Thursday, January 10, 2008

Dad's eye

I called him Tuesday evening to see how he was. He sounded fine. He said it wasn't hurting him at all. It just felt like he had a piece of grit or something in there. He had a patch over the eye, but the doctor was going to take that off the next day. He thought he was going to have to put drops in, but the doctor said he'd put enough medication in the eye to last until his visit the next morning.

He was awake for all of the operation, and went on to describe it (with me on the other end of the phone squealing and squirming). They sedated him, strapped him down, did something to numb the eye, covered the other one (why? To keep from doing the wrong one?), took out the lens in the uncovered eye and replaced it with a new one. He thinks there are prongs holding it to the eye, but that's just an educated guess. He's not sure what's holding it in place. He said it looked like a light show.

All I have to say is if I ever need to have this done to me, they'd better do more than sedate me. Put. Me. Out. Seriously. I'd started screaming when I saw the knife coming at me, I'm sure.

He's going to have to wear sunglasses for a while, and he's put off the operation on the other eye until there's no chance of a snowstorm. Mom doesn't do well driving down the mountain in the snow -- which is to say that she refuses to do it. So he's going to wait until spring. I asked him when he could start driving again, and he said Thursday (today).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess if he only does right turns he should be ok.

Or was it the other one?

--V said...

You know, I don't know. It can't be too advanced though, or they wouldn't allow him to drive at all.

Have I mentioned that my Dad's job since he retired a few years ago is as a driver for the county? He drives people to doctor's appointments and things like that -- people who have no other way to get there.

Anonymous said...

I'd like you to give him my very best wishes, if that's possible, V.

We old blokes have to stick together.

--V said...

Hmm. To do that, I'd have to tell him I've been talking about him, and I don't know how well that will go over. The phrase "lead balloon" comes to mind...

We'll see how brave I am next time I talk to him.

Anonymous said...

Ok - no worries. I have daughters. I know the score. I'll just use the power of thought.