118. 7 post-op paragraphs. If you’re squeamish you might want to skip para 5 AND the video!

Kneela (I can’t possibly have spelt that correctly) and Tony had the most important jobs. Kneela held my hand throughout the 70 minute operation and Tony was in charge of post-op tea and biscuits. Good start, great finish. Oh and even I skipped the video posted in this blog until after the op!

Michelle, Dawn and Tony  looked after me during pre-op, Michelle and Tony post-op, and in the operating theatre Russ took care of the anaesthetic  eye drops (so many I lost count), and Mr Khan and Mr Sadiq did the op, assisted by Mary, Kneela and two others who’s names I didn’t catch. On the ward at 0730, in the operating theatre at 0900, back on the ward for tea and biscuits at 1030, discharged at 1130, out for lunch and a beer at 1215. Job done.

From my perspective the day couldn’t have gone better. Mr Khan declared himself very pleased with how things had gone and that he didn’t need to see me again for another 3 weeks. The rather heavy dressing was removed with no difficulty the following day. It was replaced by a plastic see-through eye shield, taped on to my left eye, designed to stop me inadvertently rubbing or scratching my eye and to be worn for the first week. The self administered eye drop routine (6 a day for two weeks, dropping – no pun intended – to 4 drops a day for a further two weeks) started immediately the dressing came off. I only noticed the bubble in my eye – black, half circle in the bottom of my eye, the size of a 10p piece and rather like the bubble in a spirit level – as I left the hospital. It should disperse with time but it takes a little getting used to. When I move, I can see it wobbling inside my eye.  If I lean forward – which I shouldn’t – the bubble rises into the middle of my eye and I can see it full circle.

What was the operation like? The first good news is that it was painless, no doubt because of a large number of anaesthetic eye drops and two injections, one close to the inner edge of the eye and one near the outside. It was extremely reassuring to be in the hands of such obvious professionals.  Their relaxed demeanour, calm professional chat, appropriate banter and obvious expertise was fantastic to witness, even from under a fabric face covering. The atmosphere reminded me of all the best Royal Navy operation rooms I have ever been in – that reassuring professional  banter of people entirely on top of their jobs. By the time the lights went down in the operating theatre I was completely relaxed.

By far the weirdest thing was being able to see the instruments – particularly the suction and cutting tool (the vitrector) INSIDE my eye thanks to the illumination provided by the light source. Again, this was INSIDE my eye. I actually saw the vitrector removing debris from the inside rather like a vacuum cleaner. I suspect if I parachuted Mr Khan into a warship ops room and plugged him into a headset listening to “command open-line” he would recognise much of the language without necessarily understanding what it all meant. I was in a similar situation. When he asked Mary for the “ILM forceps” I wasn’t quite sure I knew what he was talking about. What I didn’t expect to see, a few seconds later, was a tiny pair of tweezers INSIDE my eye removing debris. Quite mind boggling!

Now a week on, the eye shield has been relegated to the bedside table, I’m one quarter through the eye drop routine and the bubble in my left eye, having reduced over the last few days from a 10p piece to a half penny piece, has now completely disappeared. So why the picture of the clock?

The kitchen clock (as seen above from right to left – close up, from the other side of the kitchen island, and from the sofa) has been my “go to” eye test since returning from the Philippines in early March. Having been warned not to expect any improvement in my eyesight for at least two or thee days, I can report noticeable improvement on every day so far. Not only can I see the clock close up, I can even tell the time from the sofa! It’s still a little “milky” and blurred around the edges and my eye  looks quite bloodshot but this is the best eyesight I have had for 167 days! Progress.

For Diabetes UK and the National Autistic Society see

https://justgiving.com/teams/keithsclipperadventure

for UNICEF UK see

https://justgiving.com/KeithWinstanley-TeamUNICEF

Please take a look. Thank You.