well, so the vitrectomy is over.
What are the notable features? The interminable wait, in the flimsy johnny shirt, for over 3 hours, watching multiple (mostly old) folk being wheeled off to the OR then back again from cataract surgery. Even though I'd been npo since midnight, was not hungry. Too many butterflies. Multiple drops in eye. Mostly dilating drips, an iv started (painfully), and Betadine eye drops for antisepsis. I now know what Betadine tastes like, as it makes its way down my tear ducts....(bitter).
Wheeled via wheelchair to the OR, climb with trepidation onto the table. Relieved that a mask delivered air, under the facial drape, in the direction of my nose/mouth. Cardiac monitor. Sat monitor. Drape covering my entire face, except the left eye. Painful orbital block needle.
Then, lots of visual images. My lit-up orbit, with black probe advancing into the light. Flitting pieces of things that looked like flimsy autumn leaves (? pieces of the internal limiting membrane?) travelling toward the cannula presumably sucking them out. The shockingly bright, lit-up orbit at times, like a jack-o-lantern. Some sort of automated voice, ?the insertion of gas into the orbit, and at last it was over. I actually felt myself falling asleep, my normal right eye drooping closed. I felt I had been given a sedative, so strong was the urge to sleep. Was surprised to find out, afterward, that no sedative had been given. I guess I was just exhausted, shutting down after all the waiting and stress.
Wheeled back to recovery, metal eye patch in place. Instructions. Walk out, feeling off-balance and clumsy with no vision on the left side. Face and eye still frozen and pain-free.