As the old saying goes….

….it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind and this woman has just done exactly that.

As many of you know, I’m facing cataract surgery this year, as my right eye is now very badly clouded. Today DH and I drove across the Cambrian Mountains to Aberystwyth for my pre-operative assessment, which entailed a raft of tests and measurements to enable my consultant to plan my operation.

When I finally saw him for our discussion he was very frank that the detailed measurements of my eyes had shown that the operation would unfortunately not be simple and straightforward, but instead really rather tricky and the risk of complications greater than average. He is still very willing to do the surgery, as otherwise I will soon have no usable sight in that eye, but he was also frank that he wasn’t sure that it would be advisable to operate on the other eye unless absolutely necessary, since the difficulties and risks would also apply to that eye.

What this means is that if I opt for vision correction in my bad eye, I will make it necessary to have a similar operation on my other eye, in which the cataract is as yet very minor. However, if I simply have the lens replaced with a similar strength artificial one, I won’t need to have the other eye operated on until the cataract interferes with my vision, which could be many years down the line at the present rate of progress.

Interestingly, although I had been looking forward to the idea of discarding my glasses, or at least needing much weaker ones, I found it very easy indeed to come to the decision that I would simply have the clouded lens replaced and forgo any possible improvement in my vision. This way, once the operation (provisionally scheduled for September 17^th) is over and my eye has healed, I can treat myself to some spiffing new varifocal glasses and get on with my life for the foreseeable future, without the prospect of a second operation hanging over me.

After all, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t short-sighted and needed powerful glasses, so I’m not losing anything I already have, I’m simply not gaining something I might have had and I feel completely at ease with that decision.

With all the discussion and decision-making behind us, DH and I can now relax and get on with the preparations for our rapidly-approaching journey to France. The ferry is booked for next Monday and on Saturday the very small campervan will head across to my mother-in-law’s house for overnight visits to her and to DS, before taking us to Portsmouth and the beginning of what will hopefully be another quiet summer at our little cottage in Normandy.