“Don’t do it!”, some of my friends said as I mentioned that I was going to stay in Wuhan over the summer to have cataract surgery. Many have not had good experiences in Chinese hospitals. They definitely are different and take some getting used to! Whatever your problem, chances are you will end up with an IV. There is no food to be found in any of them and the only care you will get will be from family members. Don’t expect the nurses to change your bedpan or walk you to the bathroom. The medical staff will tend to your illness but that is where it ends. Every other thing is up to the family. For those who don’t have family nearby, it is possible to hire people for a song on a daily basis that will do the equivalent duties. Not to mention the language barrier!
However, cataract surgery is a quick and easy out-patient procedure. After talking to the surgeon, I definitely felt pretty comfortable going ahead with getting new eyes in China. It is only a ten-minute operation and Dr. Wang Yong told me he personally performs about 5000 of them every year. I was impressed! I figured with that many under his belt he must be alright. So, into the Aier Eye Hospital I went to take my chances…
The day before the operation, he spent a lot of time explaining what he would do. He also showed me two videos, how it used to be done and how it is done today. Quite a difference! Nowadays, it is only a 3 mm incision in your eyeball. He went on to say how he would just stick a needle in my eye, basically use ultrasound to emulsify the old lens, and suck it out. With no anesthetic, except a little local numbing on the surface of the eye. Cute! Then he would insert a folded lens through the same hole that would open up once it was inside.
The next day, I went in for number one eye to be done. The second would be done two days later. Now for those of you interested in how Chinese hospitals work.. For starters, there are no appointments, other than to come in in the morning. That would be a little difficult when you are drawing from a city of 10 million. Second, it is a cash society. I went to the cataract department on Floor 9 (this is a 12 story hospital that only deals with eyes) and paid for a little record book. You cart around your own records here, which is actually really convenient for everyone, especially if you change doctors or hospitals. There, they wrote out the bill of how much the total would be. Then it was down to Floor 2 to pay the money up front and get my stamped receipt. Then back up to Floor 9 to get pre-opped. A big needle down the tear duct to squirt in a load of solution to wash out everything inside, a thorough drenching of the eye on the outside, and then more cleaning around the outside of the eye. By now I was getting a little nervous.
Then it was into a waiting room. It was a frigging assembly line. There were about six others waiting. As soon as a person came out of the door, in went the next and everybody shuffled over one seat. I have to say that this is the first place that I have not seen Chinese people pushing to get to the front of the line. In fact, I think some of them would have been happy to stay at the end by the nervous looks on their faces.
It was finally my turn and into the operating room I went and onto the table. It was a very weird experience. One minute I was staring at the ceiling, blurry as it was, and the next minute I was looking though milk! “I have just extracted your cataract,” the doctor says. In other words, I was now lenless! Very strange! A little more pressure and suddenly the ceiling pops into crystal clear view. “ I have just inserted the new lens.” No kidding! Then he starts fiddling with it. Everything was in focus, out of focus, in focus…..I just wanted to say, “For God’s sake, stop moving it around, I can see perfectly,” but I assumed he knew what he was doing and had to position it just right. Within a couple of minutes, it was over. No mess, no fuss. Incredible. Two days later, a repeat performance with the other eye.
So now it has been three weeks. My vision has gone from hopeless to 20/20. The cost was about $1000 per eye but it will be covered by our insurance. Still, I think that is pretty good compared to other places around the world. The doctors and nurses were great and there was always someone who spoke English. I would certainly recommend this place to anyone.
