I was going to put a photo up of a cataract surgery but most people would get skeezed out by it, so you get the treat of seeing one of Sluggy's eyes up close and personal which hopefully doesn't skeeze anyone out nearly as much.
I've got chameleon type eyes. They changed color depending on how the light hits them. They can appear to be anywhere from green to blue green to hazel in color. Their bloodshot quality never changes however.....lol
I survived the 3 hour cataract consultation surgery marathon Monday. Well most of that was sitting in either the purple chair section, or the blue chair section or the red chair section and having to listen to bad daytime network tv which was far worse than the actual dr. exam and all those eye drops.
I have multiple options on how to proceed with this operation.
I can have the standard slicing your eyeball up with knives operation or the new laser operation.
Then I have to choose between 3 different lenses--regular lens, or one of two corrective lenses for seeing distance or correcting my astigmatism.
Decision, decisions.......
The bottom line is this............
The standard lens with the standard bladed surgery will cost nothing OOP after insurance.
The laser surgery will up the cost to $1,500 OOP after insurance.
The laser surgery with corrective lens will up it more to $2,500 OOP after insurance.
And that's for one eye.
With my eye prescription it will also mean having the right eye done a month later because the difference in prescription between the eyes after surgery will be too great for my brain to process the visual information between the eyes, so even though the right eye isn't bad yet it's gotta go too.
Lovely.....
So it's OOP, $3K or $5K OOP when all is said and done.
With my health issues I am leaning toward the laser surgery no matter which lens I choose because it is said to make the healing time less than the standard surgery. I am NOT a fast healer.
As far as I am concerned, I am quite happy that being in our financial position gives me wider options without putting stress on our income. We can afford any of these choices easily so I don't have to "settle" for the basic option if one of the other ones makes me happier.
Of course, being frugal I am having issues with spending money on upgraded procedures but that's just MY issue. ;-)
I am scheduled for surgery the end of April no matter which one I decide on.
This date has put a kybosh on my Spring travel plans however.
I had wanted to travel to LA to visit my daughter, then Hubs was going to fly home when his time off from work was over and I'd stay longer down there, then drive myself(with my new eyeball)home and be able to meander around and visit some folks who don't mind having me around. ;-)
But now, I have to be back 1 day, 1 week and 1 month from my surgery date for check-ups, meaning I can't linger in the South and need to be home by the first week in June.
This means a 2 week trip to LA and back home with Hubs.
I am hoping once I get the other eye done I can take a solo road trip again to some destination in mid to late Summer.
In happier news, I made a money transfer from the bank account to the credit card yesterday and paid off the car we put on the c/c. My balance is now $79 on the MasterCard with 2 weeks left until the statement closes.
I was in car debt for THREE DAYS! It about drove me crazy I tell y'all. But I got lots of CC points for it and it won't cost me a penny of interest. 8-)
Hubs did pay some "stupid tax" 2 weeks back on the MasterCard when he mistakenly went through a third party vendor to renew his car registration online, instead of going directly through the PA DMV site. By the time he realized what he had done it cost an additional $23 to get the car registration finished. Duh.
In other financial news.....Our credit union changed it's online banking website, putting up a new one.
As a result I hadn't been able to access our accounts online for about a week now. And no, they didn't let anyone know on the old website that they were changed the access. bleh.
So after 2 in-person attempts to get this straightened out(both Hubs and I went into the CU to get the info, then I emailed 2 times and was never responded to and then I called the branch yesterday and they never answered the phone!)I went in to the branch AGAIN! and let 'em have "what for" and told them if this EVER happens again I am taking my millions elsewhere.
I MUST HAVE online access to my accounts.
Period.
This CU has turned out to be a rinky-dink two-bit operation. They have slowly decreased their hours so that now they aren't even open to 5 except 1 day a week, they close for lunch for 1 hour in the middle of the workday because they only have 1 or 2 personnel in the branch at their busiest and now they have done away with Saturday hours. Hubs with his schedule has to take off work early to go to the CU and can't bank on weekends. They are trying to drive everyone to ATM cards and I refuse to be herded into one!
I would leave them right this minute except that we just paid for new checks so they have until these are gone to win back my love......and I don't see that happening.
We are suppose to hit 57F here tomorrow. I have threatened to get out my swimsuit and flip flops and parade about the neighborhood in them so none of you may wish to come visit me tomorrow as I am known to snap "selfies". Just be sure you aren't eating when you open up my blog post.....you have been warned! ;-)
Sluggy
