out ok.) It was difficult and frustrating to attempt to work ’cause my right eye could only see 5″ away and with my left everything looked slanted, curvy, and farther away.

I went a little mad during that time. I kept waiting for the distortion to go away. Everyone is different so surgeons can’t tell you exactly what to expect. With my first follow up session with my retinal surgeon I was hope that I’d see much improvement by 3 months. At my 3 month appointment, with no improvement, I was assured that 6 months was key. At my 6 month appointment and little improvement he told me, “Well it can take up to a year”.

After that 6 month appointment, I saw my regular eye doctor to come up with a new plan so I could FUNCTION. We decided that I should proceed with the cataract surgery for my right eye but not stick to my original plan of getting a lens implant for strictly near vision. We hoped that going with a multi-focal lens would allow me to read but also help with the distance vision that my other eye was not giving me. However, the surgeon advised me that multi focal lenses make it difficult to repair a detached retina – if I were to ever have one in my right eye. (KNOCKING ON WOOD!)

In February (2025) I finally had my right eye cataract surgery. I got an extended depth of focus lens which allows me to see distance well, and kinda see my computer, car dashboard- mid/near range.

After getting the right eye fixed I started testing contact lenses for my left eye that would correct the distortion. Because that eye was still healing, we had to keep reassessing the correction needed. It has now been a full year since my retinal reattachment surgery and I no longer see double or slanted.

Currently I have lens implants in both eyes and wear a contact lens in my left eye for near vision. At least I no longer think I’m going to need to rebrand as “The Half-Blind Carpenter” -which for much of last year I feared I might have to.

Mentally, this last year and a half has been tough. Not being able to do anything for a loooong temporary period was really difficult. Wes took me on outings often so I could get out of the house AND was super supportive of all my online shopping. Searching for treasures was one of the few (fun for me) things I could with my phone 5″ from my right eye with a patch covering my left eye. 🙂

The last several months have been SOOO much better ’cause I’m back to building and remodeling!

I’ll do a Lodge Update post next to share what progress has been made. I have to look back at my previous posts because I can’t even remember what I was working on when I last updated you on my projects. To those that read this post- thanks for sticking around!