Celebrating Before #2 Eye Surgery & The Careful Cut

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Fifty four years together....now that is something to celebrate. Maybe with a parade, fireworks or just big horns honking. Any of them will do. Monday, we prepared our commemorative plans with our dear friends, Sam & Sandy. We would go for an ice cream lunch and then to the movies and onto a nice restaurant for dinner. I was anxious to see the movie Chappaquiddick. No parade, no fireworks, no big horns.....we were equally excited about the ice cream and movie and dinner.....and of course, being together with Sandy & Sam. We had to do it up big cause my eye surgery was scheduled for the next day. I wanted to be able to pick out my yummy ice cream, watch the movie and read the dinner menu....plus see our friend’s happy faces. And of course, look lovingly into the face of my wonderful husband and best friend, my dear Cory. Could we do all this in one day? The race was on.

April 10th arrived! Our anniversary! We were happy and gleeful even with the dark, gloomy clouds that hung over our neck of the woods. Uh-Oh! Houston we have a problem! Those dark, black skies became even darker and opened up right over us, spewing torrents of rain! When it rains here in Florida.....it really, really rains. Torrential monsoon rain. Plus, try being inside our tin can home and you would think you are under fire from a hail of bullets. Duck! We saw lightning striking around us and listened to the roar of the thunder. It’s an experience to say the least. Lulu covers her ears.....she doesn’t like it at all. You’ll be fine, Lulu. Be strong! If we had arranged a parade....we surely would have had it rained on. Rats! It was now lunchtime. Our plan was to have an ice cream lunch at Friendly’s. Nope.....not going to happen. Rats! Only a tuna fish could make its way out into this horrendous rainstorm and see where it was going. This storm was blinding! I pulled up my “Dark Sky”weather app. The rain would continue all afternoon but not be as strong or steady later in the afternoon. We cancelled our lunch! Rats! We packed our movie duffle bags extra full with plenty of snacks to compensate for our missed ice cream lunch. Yeah! We made it to the Cinemark theater at the old Artegon Mall. What’s so special about this theater you ask. Well, it is the one with the most wonderful seats. The big, plushy leather-like seats that turn into Barcaloungers. Ooooooo.......all sprawled out in luxury. You really have to fight not going to sleep in them. They are truly magnificent! Cory bought his buttery popcorn while I had my jelly beans that taste just like buttered popcorn...they really do! SNAP and our soda pop cans are open. The movie began as did our massive snack-a-doodle lunch. The movie was good. Our dim sum style lunch was equally good plus very filling. I think we gorged ourselves too much. We waddled out to car and just moaned for awhile. We still had dinner to enjoy together. But where and what. Actually, none of us really wanted anything. I guess if Lulu had been with us....she would have insisted we go to the “Trough”....you can never fill that gal up. Ewwwww.....Just the thought of it made me sick. We drove around and around hoping our mega snacks would digest so we could make room for more. How bad is that? What were we to do? Certainly not end the celebratory day too early. Then it came to me....BONG! I have an idea. What is my most favorite food of all times to eat? Think about it. Think.....my very favorite....Yes!! A tuna melt from the Earl of Sandwich....I love it! The rest agreed with this suggestion and Cory shot our rocket off to Disney Springs. One stop along the walking pathway: GHIRARDELLI’S......for the free chocolate candy sample. Yum! Next stop: The Earl. How terrific can it get! My tuna melt was as wonderful as always! Cory, Sandy & Sam enjoyed their various selections. What a perfect day. Back through GHIRARDELLI’S for dessert. The rain had stopped before it could ruin everything. Thank you, Mother Nature. We’ll get ice cream another time. My thoughts and plans now shifted to the next upcoming event. My eye surgery - No. 2. Not nearly as fun and festive. I don’t even get ice cream.

