Many years ago, we had a flock of chickens that we raised from a mail order lot of 25 chicks, all hens. We'd let them out of the coop in the morning and latch the coop around sundown after they had all gotten up on their roosting rails. One afternoon, my glasses were bothering me as one of the nose pads had rubbed me raw so I took them off. I got a scoop full of chicken scratch (AKA chicken candy) and went to the backyard to check on the flock. I sat down in a lawn chair and started throwing scratch to all of the chickens who had gathered to get their treat and letting some eat it out of my hand. These were pretty tame chickens and used to the kids catching and holding them so they were pretty friendly. One hopped up on my left leg as I was sitting there and turned her head to look at me. Chicken's eyes are on the side of their heads so they cock their heads to look at something since their eyes don't see well straight in front of them. She must have seen something interesting and being a chicken decided to peck as it is their nature when checking something out. So, in a flash, she pecked me in my left eye! I jumped up screaming bloody murder from the pain and scattered all the chickens as I headed for the back door. My wife heard the commotion and came running to see what I was screaming about and helped me wash my eye and put some peroxide on it as well to prevent infection, which was almost as bad as being pecked. The eye was still hurting like hell the next day so she took me to the immediate care medical center to have it looked at. The nurse took me back and checked all my vitals and asked "What can we do for you today?" I meekly responded "I've been pecked in the eye by a chicken". She looked at me and after a long pause said, "Now, do you want to tell me what REALLY happened?" So, I repeated myself and after a bit of back and forth she finally understood what my problem was and went for the doctor. The doctor was full of questions so I had to explain it all once again and he examined my eye and told me I had a torn Cornea and needed to go to the Ophthalmologist and gave me a prescription for the pain. So, the next day I went to see Dr. Thota who was a middle-aged lady from India with a bit of an accent. So, I told her what happened and she started laughing and hooting about it. At least the folks at Immediate care were professional enough not to fall down laughing at me. She examined my eye and asked how in the world could I be pecked in the eye since I couldn't see without my glasses and I once again explained why I wasn't wearing my glasses which again elicited another round of her hooting and laughing up a storm and expounding "I'ts Kismet, it must be Kismet!" She put a patch over my eye and prescribed some medicines telling me it would heal in time and the jolly doctor sent me on my way. This Thursday I've got to go see another eye doctor who is also going to "Poke me in the same left Eye" and take out my cataracted lens and replace it with a new clear and apparently carved up lens so I won't need glasses to see with except for reading. I just sure hope it's better than getting poked in the eye by a chicken again...

 

helped me wash my eye and put some peroxide on it as well to prevent infection

Hydrogen peroxide also kills healthy tissue. Next time, flush the area with clean water for 5 minutes...

https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-sco.../should-you-use-hydrogen-peroxide-clean-wound

I just sure hope it's better than getting poked in the eye by a chicken again...

My sister recently had cataract surgery. She had a week of swelling and 4 weeks of eye drops. I think she was off work for a week and a half.

 

Gotta go back in 4 weeks to have the other done. Yeah, peroxide was not a good choice!

 

Your story reminded me of a painful, but humorous one of my own.

It was the morning of the day I was leaving my current city for one 1000 miles away. I was running the apartment, gathering up the last things to put in the car, wearing no shoes.

I felt a a stabbing pain in my left toe. I looked down at my foot to see a piece of thread coming through my sock. I carefully removed my sock, and things got worse. The thread went right into my toe! I doubted that a thread could do that by itself, so I concluded there was a needle in my toe.

I went to the ER, and they asked why I was there. “I have a needle in my toe”, I replied. The receptionist was quite skeptical until I showed her the thread clearly coming out of my toe. So she admitted me.

After the nurse got my story, she went and got several friends to come see the guy with the needle in his toe. And each friend, brought others. Even the cop on duty came in to see. I was quite good natured about it, laughing it up with each new gawker.

When I saw the doctor, he eventually took it seriously and ordered an X-ray . He showed my the picture, about a quarter inch of the eye end of a needle was perfectly visible. Apparently it went in eye first and broke off.

The surgeon who subsequently removed it said I was lucky it had the thread still on it because it led him to the object. Often they can dig around and never find a small object like that.

 

Yup, I went to the Podiatrist because I thought I had an ingrown toenail on one of my big toes and it was getting red and sore like it was infected. First thing they did was X-Ray my feet as I was thinking "Well, that's one way to run up the bill to the insurance company." They put me in a room and he showed up with the X-ray and told me I had a piece of metal in my toe! He poked around and pulled it out and showed it to me. I immediately recognized it as the leg off of a resistor that I had clipped. I have neuropathy from the knees down and never even felt it when it happened. I now wear house shoes when I'm not in bed. You just never know...

 

Had my left eye done this morning and it wasn't as bad as I feared. Completely painless, so far, and a plastic shield taped over it to keep my fingers off of it because it itches like the devil. Follow up with the doctor tomorrow and in ~3 weeks the other eye gets done.

