Cataract Operation coming up

[Smoky]

I go under the knife on May 10.  This date was set to allow me enough time to May 27 or thereabouts to be able to drive my new MH when it is delivered.

However, I need to get out to Montana before that.

Does anyone know if it is possible to fly 7 days after a cataract is removed?  I would be flying round trip to Montana and back to Maryland within a 4 day period.

Also interested in hearing about anyone else's experience on cataract removal using the method well sound blows apart the lens which is sucked up by vacuum and then replaced.

 

[Ron]

Smoky,

I have never had to deal with cataracts and hopefully won't have to.? Probably best to ask the Doc about travel after surgery.

Hopefully somebody can give you some first had information from their experience.

Sam and I wish you the very best in your upcoming surgery.

 

[blueblood]

I go under the knife on May 10.  This date was set to allow me enough time to May 27 or thereabouts to be able to drive my new MH when it is delivered.

However, I need to get out to Montana before that.

Does anyone know if it is possible to fly 7 days after a cataract is removed?  I would be flying round trip to Montana and back to Maryland within a 4 day period.

Also interested in hearing about anyone else's experience on cataract removal using the method well sound blows apart the lens which is sucked up by vacuum and then replaced.

I went to the clinic in Florida (St Luke's)  of the doctor who developed the process. I had both eyes done but not at once although it is common to do so. The preliminary tests to develop surgical maps took several hours but the operation itself lasted about 5 minutes. I had to keep the eye closed for 24 hours and apply medicine at regular intervals that I don't recall anymore for a fairly long time - seems like a week or more. It was wonderful to see everything so clear but more to the point in their real colors. I hadn't realized that the aging process caused a deterioratiion in the lens so that colors had become dull. The new lens provided  the true colors and it was great. It identifed as to why my wife and I had argued so much over wallpapers and paint colors in our new home, etc  ;D PS  Keeping the eye closed is required since no stitching is used on the incision and thus the eyelid is used to hold it closed until it heals. The old lens is first broken up using an ultrasound device and then sucked out by vacumn and then the new lens which was identified as to size needed during the testing phase to fit you is inserted.  They immediatley got me up and had me wait about an hour so doctor could take a look and make sure everything was okay and I was on way home. I have all the paperwork in front of me and in postoperative info there is no comments on flying. It deals with driving which can be resumed as soon as 2 days dependent upon patients progress. It does deal with physical activites and says may resume all normal ones.

In thinking about this as I was walking my dogs, it struck me that many patients fly to and from the Clinic for this operation so that would seem to argue that flying is safe.

 

[Jeff]

Smokey:

As I said in the PM it was a non-event for me, no pain, and no real recovery other than sunglasses and having an itchy eye for a day or so.

Instant improvement in sight. I had a waiver from FAA that reinstated my medical immediately so flying is not an issue.

 

[Smoky]

Thanks guys for the great info.  I will nail down my reservations to Montana in the morning!

 

[Bob Maxwell]

Smokey,

Isn't it great to have framily!

About a decade ago in Mpls MN, at a Camping World Shop, a couple from Maine met a gal from AK working there and after they had greted and hugged and talked a blue streek, somone asked Sarah Hale when Fred & Daisy Thoimas left, "Who were those people?"

Sarah replied, "Old friends I hadn't met yet!"

We've all got framily members like that.

 

[Smoky]

How true Bob!? Words cannot express how much this forum and the people here mean to me.

I know I have been a pest over the last 8 months with my incessant research and questions, but today I was thinking about how much knowledge has been given to me by the people here.

This whole forum got a very high compliment today.? I was talking with my dealer about hitches and toads and he suddenly said, "Smoky, our owner mentioned this week that you are about the most informed customer we have ever had."

The credit for that is not me, but all of you here.? I simply repeat what I learn here.

 

[Tom]

Nice message Smoky. Oh, I forgot to tell you, the bill for all the information will arrive next week  ;D

 

[Ron]

Smoky,

Thanks for sharing that experience with your dealer.  That was a nice compliment.