Wednesday, April 11th (the next day) I had my last cataract on my left eye removed. All I can say is I’m glad I don’t have 3 eyes. Neither was bad at all but I’m still glad they are over and done. My appointment was at 10:30am and I had to be there by 9:30 am. We left at 8:40 am. The traffic heading east was bumper to bumper at parking lot speed the entire distance from here to Rt. 27. Fortunately, our westerly direction was busy but the traffic was moving. We arrived at the same ASU in Davenport. This all now is DejaVu. We began the boring wait. First, the long wait for the tired receptionist (she yawned thru the entire check-in process) just to eventually call me in to get signed in. Now, the agonizing wait for the nurse to call me back into the pre-op area. Yawn! You study every aspect of all the various patients doing to same in this waiting room: the old German man who had shorts that were terribly wrinkled, the black minister who hollered “Good Morning” to everyone in the room as he sat down, the younger woman with bright red lipstick and on and on. My 10:15 surgery time had long passed. Finally, I was called back. Same routine...the Great Weigh-In (please don’t shout out my weight for all to hear like last time). Now, Cory and I are led back to my draped stall. Hey, what’s up? No bed!.....just a chair? Second time around and I only get a chair? The gal reassures me I’ll be in a bed before I go back into surgery. Yeah, right! I’ll probably have to stand in a corner for my operation. Same routine, same paperwork, same questions, same staff. This time they don’t bother to read the discharge instructions to Cory for me....they just tossed him the papers. At this point, I mentioned to the nurse that they should include on the discharge papers that “some blurriness” could occur post op. That happened to me and nowhere on the two sheets was the word blurry. As a nurse, my common sense said it could be normal but I was also taught never assume anything. So once we were home ( the 1st time around), I called back to the ASU nurse and asked her. Oh, yes...”you can have blurriness up to 2 weeks”. Thank you. My anxiety was relieved. I mentioned this to my doctor at the post-op visit and he said common sense would tell you it was normal. I don’t agree with that. It needs to be in black and white along with the other possibilities. The pre-op nurse now agreed with me. The same male nurse came by to start my IV. Good....it did a great job last time...really no pain. Hey....not this time....it hurt! I had told him which vein I liked to use. He picked another. It didn’t feel right. I asked him if he got a good blood return. He showed me a little dab in the syringe. Ok. Ouch....it still hurt. Was it really in my vein? He flushed it....okay, it was in the vein. I shut up. He started the million eye drops into my left eye. Actually, he said it wasn’t going to be as many drops cause now they were using some other drops that combined several drops in one vial. Good enough. He was right...Not nearly as many guttas (drops) this time. The wait continued. Cory took pictures. Feel sorry for me? I hope so. Finally, Tom, the anesthetist, came by. Hallelujah. He asked me how the medication worked the last time. My chance to tell it all. I told him that nearing the end of the surgery, I’m pretty sure I felt a needle go into my eye! Yow! Well, he said he wanted me to be happy and comfortable with his anesthesia. Me, too.....so I told him to give me more stuff and let it last longer. I think he had stopped the meds too soon last time. Ok...he would. I prayed. More waiting. Ahhh, now my doctor has come by. A brief howdy-howdy and I was good to go. By now they had transferred me from the chair onto a gurney.....whew! Much more comfy. The OR nurse wheeled be away but left me in another draped stall at the end of the recovery area. Last time, I went straight into the OR. All I heard was the laughter of the nurses. I remember those days when I was one of those nurses. You have to have a sense of humor in this job. I was alone in a strange, new stall. I could only think about the paper on my bed that had my name and the number 13! That’s right. Number 13. Wouldn’t you just know it. Even hotels don’t have a #13 floor. Obviously, I was the 13th patient for the day but......ok, I refuse to be superstitious. Hello, there! ....now a black male nurse (?) showed up and positioned my head. He introduced himself and said he would be prepping my eye once I was in the surgical suite. I remember seeing him the first time around. I was braver this time cause I kept my gauze covered eye closed as instructed but opened my other eye to see everyone and everything. This time, I saw my doctor myself so I didn’t have think he could have been the maintenance man. Ooooh, finally, the OR nurse wheeled me into surgery. I think she was the same nice nurse I had before....she was still nice. I asked her if she thought my eye numbing drops could have worn off due to the long passage of time. She said she would give me more drops once I was positioned. I begged for double drops. “No problem” she said. Goody! She flooded my eye with drops. Great! I loved her. Tom, anesthetist, showed up....thank, God! I greeted him with joy. I refreshed him about our plan of action and immediately felt the cold fluid flow into my vein. I’m still awake but not sure if I’m communicating with them or not. I think I am. When my first eye was done, I could only notice a lot of changing colors and activity in my eye but nothing to focus on. This time, it looked like in the center of my eye were two white sacks hanging from a branch with a couple cranberries around them. Eventually, this item disappeared and the doctor asked me if I could see a red dot....yes, I could. And it was all done. Amazing. Off to the brief recovery area. I remember a pleasant nurse with a southern accent. I asked for some OJ but she said it was too acidic (who cares) and gave me a sip of warm water. Yuck! Next, I was getting into our car. It takes you a long time getting in, a short time in surgery and no time to speak of in recovery. They get you out of there fast! I did tell the post-op nurse about the discharge instructions lacking “blurriness”. She agreed fully with me and said she would tell her nurse manager. I hope so. I couldn’t be the only one who wondered about this occurrence. Was blurring normal or not?? And now, my faithful caretaker Cory, was taking me thru the Hardee’s drive-thru to get a drink and a little sustenance. It was 1:00 now or around there. All is well with both my eyes. Actually, this eye has no blurriness.....neither had any pain or discomfort. This last eye was fitted with a lens for my far-sightedness. The first eye has a intermediate lens for closeness and slight distance. Put them together and now I see great without any eyeglasses. Unbelievable! No more complaining about the price of glasses! Please note who now wears my glasses. She thinks she looks more professional rather than looking like a loose lady. What do you think? My eyes are still healing but what a difference it all has made. It’s like I’m seeing in HD now. And once I get through the time consuming ritual of the eye drops, I’ll have it made. Here’s looking at you......and you all look fabulous.

Our pace begins to slow up a bit now. Time to just relax. Soon we must think about packing up our house and head on. Where has the time gone? It seems like we just got here! We’ll give you plenty of notice when it comes time to pack your bags...unless you just want to stay back and enjoy The Sunshine State forever. We are happy to be able to experience both worlds: the North and the South. Provides variety and remember, that’s the spice of life!

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Photos

Our 54th Anniversary
??Cory & Sandy Sitting in a Tree??

The storm is coming !
The storm is coming!