‘Everything was so bright. I no longer need my glasses, except for reading!’
Being able to read her 70th birthday cards was the best gift ever for Judith Palmer, of Barry.
After nine months of sight loss with cataracts in both eyes, Mrs Palmer was at risk of losing her sight permanently until she was referred to Dan Morris of Nuffield Health Cardiff & Vale Hospitals.
The family decided to seek a private opinion as the NHS wait was very long. Her son and daughters were very concerned about her continuing to try to live independently.
Living on her own without her sight, she had begun to have regular scalding accidents when trying to make a cup of tea.
Her loss of vision was so severe she couldn’t even go for a food shop on her own.
Having worn glasses since childhood, her expectation, and that of her family, was that her vision after surgery would still be blurry.
Pleasantly surprised, the instant the eye pads were removed, it was as clear as crystal.
Mrs Palmer said: “Everything was so bright and I no longer need my glasses, except for reading! The moon that night looked amazingly crisp – it was unbelievable!
“I was able to watch my grandson play rugby on TV and am enjoying looking at photographs again.
“Having cataracts gives you a massive understanding of sight problems, the limitations of doors, steps, caring for yourself and how the whole family is affected. I am so very grateful to Mr Morris and the incredible Nuffield hospital team.”
Surgeon Mr Morris added: “When I first met Mrs Palmer, she was guided into the consulting room by her children as she really could not see anything at all.
“Her cataracts were so dense, she could have been registered blind. She hardly spoke during the visit and had become quite depressed due to her loss of sight and the impact on her life.
“She was obviously terrified of any form of surgery so we decided that a general anaesthetic would be the best way forward, which I only need to offer a couple of times a year these days. To reduce the medical risk of two general anaesthetics, I offered to do both cataracts at the same time.
“Despite the surgery being technically challenging, it all went very well and when I took off the pads the next day, she was astonished by the improvement. A couple of weeks later, she was a changed lady, smiling and chatting away avidly with me. I was absolutely delighted to see the transformation.
“As a team, we have worked hard to make cataract surgery as safe and stress free as possible – this is a real credit to the staff.”