My Old-A** Body Is Breaking Down Catch-All

My dad had cataract surgery in the last 8 months or so. He said the difference was night and day. Now he wants to get the other eye done but his doctor says it isn't bad enough yet.
He's had glasses for 60 years or so and now one eye is 20/40 and it felt so bizarre to him.

Thanks all. That’s good to hear. The admin that helped me with the scheduling actually said, “I can’t wait to have my cataract surgery someday!”

Dang yeah. Would be amazing to see.

PaladinTom wrote:

Whelp, it seems I need cataract surgery. The rX in one eye changed dramatically over the past few months so I just saw an ophthalmologist.

I’m a little freaked about eye surgery, but the good news is that it will fix my vision and I won’t need glasses - except for reading. Weird.

My mom had both eyes done back in October. It was a quick outpatient procedure. They juiced her up on some happy drugs and I was driving her home in less than two hours. She had a quick follow up the next day and then another about a week out to make sure everything was healing up right.

The place my mom got her surgery was an assembly line. They had like five operating rooms rotating people through every 45 minutes or so. I don't know if that'll freak you out, but it's nice to know the person doing yours has probably done hundreds of surgeries and have everything down to a 't'.

I take it you're getting one of the corrective lenses.

I spent over two hours in the vision center yesterday and it too was an assembly line - a very good one.

They kept handing me off to three different technicians who performed all different types of tests and I never had to wait more than 10 minutes between each one. The shortest time spent was with the doctor himself and the surgery coordinator was amazing answering any questions and setting up the nine(!) appointments I have over the next two months.

As of yesterday, I can confirm that a colonoscopy isn't that bad.

Colonoscopy prep, on the other hand, SUCKS. Starting Friday, I had to eat a low-fiber diet, so no whole grains, brown rice, raw fruits and veggies, tofu, and a solid 75% of the rest of my normal diet. I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch, but I decided a while back for both health and environmental reasons to explore vegetarian cooking a lot more, so a big part of what I eat is literally specifically banned by your prep instructions. I bought a loaf of white bread and ate sandwiches, peanut butter toast, and some pasta and white rice, and did that for a few days. Sunday, it was take laxative pills, then a few hours later a half-gallon of Gatorade with laxative powder mixed in, and, uh, "cleaning" began. Then more laxative yesterday morning.

The procedure went fine with no issues or red flags, just a routine screening. I can now say I have seen the inside of my colon on a TV screen, and it was actually kind of fascinating to watch.

Wasn't fun, but an important step, as colon cancer is one of those things that can be very bad but, if you catch it early, is preventable. Get your butt scoped, people.

My parents have both complained that the prep is the worst part of the whole experience, by far.

Important to note that up until a few years ago, the recommended "starting" age for colonoscopies was 50, but it has since been lowered to 45. Something for me to look forward to, I guess, as I cross that threshold in a few weeks.

My wife had to get one to rule some things out of the gastrointestinal issues she was having a few months ago. Watching the prep was awful.

Just a few more years until my turn...

I suspect most stories of colonoscopies being a painful or uncomfortable procedure were cases where sedation was not used. Propofol (a miracle drug IMO) has probably made that less common. As far as prep goes I didn’t find it to be all that bad. Spend a day at home drinking gatorade w/ laxative and have chicken broth for meals. My biggest advice is to get and use baby wipes instead of toilet paper that day.

Clumber wrote:

My biggest advice is to get and use baby wipes instead of toilet paper that day.

My wife wanted a bidet, so I installed one in the basement bathroom as a Christmas present for her. I had never used it; it just didn't seem appealing. I broke that streak Sunday, and that thing was, uh, "comforting". Baby wipes would also be a good idea, because the dozen times I used the facilities in probably six hours made things less than entirely happy.

They make flushable ones for adults that you should never actually flush, but do a serviceable job at getting everything minty fresh.

I also installed a bidet a few months ago (kind of on a whim, but I had been thinking about it for a while). Took me a few days to kinda get the hang of using it effectively, but now I dislike the thought of needing to go somewhere else that doesn't have one. So much cleaner and less paper usage than before. Plus it's a nice way to cool off in the summer, ya know?

Edit: I need to also mention that my wife & kids all looked at me like I had three heads when I installed it, and all absolutely refuse to even try using it. Whatever. More for me.

Damn y'all are going to convince me. I've been bidet-curious for a while.

We put a bidet in this year too and that became the poopin bathroom.

Well since nobody assed, I'll go ahead and state that I installed this one. It's unheated and completely self-"powered" by the incoming water line, so there's no need for an electrical outlet nearby. This also means that it might be kinda chilly in the winter - I haven't experienced that yet, and I live in New England, so I may come to regret this decision, butt there ya go.

