StemCell Therapy

In some ways, its appropriate that Im getting my vision fixed in the year 2020.

However, I started 2019 with a column talking about my upcoming operation to fix my cataracts. I wrote about how disconcerting it was seeing my vision get worse and to know that, in another time and place, I would be going blind.

At the time, however, I believed I would be having my cataracts fixed in July. July came without a call from my eye surgeon.

Thanks to some prodding from my eye doctor, I was advised to be patient, and recently I finally got my dates for surgery. My eyes will be fixed with two visits to the surgeon over a two-week period this coming January.

I am overjoyed at getting my eyesight back to normal. Im less overjoyed at the prospect of the operation itself, though Ive been told by those with experience that its nothing to be afraid of.

I am frustrated at the length of time it has taken to go from diagnosis to correction.

This is the situation that critics of Canadas health-care system point to when they deride its shortcomings. Canadas health care is largely based on a triage system. If you are hit by a truck, or suffer a heart attack, and need immediate and serious health care, you get it promptly.

If, on the other hand, your condition is not life-threatening, then you may have to wait, because health care costs money, even if Canadian taxpayers pay less for their system than American taxpayers pay for their far less comprehensive version.

There are limited resources to go around, so the tasks that can wait need to wait for the funding to make them happen. And we end up with waiting lists.

While it makes sense for a health-care system to focus on the person suffering a heart attack ahead of someone who needs arthroscopic surgery on their knee, frustration still builds for the person who has to wait months in knee pain, or lean closer and closer to computer screens he can now hardly read.

More:
Opinion | Glad to be getting eyesight back, frustrated with wait time - Waterloo Chronicle

This entry was posted on November 29, 2019 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |