More of the Cataract Saga

The cataract saga continues.

Let's rewind for a moment.

Perhaps a year ago, I went to an ophthalmologist at Kasih Ibu Hospital and was told that I had cataracts and was in need of an operation. Only then could my sight be corrected with glasses.

But there was a fly in the ointment. Kasih Ibu did not perform cataract operations and I would have to go to a different hospital. This meant that our insurance would only pay in the form of a reimbursement. We would have to pay up front. Trouble is, we didn't have the money to pay up front.

So we waited, and explored other options. Another such option did arise a few weeks ago. We discovered that we could go to a doctor at an independent clinic -- an eye expert, we were told -- who could then do the operation at any hospital covered by the insurance.

So it looked like I was close to getting cataract surgery.

But ... uh ... there was a fly in the ointment. This doctor did not find operable cataracts.

Hmm. But then -- why can't I see?

Ah, that's the question.

I'm inclined to believe this doctor. After all, he certainly has nothing to gain by telling me I don't need the operation, and he could have collected money by telling me that I did.

So where to now? Well, it's back to the optometrist to just get fitted for glasses as best as they can make them. Not normal vision, to say the least. In fact, not good vision at all. But better than no glasses at all. They will be good, at least, for reading, and also for driving at night, at which time I am practically blind.

What's wrong with my eyes? Well, they don't know. It's cataracts, the one doctor says, but apparently it isn't. It isn't cataracts, the other doctor says, but cannot say, then, what it is.

Perhaps it's MS. Very probably, I reckon.

I feel fairly certain that an American doctor could sort it out. But, I'm not in America, am I.