Cataracts, Polio: An Example of High Tech Surgical Equipment of Today and Medicine in the 1950's

When a call came through saying a floral delivery was to be made, Ed and I had no idea of the identity of the sender.   The adventure of my having cataracts removed began Monday, January 13th so we knew the gift had to be from someone who knew about the impending cataract surgery.  Lo and behold!  Our dear friends John and Vicki Nicholson sent the gorgeous hydrangea which we will plant outdoors later on.

 John called and we had a most interesting conversation. 

John fell ill to polio in the 1950's before the Salk polio vaccine was discovered. In 1947, Jonas Salk took a position at University of Pittsburgh, where he began conducting research on polio, also known as infantile paralysis.  As a person who was born and raised and married in Pittsburgh  and who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1960,  I remember Jonas Salk well.   Furthermore,  Laurie was born  at McGee Hospital in the Burgh.    The Salk Polio Vaccine  has all but eradicated this debilitating disease in developed nations though this is not the case in such places as Africa and India. 

Now then, John, Vicki and yours truly have been through some major surgeries through the years. 

The cataract removal now called cataract "surgery", involved the use of high tech equipment, so high tech I was thinking there would be little use for my doctor.   Not true, of course, because in the laser room my ophthalmologist positioned the laser equipment over my eye so perfectly that the readings would enable him to remove with exact precision, my lens with the cataract.   A design with 6 white symmetrical balls appeared with a small reddish shape in the center.  Preped as though I were having a more major operation, IV's inserted, various monitors reading every bodily function possible, tubes taking oxygen to my brain via my nostrils, garbed in hospital gown and cap and wrapped in warm flannel blankets as I lie flat on a gurney with side bars extended, the surgery was about to begin.  With a local anesthetic and a mild sedative, I could hear everything my doctor was communicating to the attending nurses.   Through the operative eye,  I remember mentioning the beautiful  colors almost like the Central Illinois sky, a water painting with moving shades of pinks and blues.  A light show!

The next phase of the procedure is rather yucky but interesting. 
The lens is broken up with another type of laser  and then sucked or vacuumed out making way for the insertion of the IOL, the interocular lens which in my case is the Touric.  The Toric lens is expensive and is not covered by Medicare but worth the extra money.   Because of my astigmatism glasses will always have to be worn but the prescription will be less strong.  

John Nicholson called soon after the hydrangea was delivered to check up on me and to make sure his good buddy Ed was taking good care of the patient.   During the phone conversation I related the high tech nature of the procedure.  Coming from John as he remembered his hospitalization when he was a child inflicted with polio --   In  the 1950's the operating  room resembled someone's work shed or tool room! This is barely over 60 years ago!