P.M., thank God, not A.M. (We were worried.) We have to be at the hospital in San Jose at 3:30 p.m. (all the admissions procedure, which is lengthy), and then the surgery is expected to take 2.5 hours (so done at 8:00 p.m.). Follow-up appointment next day is 9:00 a.m., so we’ll spend the night. Then back home for the recovery—so probably no blogging for a few days. Not sure.
This surgery will include a vitrectomy, to remove the vitreous. Apparently some strands have developed in the vitreous, and these are pulling the retina away from the eyeball wall—not good. So first step is to remove the vitreous and (I assume) install another gas bubble which will slowly, slowly be absorbed.
The second step is to install a scleral buckle, a soft Silastic patch that deforms the eyeball slightly so that the retina is more inclined to hug the wall than to fall away. Generally this produces myopia in the eye—not a problem, I’ll be wearing glasses in any event.
General anesthesia again, and nothing to eat or drink (no water, even) all day tomorrow—so tonight I’m having a good dinner, and before I go to bed I’ll drink as much water as seems wise.
I share all this information because you yourself may be facing this someday, or some member of your family, and I’ve always thought it better to know things than to be ignorant. So I’m thinking some readers will find the information of interest.
While I’m not looking forward to the procedure, I’m not particularly dreading it: I’ll be asleep. I won’t enjoy the recovery (judging from this past surgery), but that will pass. The success rate is 95%, so that’s encouraging.
Excuse the slow blogging for the next while.