Our 23rd wedding anniversary

Today Ed and I would be celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary. We would probably exchange cards (we were long past giving each other gifts) and enjoy grilling our main meal (especially because the temperature will be in the 90s today), probably have wine with dinner. We'd probably have tickets for a show or special event going on around this time and consider that part of our celebration, too. Simple pleasures, but those are what we enjoyed most. So are you supposed to still celebrate your anniversary when only one of you is here to do it? I haven't answered that question for myself yet.

This will probably sound silly, but I have been working hard not to cry today, though I'm not totally succeeding. Here's the reason: I had cataract surgery on my left eye on Thursday, and I don't know if crying would have any effect on how well my eye drops would be absorbed or would cause some sort of swelling that isn't good. So I'm trying to stay in control. My surgery included a re-shaping of my cornea to get rid of my astigmatism, and instead of the standard lens implant once the cataract was out of there, I got a Crystalens, which is a flexible lens that mimics the natural lens in helping me see. When everything is healed and my brain and the lens are working in sync, I shouldn't need my glasses so much--maybe even not at all. One day after surgery, I already had 20/20 vision for intermediate distance and 20/25 and 20/30 for close up and long distance. Right now my pupil is still dilated; somehow that prevents the eye muscle from trying to move the implanted lens. But about Wednesday, the pupil should be back to normal size and then I should experience even more improved vision. I'll be having cataract surgery on my right eye on August 27, having the Crystalens implant for that eye, too, though the astigmatism in my right eye is minimal so I won't have that correction done. I am looking forward to having perfect vision, or at least much much improved vision, and I'm told that will be for the rest of my life. I was fortunate not to have any pain or other effects from the surgery other than some peripheral blurriness that actually comes from the pupil being dilated. Hopefully, the surgery on my right eye will go as well. Our son-in-law Tom took me for the surgery, and he was allowed to watch it on closed-circuit TV trained on my eye, with a nurse right there explaining the procedures. He was fascinated by it all and described it as a great experience.

Because I'm not to do any strenuous work or exercise for a few days, I've had to baby myself--which means I'm getting pretty bored. I'm watching TV and reading without my glasses because now the left lens prescription is way way off, but that means my right eye gets tired, even a little sore, from not having my glasses for that eye. I did drive to church today without my glasses, and that went OK though I don't think I'd drive any great distance or drive at night just yet.

I can't help but remember that Ed hated having anything touch his eyes, hated eye drops. While I'm sure he would have encouraged me to get the Crystalens and be confident about the surgeries, there's no way he would ever have watched the operation! I am truly grateful that he left me with the means to be able to have this done. Time to put in more eye drops now. As I raise the three different bottles of eye drops, guess I'll treat them as a toast to our 23rd anniversary.