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Medical Forum / General / Vision / August 2004Cataracts inoperable at old age
After my mother's death at 91, I noticed she had glued bright orange-red caps or used covers on items like containers in which she kept sugar, soap pads, etc. Could this be something someone with cataracts would do? She had to mark the control buttons on her white TV, too. I think she even had a difficult time sewing by hand which she enjoyed. I insisted I get her a needle threader. When I took her to a showing of the 1957 film Jailhouse Rock, she kept asking, "Is this really Elvis, or someone playing him? He looks too young to be him." More likely than not, at 91 she would have had cataracts, senile cataracts to be exact. As to why she had labeled items, or questioned the Elvis movie, may be other issues unrelated. Difficulty threading a needle certainly could have been due to cataracts. Dr. Ted Roxan http://visionupdate.net/ >After my mother's death at 91, I noticed she had glued bright >orange-red caps [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "Is this really Elvis, or someone playing him? He looks too young to >be him." > More likely than not, at 91 she would have had cataracts, senile > cataracts to be exact. As to why she had labeled items, or questioned > the Elvis movie, may be other issues unrelated. Difficulty threading a > needle certainly could have been due to cataracts. > > Dr. Ted Roxan This is what I suspected. But inoperable at her age, yes? > > More likely than not, at 91 she would have had cataracts, senile > > cataracts to be exact. As to why she had labeled items, or questioned [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > This is what I suspected. But inoperable at her age, yes? Age alone is not an factor. Other major health conditions make surgery risky, but as cataract surgery is done with local, not general anaethesia, a patient has to be very sick for their health to be a limiting factor. If she was told her poor eye vision could not be fixed with surgery, it more likely means she had an eye disease other than cataract. Dr Judy I agree with Dr. Judy. However, you must be sure that the physician is not, as they say, less than scrupulous. Also, physicians have tended to band together in very large organizations these days. I have found that once one of the physicians in one of the large practices has made a diagnosis, all the others will fall in line, even if the first diagnosis is wrong. So, always get a second opinion and be sure to check that the second opinion is truly independent. That may involve driving many tens of miles, perhaps hundreds. In my 89-year-old mother's case the first (I'm having trouble not typing crook or quack) "doctor" stated that she needed a cornea transplant. Many other Drs/crooks/quacks stated that she did not until the second visit when they later discovered that the lens needed to be replaced and a cornea transplant, too. One was so bad that she was prepared for surgery with her eye numbed when the Dr/crook/quack decided that a cornea transplant was necessary. Later, I found out that there are all in the same mega-practice. Finally, she went to a university hospital. The doctor there, one of two doctors on the planet whom I respect, took out the cataract, put in a new lens, and she has been very happy for the last two years. She has the option of having a cornea transplant later if she needs it. Get a second, third, fourth, etc opinion, use your head, and be careful. > > Dr. Jay Stockman <editor@visionupdate.net> wrote in message > news:<iaofi0t0a38nurghvu6h3fqsdeunp90mel@4ax.com>... [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Dr Judy > So, always get a second opinion and be sure to check > that the second opinion is truly independent. That may > involve driving many tens of miles, perhaps hundreds. While this is true, certain medical benefits offered by pension granters prefer to resort to limit their choice of what and whose services it will copay. Then your choice of physicians may be limited, though your opinion shjould be definitely more than one, even from an expert in his field. > Get a second, third, fourth, etc opinion, use your head, and be careful. Yes, use your head, even if it's full of crap, it's better than the crap of others, expecially doctors. > Age alone is not an factor. I never thought it was. > Other major health conditions make surgery > risky, but as cataract surgery is done with local, not general anaethesia, a > patient has to be very sick for their health to be a limiting factor. If > she was told her poor eye vision could not be fixed with surgery, it more > likely means she had an eye disease other than cataract. Ma told me the opthalmalogist she saw informed her he could do nothing for her. "Honey, I'm sorry, I can do nothing for you" (quoted) She did receive blows to the head which may or may not have influenced the onset of cataracts or vision problems....as I said, her husband struck her during their marriage. She eventually left the husband, choosing to live by herself after living with him 35 years...after his death she lived almost 28 years to the time of her death. > After my mother's death at 91, I noticed she had glued bright > orange-red caps [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > "Is this really Elvis, or someone playing him? He looks too young to > be him." Unless she had had an eye examination and you can ask the doctor about her eyes, you will never know. Cataract, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and corneal edema are just a few of the hundreds of eye diseases that cause reduced vision. Or maybe her refractive error had changed and she just needed new glasses. Dr Judy > Unless she had had an eye examination and you can ask the doctor about her > eyes, you will never know. Cataract, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and > corneal edema are just a few of the hundreds of eye diseases that cause > reduced vision. Or maybe her refractive error had changed and she just > needed new glasses. May I say, she was struck by her husband during her 40s and 50s? She may have been struck in the head at times. Could this lead to problems developing later in life? She lived separate from her husband at least two years before he died, in 1975 and lived by herself for the next almost 28 years. I stayed with her only about a month and a half till I got my own apartment and then lived alone. I stayed with her a few hours before I left for my home. I guess she must have died sometime after that. She claimed to be in pain and was lying in bed. I underwent an eerie feeling that this might be the last time I would see her alive. She was confused-sounding yet she reminded of what I had access to do if the dark hour were to come. I kissed her on the forehead and asked her "Honey, what can I do to help you?" She asked for therapeutic pain-relieving pads, but when I bought them, it was too late..............I never got to give them to her. |
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