First eye surgery

After three days of eye drops I had my first vision correction surgery today. I was scheduled to arrive at 7:45 and my son went with me to drive me home. It was a dark and foggy drive to get there and I was feeling nervous this morning.

It seemed like a long wait in pre-op. I didn't have to undress at all; they just put a cap over my hair and various drops in my eyes. The anesthesia was Versed by mouth. I said I was medication sensitive and the usual dose might put me to sleep, so they gave me a half dose. I then worried I would regret not getting more but they wanted me conscious. I was a bit fuzzy headed but definitely could focus my rational mind if I tried. They checked many times which eye they were doing and the doctor marked my eyeball somehow while I was sitting up to make sure to line up the astigmatism correction accurately.

When the took me back to surgery they attached a plastic drape over my eye and then various devices I won't go into. The doctor told me to keep focused on the light above me, which was painfully bright. I focused on that task and also on calming my breathing. The doctor didn't speak as he was working so I didn't have a sense of what was happening, just that the light kept changing. And then he said he was done and they wheeled me into recovery.

My eye was still numb so I really wasn't uncomfortable at all. They put a protector over my eye I was supposed to wear until I got home. I was given instructions for eyedrops and they sent my son to drive the car up to the door and we headed home at about 9:30 am.

Not having had significant anesthesia, I really don't feel badly at all. My eye is miserably scratchy, but I don't feel badly enough to stay in bed. I've been sitting in the living room with Christmas carols playing and knitting (which doesn't take much close vision--I can do it in large part by feel).

Posts in this series (reverse chronological order):
Eye Surgery Follow-up
Brain Adjustment
Second Vision Correction Surgery
The Week Between Surgeries
Day after Surgery
First Surgery
Refractive Lens Exchange