I’m gonna go a weird way with this:
Cataract surgery is awesome.
Seriously, you should be ALL OVER THAT SHIT.
My girlfriend’s mom had it done, along with putting in little stent things to relieve her glaucoma, and the thing is that when they replace the cloudy lens, they replace it with a corrective one, so now she has very close to 20/20 vision, after wearing glasses ever since she was a child.
The actual procedure is almost trivial at this point, having been perfected over decades.
So don’t freak out, dude. You’ll go in for two minor procedures, and then you won’t need glasses or contacts again… maybe for close in stuff like reading, since the new lenses aren’t as flexible as the natural one.
Yeah, agree with this. My mom and ex-father-in-law have both had it, and now both don’t need glasses (except for reading) after a lifetime of wearing them.
Both my Mom and Dad and my Wife had both eyes done and they’re extremely happy with how it turned outlying. Especially being able to see clearly again!
I could have sworn you’ve done it before. I think I watched one featuring a bird not that long ago.
Hmm. Maybe it wasn’t embedded, but linked to.
In any case, it would be cool if you could post it.
Was on way home from doctor’s office and the battery light in my car came on. No big deal I think, maybe just need battery replacement or wire came lose. Keep in mind I’m 30 minutes away from home and dealing with rush hour traffic. A few minutes later I go to change lanes and I can barely turn the wheel. Uh oh. Power steering went out. Ok, I can manage this til I get home right? 10 minutes later the inside of my car starts getting furnacey hot. I had turned off the AC and radio, so at first thought it was due to that but then it started to smell bad and even with windows down all the way it got insanely hot. 5 minutes from home a host of other warning lights flash, too many to keep track of, and I decide to go to the dealer where we bought the car 7 years ago. Just as I pull into a parking spot the car dies and I can’t quite get the windows to go up all the way.
So now my wife has to take bus to work for her midnight shift, have no idea what’s wrong with the car as the dealer was closed, getting to the rest of my doctor appointments this week will be challenge. Not fun.
I would suspect something with the serpentine belt since everything you mentioned going bad (alternator, power steering, a/c) are powered off the belt.
Don’t be terrified. When I had my ICLs implanted last November I asked him if he’d done it a lot. He said nope, but I do 400 cataract surgeries a year and ICLs are the same thing except easier.
Like Timex said, they now replace the lens with something that will give you near 20/20 vision*. I think virtually everyone who has cataract surgery nowadays thinks they should have had it done sooner.
*What my doctor did, as I’m on the cusp of needing reading glasses, was to give one eye 20/20 and the other eye 20/60. I use the 20/20 eye for distance and the 20/60 eye for reading.
I had cataract surgery on both eyes several years ago, and while it didn’t correct my vision completely, it made a big difference.
In my case, it wasn’t unpleasant - just weird. I was told that not every surgeon does it like this, but I was awake and my eye was kept open for almost the entire procedure. They did put me under just long enough to inject my eye with a local anesthetic, but had me awake almost immediately after that.
The weird part was the period between removing my old lens and replacing it. I could still see, sort of, but just a blur of shapes and colors. It was kind of like being on acid (so I’ve been told :)).
Overall I’d rather have cataract surgery than visit the dentist.
I second the diagnosis of @ddtibbs. A broken serpentine belt manifests symptoms in the exact order you experienced. First your battery light comes on, then your power steering goes out, and lastly, should you continue driving, your engine will begin to overheat.
The good news is that unless you own a fancy foreign car (Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc.) the cost to replace a serpentine belt should run you $200 or less. The bad news is that continuing to drive the vehicle until the engine died from overheating may have caused additional issues. At the very least the dealer will want to change your oil as running at excessive temperature causes the oil to lose viscosity and break down rapidly. They’ll want to check all the gaskets for leaks, as heat makes them expand and sometimes crack. Worst case scenario in overheating is that the pistons can seize, which essentially kills your engine, but since you said the engine just sort of stalled out as you parked rather than seized up violently during driving the pistons are probably OK.
Good luck @jpinard, hope it’s just an easy and cheap serpentine belt replacement and oil change.
Dealership called and it is going to cost $600! They said they have to replace the alternator and the battery. And since I was just admitted to the hospital for pneumonia, I feel like I have no choice in the situation. Part of the cost is $170 for the battery which sounded quite excessive to me (it’s just a little Toyota Corolla), and I mentioned to him that seemed high. He said I could buy my own battery and out it in, but I said I don’t really have options seeing how I’m hospitalized for who knows how long.
