The Procedure

I reached the clinic at about 10am, and promptly proceeded to the day surgery centre on #16. A nurse helped to cleanse my eyes in readiness for the op. As I was about to doze off, Dr Cheng came by to bring me to his clinic. He needed to ‘mark’ my eyes as it would not be accurate to do so while I am lying down. I must have looked weird, looking fully clothed in hospital garb, marching about the clinic!

By now, I was feeling really grouchy... I had to fast for 6 hours before the op :( Since the op was scheduled for 12nn, effectively I have not eaten for almost 16 hours (since 7pm the night before)…

Before I could settle down in my bed, it was time for the op. What sounded like a simple 20-minutes op had not turned out to be that simple after al! I was swathed in sterile sheets, leaving just my eyes exposed. My eyes were then clipped opened, and a sheet of gel-like material was ‘plastered’ over my eyes (yes, over my eye balls too). Feeling all hot and uncomfortable under the sheets with strong bright overhead lights shinning right into my eyes, I cannot blink my eyes to shut off the lights nor lubricate my eyes…it was sheer torture. Additionally, I could hear Dr Cheng, Dr Lynn Yeo and the rep from ICL company discussing about the op…argghhh…

When Dr Cheng finally started the op, I was already feeling REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE :( While I didn’t feel pain, I could feel him prodding and poking my eyes. At times, it felt that he was about to poke through my eye balls. And I had to stare at the bright lights @!#$!%! The doctors should go for such an op too, walk through the customer's, I mean patient's corridor and understand how difficult it is to stare into bright lights without flinching. Dear God, please help me through this!

After a good x minutes, he was finally done with my right eye : ) and proceeded to do my left eye :( Since I am going to be stuck for a while more on the op table, I decided to request for my blanket to be removed as I was feeling really warm! And guess what? The warmth was due to the bed warmer that the op theatre staff had turned on! You can imagine my relief when the warmer was turned off…immense coolness : ) Anyway, with the experience from my right eye (and feeling much cooler), I could cope with the op on my left eye much better.

After what seemed like eternity, the op was completed!! I was wheeled back to the ward to rest and have some beverage. If you think the worst is over, you were so wrong! For the next few hours, I puked everything and anything that went into my stomach…water, Milo, biscuits, medicines… Dr Cheng was so worried that he popped up a few times to check on me. Throughout the dizziness and vomiting, I suddenly realised that I could not see with my right eye! Oh no, did the op fail? Dr Cheng said it was due to a bubble trapped behind the lens and that it will be absorbed by the eye in a few days’ time……

When I felt a little better, I called Hubby to fetch me home. When he came, he was shocked to find me sitting in a wheelchair at the reception :P I filled him in on my earlier dizzy spells and vomiting while waiting for the bills to be processed. After settling the bills, I was wheeled to see Dr Cheng. My eye pressure seemed normal but he just could not understand why I had such severe vomiting.

When I reached home, I just fell onto bed and slept :D! For a good 2 hours, I rested. When I woke up at 9+pm, I was well enough to even feel hungry. I felt so much better after a few bites and the hot shower. Things are getting better I hoped!