Got My Eyes Fixed, Now It's Time To Work On The Ears

Had cataract surgery on the other eye last week. It's looking good. Both eyes are now seeing the same colors; whether or not they are seeing the same colors as everyone else may be debatable.

Yesterday I saw an audiologist at the VA for a hearing test. Have been having trouble hearing stuff for some time now. Turns out my hearing in the low frequencies is perfect. The audiologist said she had never seen such good results on the low end. But on the other end I definitely have some hearing loss. She is ordering hearing aids for me. Supposedly they won't cost me anything as I am technically service-connected disabled. That was because I suffered a broken leg while in the Air Force and the VA ruled I was 0% disabled. (WTF, what does 0% disabled mean???) Now I think I need to see if I can get disability for the hearing loss as it started when I was in the Air Force. At my last hearing test in the Air Force I was told I had lost some of the higher frequencies. If I can get disability for the hearing loss, then for sure the hearing aids won't cost me anything. Medicare only covers hearing aids if you have them before you go on Medicare. Leaves me out as I've been on Medicare for 9 months now.

The problem I have is that the veteran's rep for this county that I talked to last year didn't seem to know FUCK-ALL about dealing with the VA. I wanted info on how to get back in the system (I had been in the system 10 years before) and he handed me the forms for a new application. Then I was near the VA clinic one day and went in and showed my VA card and after a few minutes I was entered back into the system. Thinking about checking with the DAV to see if they can help me.

It's Official, I'm an Old Fart

When I found out my cataract surgery was scheduled for Dec. 26, I thought I'd be wearing an eye-patch for awhile afterwards. One of the things I got for Xmas was a customized eye-patch with the Packer "G" on it.

Turns out the only time I wore the eye-patch was when I tried it out and occasionally when I put it over the unoperated eye to see how much improvement there  is in the eye that had the cataract removed.

What I did have to wear was a clear plastic shield for the first 24 hours after the operation and will have to wear it at night for a week. (Is wear the right word when it is taped in place??)

Supposedly with the new lens in my eye my vision will improve. (They said it's like having a contact lens and my vision should be close to 20/20.) The next day I wasn't able to make out the largest letter on the eye chart with the naked eye. What I thought were three horizontal lines turned out to be a large "E". Now, several days after my vision has at least returned to where it was pre-op. One difference I noticed on the day after the operation was the difference between eyes. My left eye was the one operated on and when I look at things with it, the colors are much brighter than with the right eye. It's like there's a dark filter on the right eye.

Anywho, like the title of the post, I guess now I'm officially an old fart as cataract surgery is one of the things that old people have done. When I see the eye doctor next week, I'll ask when I will have the other eye done.