Since surviving a bout with Covid, mom has become very frail and has greatly deteriorated. She never complains to staff.
Recently covid restrictions allowed visitation closer than 6 feet and she told one of my siblings that she couldn’t see. We had her eyes checked and found out she has Cataracts.
After surviving Covid, her quality of life reduced tremendously and she now needs assistance with everything she does.
All she has left is her sight! We desperately want to save it! Can anyone help?
She needs to be very still during the procedure as they usually only give the patient a tranquilizer. My cousin had the surgery and they gave him NO sedative at all. If she moves or coughs or talks during the procedure, it could impact the outcome or their ability to complete the surgery.
Then there is the fairly complicated multiple eye-drop medications post-surgery, which you will need to be managing every day for 2 weeks.
Your LO cannot rub her post-surgical eye for weeks after surgery. Do you think she can refrain from doing this?
Then you will need to do it all again for the other eye the next month because they only do 1 eye at a time.
IMO the benefit (if there even is one in your LOs case) doesn't outweigh the risks, rigors and stress of this surgery enough. I went through this with my then 89-yr old mom (with no cognitive issues) and she coughed during surgery (even with a tranquilizer) which caused a problem and then we had to spend a lot of effort in the following months figuring out how to fix her vision from the interrupted surgery. I'm so sorry you are losing your dear mother piece by piece to the awful disease. But you are making an emotion-based decision. Please step back from it and consider the bigger, reality-based picture. May you receive peace in your heart as you ponder this.
Most cataract surgery is done under local anethesia and requires the coooeeration of the patient and the ability to follow instructions.
You also need to make sure that the NH will be scrupulous in making sure that mom gets the proper eye drops several times a day and that she is superrvised so that she doesn't touch her eye.