 

Had my left eye done this morning and it wasn't as bad as I feared. Completely painless, so far, and a plastic shield taped over it to keep my fingers off of it because it itches like the devil. Follow up with the doctor tomorrow and in ~3 weeks the other eye gets done.

Great! But don’t assume you are out of danger yet. When I had one of mine done, They took off the bandage and the nurse asked how many fingers she was showing. My reply: I cannot see you! Turns out it bled a bit into the vitreous, and it took weeks to clear itself out. No harm in the end, but I was one-eyed for longer than expected.

 

We had fighting Roosters, when your 7 years old your eyes are at pecking level lol !! I got good at one are over my eyes the other feeding and watering till I could get out.

I had cataracts surgery worked perfect then scar tissue developed, They YAG my eye. I felt and heard a pop, that cleared the scar tissue, however when I pulled my eye out I couldn’t see anything, I thought did he just blind me?

The Doc says wow that was as perfect as it can go, I said but I can’t anything now, ya perfect. He says just joking it’ll come back slowly you’ll see by the end of the day.

kv

 

It's fuzzy still but it is certainly less "yellow/brownish" than my other eye so far. What color I can see (I'm a bit red/green colorblind) is certainly much brighter.

 

At my next day follow up visit yesterday my vision was 25/20 and blurry but by this morning it is better than my other eye! Looking forward to getting the other eye done. Only downside is the antibiotic eyedrops that I have to use for the next week. Very irritating but the "burning" sensation from them right after all the lidocaine from surgery wore off is gone, just itchy and feels like sand in my eye making me want to rub them but I can't.

 

My wife had hers done this summer, she like me has worn glasses since early childhood. I'm going to have mine done next summer. It changed her astigmatism to almost none now. Other than the drops it was no problem at all, had to use drops for 3 weeks in both eyes after surgery.

 

It changed her astigmatism to almost none now.

Do you know how it was corrected? Toric IOL or LRI? And what the extra cost was?

 

When my wife had hers done a few years ago they were to correct her astigmatism and have multifocal ability. She doesn't, they didn't even after the second surgery and she gave up on return visits for corrections as there weren't any corrections. Another reason I stayed with the standard all covered by insurance distant correction only procedure except the small copay and went to the Georgia Eye Center folks instead of the local quacks. Still not perfect but see better from the corrected eye (my worst) already. Very pleased so far barring any untoward unexpected problems. Only thing I really notice is nighttime glare from the nightlights we have in the house so I don't fall over anything getting up to go pee every few hours in the dark.

 

Do you know how it was corrected? Toric IOL or LRI? And what the extra cost was?

While I paid for them I don't know which was used by the doc. They were $600 each on top of what Medicare paid. I do know they helped her immensely, she chose to have her sight better for distances and got off the shelf reading glasses. From what I remember from the pamphlet about the lenses they have little plastic "springs" on each corner to hold them in place to correct the astigmatism.

We both went to get new glasses and the ophthalmologist told her he wouldn''t sell her new glasses because the cataracts were so bad so we when't to the local eye surgeon that has a very good reputation. Mine weren't quite as bad so I'll go next year.

 

the ophthalmologist told her he wouldn''t sell her new glasses because the cataracts were so bad

When my optometrist told me that I went to the ophthalmologists at Mayo and was told I DIDN'T need cataract surgery yet and was given a new glasses prescription. It is now almost 5 years later that I'm getting it done. Also, the wife's GA Teacher's Retirement Insurance plan decided at the end of last year that Mayo is now "not in their plan"! So, I (and many others) am now SOL and having to find far less reputable doctors in Georgia to deal with or go to Emory in Atlanta. Which, for me, is ~a 5-hour drive to Atlanta instead of 1.5-hours to Jacksonville Beach. Which means I had to find a cataract surgeon here in Georgia for the surgery instead to getting best in the world class medical care at Mayo. Luckily, I am no longer considered a liver transplant candidate since my liver function has greatly improved although still stage 3 for liver disease and kidney disease. If it ever goes the other way I'll have to be driving to Atlanta. Lots of folks in our area are mad as a wet hen over having Mayo deemed "out of plan" service. Guess someone wanted the money to stay "in state" instead of going to Florida.

 

While I paid for them I don't know which was used by the doc. They were $600 each on top of what Medicare paid.

Thanks. It's good to know that when I need cataract surgery, I can pay the extra fee for astigmatism correction that Medicare won't cover. It must have been toric lenses because IRL is incisions to reshape the cornea.

Did Medicare make you jump through hoops to show that the cataract surgery was "medically necessary" vs "cosmetic" (which they won't cover)?

 

Nope, as long as the doctor says you need it Medicare OKs it.

 

Like SamR said under Medicare it's covered if a doc tells you. My wife though is on both Medicare and Medicaid, due to her kidney dialysis. Lost one kidney back in the 1980's and the other one started failing. She does penitential dialysis and is the on it for the longest time yet in her clinic, almost 10 years. all of the ones that started the same time as her have since passed and the ones before her have too.