A Visit to the Eye Specialist

The rest of Thursday passed without any major incidents apart from Margaret being very confused and going to bed early. Unfortunately my brother, who lives in England, phoned and wanted to talk. I think I mentioned earlier that his wife, also Margaret's older sister, had died a few months earlier of dementia. We get together on the phone every couple of weeks to catch up on things and talk about our early lives. Margaret was woken up by the phone and I had to settle he down again.

Friday morning was the day Margaret was visiting her Specialist to get her eyes checked out. She had had a cataract in her left eye fixed two years ago and the right eye also had a cataract which would need fixing one day. The specialist said that Margaret would not benefit from an ocular transplant as her problems with reading were due to her lack of cognition not poor sight. He would normally recommend a transplant at this stage of the cataract's development but not in Margaret's case. Her eyes were both healthy and the sight adequate for normal life. Reading glasses might help but if her confusion and dementia were permanent or she had more strokes he didn't hold out much hope. This was all discussed in Margaret's presence but I don't think that she took it in. In the middle of the consultation she blamed it all on Louis not having had his bone today (he had!) and kept on about until we left. In a way I am relieved as I am not sure that Margaret would have coped with the surgery and immediate after care but I am sorry that her reading is now limited.

Margaret was very confused after dinner last night and took her self off to bed early but did not settle for an hour or so.

This morning she keeps asking when she has to get up. I have told her that she can get up when she wants to. I think that she think she has a doctor's appointment. She is not normally quite as confused this early.