As I wrote earlier, I am in the process of replacing some of the older parts used for eating, hearing, and vision.

First: A Bit of Extraction and a Lot of Pain

The extraction of three molars was not easy—it took three hours. I’ve been in pain for about ten days, but it’s getting better. I won’t be able to have the implants placed for six months, and then it will take another three months for the crowns. After that, however, my mouth will be very strong.

Hearing Like a Baby

The hearing aids have been a very interesting and positive experience. I can definitely hear well in noisy environments, and I understand Italian (which I am studying) much better. My inability to hear consonants clearly had been making it very difficult to learn Italian and was probably also a handicap in learning Hebrew.

My AirPods Pro are much better at streaming than the hearing aids, and—crazy as it sounds—I can actually wear both at the same time. This is important because soon Apple will provide translation capabilities using AirPods.

What’s strange is that when I’m streaming a podcast, no one knows. The AirPods Pro have a feature called Conversation Awareness: if someone starts speaking to me (or if I start speaking), the sound of the stream lowers automatically, letting me hear the environment. Hearing aids don’t offer anything like this. Normally, if I had my AirPods in, my wife would realize I was listening to something. I’m thinking of creating an accessory like a little “recording light.”

I can adjust the mix between outside sound and streaming. This works well inside the house, though less so in noisy environments. My Phonak hearing aids have an app that lets me set up different configurations and switch between them easily—I’ve been experimenting with this.

I’m happy to say my hearing aids are practically invisible, which for a vain person like me is important.

Advances are coming, driven by AI. Soon, hearing aids will not only separate voices from background noise but will also target the voices you want to hear while reducing those you don’t.

A new feature called Auracast is being rolled out. It’s essentially a Bluetooth LE Audio stream you can tune into, much like selecting a radio station. You can mix it with the ambient sound around you. It’s a one-to-many capability: in a theater, you could tune into the actors’ speech or singing—or even a live translation. In an airport, you could hear announcements clearly, and on an airplane, instead of asking what the pilot said, others may be asking you.

The feature I’m most looking forward to is simultaneous translation. Apple will soon bring this out for the AirPods Pro. While this won’t work the same way with hearing aids, the good news is that you can use AirPods Pro at the same time as your hearing aids. I’ve already tested this.

I put on my hearing aids after I shave in the morning and take them off just before bed. They charge during the night, giving me about 18 hours of use per day.

New Eyes

After much consideration, I decided to get cataract surgery. I had my first eye done three days ago. The process was amazing. Many eye surgeons use the same operating facility—mine was in Beverly Hills, close to where I’m staying. It’s like a factory with seven operating rooms. They do about 60 operations a day. The whole process takes about two hours from check-in to check-out.

The first hour is paperwork and preparation. Then comes the operation, done in two parts. First, a laser performs the incision and separates your lens. Then the laser breaks up the cataract. (This can also be done by hand, but the laser is more precise and results in fewer complications.) You’re fully awake during this part. Your eye is dilated and numbed—you feel nothing. A device holds your eyelid open. You communicate with the surgeon while watching a big “light show.” It isn’t unpleasant.

Next comes the implant of the new lens. You’re given a very light sedative (I just felt relaxed). Once my natural lens was removed but before the new one was placed, I could see—though not focused. As soon as the new lens was in, I started to see again, though very blurry at first. Because of dilation, the light was intense, so I was given dark glasses.

Recovery took about 30 minutes, and then I was free to go. By the end of the day, I was already seeing better with that eye than I ever remember. Colors and contrast were amazing—everything vivid. However, I could only see well at a distance. Intermediate and near vision were poor. The kind of lens I received, an Extended Depth of Focus (EDOF) intraocular lens, is designed for distance and intermediate vision. But it can take weeks for the brain to adapt, so for now I’m using drugstore reading glasses.

The hardest part so far is having one corrected eye and one bad eye. I tried using glasses with a clear lens for the corrected eye and my old prescription for the uncorrected eye, but it made me dizzy. So for now I’m using no glasses at all. I can see and get around, but my depth perception is a bit off. In five days, I’ll have the second eye done. I can’t tell you how happy I am with my new vision.

But old habits remain: I keep reaching for my glasses when I wake up—only to realize I hadn’t worn them to bed, so they aren’t on the nightstand.

Yesterday, I got a haircut. It was the first time I could actually watch the barber cut my hair.

GLP-1 (Mounjaro)

I should also mention that I’ve been taking a GLP-1 drug called Mounjaro for about a year, initially to lose about 15 pounds. I’ve continued because I think it’s a miracle drug. All my labs improved. My glucose levels were about 30% lower on average, and I had no spikes.

However, I stopped taking it two weeks ago in preparation for surgery. Now I can see my glucose rising again, with spikes after meals. The first thing I’ll do after my next surgery on Friday is give myself a jab.