Excellent Service, Staff and Treatment

I recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. I am 72. I was extremely happy with the quality and thoroughness of the process, service, staff & treatment. All parts of the process were well explained to me. Everyone was very courteous, friendly, kind and professional. I am disabled and they had a wheel chair available when I felt I needed it. Before surgery, you are given a zippered bag with eye-drops, an eye shield/tape, sunglasses, and eye wipes. You are also given specific written instructions for pre-/post surgery and a checklist for recording the eye drops as you take them. For a few days pre-surgery , you use the eye wipes and eye drops. You discuss with the doctor your choice of lens replacement needed depending on your needs. Post-surgery you wear the sunglasses until you eye is no longer dilated. You wear the plastic eye shield for one week (taped on -- though I used a head band to hold ). Dr. Stice was my surgeon and was excellent. I felt very comfortable with him performing the surgery. I WAS fearful BEFORE the first eye was done -- as would anyone be, since "eye surgery" sounds scary. But the nurses, anesthetist and doctor were nice, thorough, helpful and explained and answered all my questions. You arrive for surgery one hour ahead of the scheduled surgery time. There is a short wait ...with your status in line displayed on a television monitor in the waiting room. Then you go in for pre-surgery to get your eyes dilated and desensitized. They also go over your health and prescription history. An IV is placed in your wrist area so that you can still easily move your hand/arm easily. The IV is so a 'calming' agent can be given. You remain awake during surgery but there is no pain and you are relaxed The surgery only takes 15-20 minutes and then you are returned to the post-op area. In a few minutes you are done. You must have someone drive you after surgery and for 24 hours because of the 'calming agent' which can take that long to leave your system. You see the doctor the next day for a post-op exam and you begin a four-week course of eye drops in that eye. The drops number/frequency diminish each week. There is the option to take 3 different drops or one combined drop. In my opinion, the combination is the better choice as 1) it is cheaper and 2) it's a lot simpler to take the drops, too -- especially after you have the 2nd eye done and each eye is getting its own separate drops. The first night my eye was a bit 'ache-y' kind of behind the eyeball but other than that, no discomfort (you can take ibuprofen). For a week you should not life more than 20 lb. nor do any prolonged 'bent-over' activities like gardening, though you can bend over to tie your shoes, etc. Perhaps the process/instructions would be different for other people based on health or eye condition, but this is what I experienced. Once my eyes were no longer dilated, I could immediately see more clearly for TV and driving (no more glasses needed) and colors appeared brighter. My very close vision was improved but I'll still need readers I think (don't see follow up doctor re: this for a few more days yet). I am VERY glad that I had these cataracts taken care of. Good Luck!