Hi everyone -- Sorry it has taken me awhile to post.  I actually tried to do a quick reply this morning and then lost my message because I wasn't signed in.  I was trying to post with my iPhone, too.  Now I have my laptop, so I can type much easier!  Plus my son is home from school now and he has confiscated my iPhone for his own personal use, as usual! He says it is better for my eyes to use the big computer screen - ha!

The good news is that my surgery went very well.  The doctor was pleased.  He said he removed the dark strands in the middle of the vitreous and, of course, the Weiss ring and hyaloid membrane via induced PVD.  I did not have a PVD at all, but the induction went well with the vitreous detatching in only a couple of pieces.

The eye is patched, and I don't have any pain.  My son says the patch reminds him of a fly's eye. I can feel the eye only slightly.  I don't know if this is because the nerve block is still in effect or what.  My surgeon says his patients typically don't have pain, but that I could take Tylenol or Advil if needed.

The local anesthetic with monitored sedation worked very well for me.  The anesthesiologist used a sedative and propophol (sp?).  He said the propophol was to knock me out for about 5 minutes while the surgeon put in the nerve block and then I would be awake after that.  Apparently they inject the nerve block with a 2-inch needle and he said most people don't want to see a 2-inch needle coming toward their eye, so they knock them cold for that part.

I thought I might be very nervous during surgery, but I wasn't.  Anyway, the anesthesiologist said he would be standing there right by me and that if I got too nervous that I could tell him and he'd give me more sedative.  He and the nurse rolled me down the hall and into the surgical suite, and then I zonked out. When I woke up, I was lucid enough to ask my surgeon questions, but I was under a drape and he said he couldn't hear me -- very convenient for him and probably better for me because he could keep focused on the task at hand. I couldn't see anything either.  At the end of the surgery, I did ask him if the incisions were leaking or needed sutures, and he said no.  So I don't have any sutures.

I do have an air bubble that fills about a third of the eye.  My surgeon says it's on the top of the eye but it will look like it is on the bottom (everything is inverted since the lens is not involved).  There's a little light coming through the mesh on the eye patch, and I think I can see the top line (horizontal) of the bubble in my eye. 

I am drinking lots of water to try and stay hydrated and help my eye as it refills, but I did have to have my obligatory 2 cups of coffee earlier today. I also had an unhealthy breakfast of a McDonald's sausage, egg and cheese biscuit.  I felt like I deserved a little bit of a treat to celebrate the surgery being over. Oh well, now it is back to my usually healthy diet of  leafy greens and lean protein!

Thanks again, everyone, for your kind words and well wishes.  I have my follow up with the surgeon at 9:40 a.m. Central Standard Time tomorrow.  Wish me luck that everything is as it should be!  Oh, also, I have a dialation drop and a combo antibiotic/steroid drop that I'll start using tomorrow after the patch is removed.

Stringyeye