My neighbor Nancy, across the street, picked me up at 6 am and off we drove to the Abington Surgical Center.
The worst part was waiting.
In my little cubicle I got into the bed that would be the operating theatre. Erin gave me numerous eye drops, including numbing drops and dilating drops.
Like my two previous operations - kidney and back in 2011 - I wanted to see how much I could remember once I was wheeled into the OR.
Nurse Jeannie said that the IV running through my upper left wrist would deliver numbing solution with an amnesiac effect.
So how come I remember everything, well, make it most things.
After Nancy dropped me off after the operation, I poked my head in Scott's door at 9:10.
"Everything went fine," I yelled in.
"Oh," he said coming to the door. He was eating b'fast. "I fotgot you had your surgery today."
Couldn't wait to make an omelet with mushrooms and onions. No food or drink after midnite.
Post-op, I'd had a glass of ice water and two crisp graham crackers. Gina was my post-op nurse.
Everyone wore chocolate brown scrubs. And shower caps in the operating room.
Jeanne, Nancy and Kathy were the nurses in there. I was covered in a warm blanket cuz it was cold. Dr Clark was a few minutes late so one of the nurses went out to fetch him.
The operation itself took about 15 minutes. The anesthesiologst, Mark, I saw in the pre-surgery room. He asked me to stick out my tongue. He remembered me from my back surgery - we'd discussed spouses who donate organs to one another - had told me I would see bright colors when Clark operated.
I asked the nurses how they referred to Dr Clark.
"Dr Clark and front of the patients and Frank to his face."
The costumed man. Everyone, in fact, was in costume.
Erin had a minorly hard time getting the IV in. She said "everyone's dehydrated cuz they hadn't eaten or drank since midnite."
A lens was implanted behind my retina.
So, Dr Clark is working on it. My eyes are wide open and I see a series of colors - but I really can't remember em.
It also hurts!
I imagine him threading the lens implant behind my eye and tying it up. That was just my imagination. I really have no idea what he was doing.
"I need you to stay still," he said.
I was probly writhing in pain.
"You're doing great," he said a couple of times.
To distract myself, I kept picturing food. One of the nurses had mentioned eating pancakes for b'fast. So I did that. But mostly I concentrated on what Himself was doing.
Suddenly it was over!
For sure, I'll need corrective lenses in that eye, which is what I was told.
There's no pain at all in that eye.
Since I'm falling asleep as I'm typing, I think I'll go upstairs and take a nap.
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