I know there are cheaper models/manufacturers out there, but meh it was only $100 and has good reviews from a few different places. I don't have an electrical outlet near my toilet so getting a powered/heated model would be a much more expensive option, needing an electrician.

We got a bio-bidet one, I think the BB2000. Costco had it on sale and it is nice that it heats up the water and the seat but you do need an outlet nearby. My one complaint it is a little less deep than a typical oval seat, but I would buy it again.

Ours just hooks into the supply line for the toilet, so no hot water; the options for that would be either an outlet or going into the hot water under the sink, and neither of these are notably convenient. It's bracingly brisk, shall we say, and, uh, I never turned the dial up past the second marker, and the dial goes up to five or six. Based on my, uh, experience, going that high would probably serve as a liquid colonoscopy as I'm pretty sure it'd fire all the way to the duodenum.

You folks haven't lived until you've had the full-on heated bidet experience. Heated water, heated seat, blow dryer.

But I came to mention that at the ripe old age of Xennial, I'm getting a total knee replacement. I still haven't figured out why my knees are total crap, but they are. But because of all the pity I'm getting due to my age, I feel like I have some sort of arthritis imposter syndrome, where maybe I should be trying to stick it out for longer?

At our age? Get one now and it'll last the rest of your life. Might as well do it while you can still enjoy the result.

I was curious about bidets for a long time.

After getting one, just a simple one off of Amazon, I now believe non-bidet owners to be savages unfit for a civilized society.

I used to travel to Japan fairly often but haven’t done so in several years. Bidets are indeed magical and I hope someday to upgrade our bathroom with one.

Best wishes with your knee replacement Dee. Several people in my family have needed them and the best advice I can offer is to make sure to push yourself to do the physical therapy so you’ll have full motion with no pain whatsoever afterward. Everyone I know who has had it says it is magical.

On a personal note, I had my second cataract surgery yesterday and I now have 20/20 vision at distance which is also magical! I’m so grateful for the medical technology that prevented me from slowly going blind.

My eyes are still adjusting to shorter distances. I’ve already gone through a few different reader magnifications. The tough bit to adjust to has been taking on/off reading glasses all day. It’s exhausting, and they get filthy too. How do people do this all this day? I’ve worn glasses my entire adult life so it’s been very weird to adjust to.

Once my eyes settle down I think I’m going to get a pair of glasses that are clear on top and readers on the bottom that I’ll wear most of the time. Then I can be glasses-free for “special” occasions like driving, biking, swimming, etc.

I had my first colonoscopy yesterday (hitting 21 was way more fun than turning 50) Prep was godawful but the procedure itself was dull. I am in the "don't' need to see you for 10 years club" which is good. I hope in 10 years they have a better way of prepping.

My recent colonoscopy was also not bad (thanks Propofol!). However, I would HIGHLY recommend that you don't let them schedule you for late in the afternoon, as they did for me. It meant that my prep involved the typical day-long liquid diet to flush the system, then the better part of a day waiting for the procedure, during which I couldn't even take a sip of water. First thing in the morning is a non-negotiable for me the next time around.

Well folks, I'm now one of the 'lucky' ones and no longer need to have them. I've had about 3. But at 75, doctors says I really don't need to deal with them any more...too old to matter now:)

hubbinsd wrote:

However, I would HIGHLY recommend that you don't let them schedule you for late in the afternoon, as they did for me.

Oh yes. Mine was at 10am which meant I had to get up at 5 to finish the prep drink by 8 so I was NPO from 8 to 10 but I would still prefer that to sitting around all day.

*Legion* wrote:

I was curious about bidets for a long time.

After getting one, just a simple one off of Amazon, I now believe non-bidet owners to be savages unfit for a civilized society.

Want!

Which would you recommend?

Peoj Snamreh wrote:

Which would you recommend?

Well, my experience is a sample size of 1, but I bought the Luxe Bidet Neo 185, which seemed to be a well-liked entry level option.

Wirecutter's article recommends a different one, the Brondell SimpleSpa SS-150, as their go-to for an entry-level option.

So, there's a couple decent starting points.

So I keep seeing things about Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs bringing prescription costs way down.

Saw some comments on a Reddit post saying things like:

I was on Mesalamine for a while for my Chron's and it was over $600 my copay was $120 it is $32 on CostPlus.

It seems to be limited at this point to generics, and lacks things like insulin, but seems to be something worth keeping an eye on all the same.

Do we need a dedicated bidet thread for we enlightened ones, and the bidet-curious?

merphle wrote:

Do we need a dedicated bidet thread for we enlightened ones, and the bidet-curious?

Don't get your hope(s) too high. I don't think I will site on this one any longer - and order one right down the alley