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14 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | JULY 2023 One-2-Many Under the Stars By Suzette Strauss Greetings SDV neighbors! Many of you know me as a Realtor, which I am, but prior to this career, I worked in Ophthalmology for 27 years. I was a Certified Ophthalmic Technician, licensed Optician, and office manager of one of the busiest single ophthalmologist practices in Orange County. One of my greatest privileges for the last 17 years of that career was measuring cataract patients for their IOL (Intraocular Lens) implants and educating them on the process, including before and aer care, as well as, seeing the results of their newly restored eyesight. I recall a specific patient whose cataracts were so advanced that you could see the opacity of her natural lens by merely looking at her. ey had long ago blocked her ability to see anything but hand motion right in front of her face. Due to the complexity of her surgery she had to be patched overnight. I removed the patch in the office the next day and oh my goodness! She looked across the room at her daughter and began to cry as she said, "You're so beautiful, I haven't seen you in so many years." We all cried and rejoiced together. Needless to say, she couldn't wait to get her other eye done! I could reflect on so many wonderful stories, but the reason for this article is that I have had several conversations with friends and neighbors who are having or just had cataract surgery and have so many questions about aer care. Generally, you will have one to three different eye drops to use (perhaps more if you have other issues already, such as glaucoma). One of these drops is more of a milky drop so be sure to shake it well prior to use (no harm in shaking them all). Space all drops three to five minutes for proper absorption at each dosing time. Yes, some drops may sting, closing the eye for a minute or so will calm that. Your surgeon will taper these as he/she sees fit and within three to four weeks you will likely be off them, even if there are leover drops in the bottles. You may be given an eye shield to wear at bedtime (Do Not put tissue under this!) Don't li anything heavy, play sports, get water in the eye, and keep your head above your heart for two weeks. (ree weeks if you bowl, golf, or li weights.) Use your drops as directed until you are told to stop each individual one. Your surgeon has the final say on all of this so call their office if you have any questions. It has been said that cataract surgery is the easiest and most successful surgery done today. So, "here's looking at you kid!" By Mary McKernan, Resident Our Solera Diamond Valley Clubhouse library is a real jewel. Here is a review of some of your collections on the shelves, and procedures established over the years. e collection consists of categories of fiction, biography/ memoir, nonfiction, inspiration and humor books donated by SDV residents. We do not shelve instructional nor reference books (i.e. cooking, gardening, dictionary, etc.). Magazines and puzzles are not the responsibility of the library group. Any donations that duplicate the ones on the shelves we keep and donate at a later time. We have a large selection of movie CDs and some audio books. Adjacent to the movies are shelves that contain TV and movie CDs in series. We will be adding to that group instructional CDs such as yoga, Tai Chi, or line dancing when donated. is entire inventory is for your perusal to take home, enjoy, and return to the hallway cart or even keep, passing on to family or friends. Weekly the library group voluntarily re- shelves any returned items and prints the current date on the back of the inventory. Books and CDs are culled as necessary when the shelves get too full. Materials that have not been used in over a year are removed and donated to charitable organizations. You are all welcome to come to the library and retrieve a book or CD full of mystery, romance, war, drama or comedy. It's yours for home entertainment. Mystery, Romance, War, Comedy all in one Place HAVING CATARACT SURGERY?

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