Unsuccessful cataract surgery

[TazziRN, RN]

I spend the morning at a surgery center with my parents, my dad was there to have cataracts removed. Three hours later we were finally called back to PACU, and he was pretty shaken up. This is supposed to be a pain-free surgical procedure, but it hurt him so badly the doc decided to stop. He said the cataract was so hard his instruments couldn't cut through it. He's going to schedule another attempt at the hospital, where my dad can be put out with a general.

Three years ago he had a vitrectomy done in the same eye to repair a bleeding vessel, and that caused the problems he's having now. Problem is, my mom has cataracts too and now she's freaked out, nothing I can say will make her believe that what happened this morning is not the norm!! How do I convince her that this was an unusual occurence?

[ktwlpn, LPN]

QUOTE>>Problem is, my mom has cataracts too and now she's freaked out, nothing I can say will make her believe that what happened this morning is not the norm!! How do I convince her that this was an unusual occurence?Quote>>>>> You probably can't-If the cataracts are not having a serious negative impact on her life at this point I would drop it for now.Later on after your dad has recovered maybe she'll be ready to think about it again.I've never seen that particular complication but I've seen more then a few of other types.We have a local surgeon that has a pretty good set up-he leads our old folks to believe that these procedures are relatively benign.I have talked to families and been told that he really down-plays the risks and then if a complication does arise he blames the patient...Good Luck-I hope your dad does well.....